Comments on rules & regulations and letters submitted to various federal agencies on behalf of NACDL

This comment from the Fourth Amendment Center addresses the National Institute of Standards and Technology's report "Digital Investigation Techniques: A Scientific Foundation Review."

We submit this letter in support of many of the Department’s proposed amendments to 34 CFR 685. … NACDL supports amendments to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that will provide greater flexibility for qualifying payments and establishing a process for reconsideration when an application for forgiveness is denied. We also strongly support additional changes contemplated by the Department that would allow more lawyers providing full-time public defense services (a job function explicitly listed in the Higher Education Act as qualifying employment) access to PSLF.

Letter to the Securities Exchange Commission regarding proposed whistleblower provisions to the Securities Exchange Act.

Coalition letter to Department of Justice Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and Securities and Exchange Commission Director of Enforcement Robert Khuzami regarding enforcement of and forthcoming guidance for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Coalition letter to the President of the United States in support of federal ban the box for government agencies and contractors; NACDL is a signatory.

As a new round of military commission trials takes shape at Guantanamo Bay, an important piece of unfinished business is revision of the Manual for Military Commissions. The 2010 Manual will spell out the specifics of proceedings under the Military Commissions Act of 2009. The Department of Defense has been working on this revision for some time but has not made a draft available for public comment, even though doing so is the norm for both federal court and court-martial rule making. An opportunity for public comment may produce improvements in the final text.

NACDL urges the National Institute of Standards and Technology to form Guidance Groups dominated by scientists who are independent of law enforcement and inclusive of statisticians, researchers, and quality control experts. Since the National Research Council issued its clarion call for reform of forensic science, NACDL has consistently advocated for implementation of the NRC’s overarching recommendation – that the validity of forensic disciplines be examined and standards be set by an entity independent of law enforcement and dominated by a culture of science.

... NACDL proposes that each subcommittee include a balanced, multidisciplinary combination of experts reflecting the fact that each subcommittee will be tasked with developing a wide range of standards that require input from different fields of expertise. As part and parcel of its functional analysis of subcommittee composition, NACDL also addresses the related issues of the systematic review of scientific literature that must precede development of scientifically-supported standards, and the leadership of the subcommittees and their governing Scientific Area Committees.

Written statement of NACDL second vice president E.E. (Bo) Edwards to the Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control regarding the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (H.R. 3164, 1999).

NACDL treasurer Bill Moffitt's testimony to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding "three strikes" laws that result in mandatory minimum sentences.

Letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding proposed changes to the Deliberate Misconduct Rule (79 Fed. Reg. 8097) that would broaden the provision to include those deemed to have acted with "deliberate ignorance."

We write to propose a category of individuals who are deserving of clemency. Specifically, we respectfully request that you consider clemency for (1) individuals who suffered severe sentences as a consequence of having exercised their Sixth Amendment right to trial rather than having pleaded guilty and (2) individuals who accepted severe plea bargains under threat of substantially greater post-trial sentences. These scenarios—routine in our criminal justice system—illustrate a profound constitutional and human injustice: the “trial penalty”…

In light of Attorney General Holder’s April 4, 2011, announcement regarding the prosecution of the alleged planners and co-conspirators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the undersigned organizations request that the Department of Defense open the process for issuing regulations for the military commissions to allow meaningful pre-promulgation public participation. Certainly, future commissions will result in intensive public scrutiny of the system. Therefore, the Department should uphold the President's promise of openness in government by reforming the military commission rulemaking process.

Thank you for your letters to Secretary Panetta dated July 5, 2011 and October 3, 2011, concerning military commission proceedings and related issues of access by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The Department of Defense is committed to making military commission proceedings transparent and accessible to the public, consistent with protecting national security, the safety of individuals, and the rights of the accused. … Recently, we have been working to improve public access to military commission proceedings and materials.