Legal Progress

Legal Progress is the legal policy program at the Center for American Progress. No matter the issue—health care, immigration, marriage equality, offshore oil drilling, privacy, ethics—the judiciary will continue to play an increasingly important role in the lives of hardworking Americans as well as in the success of the progressive legislative agenda. Through legal and policy analysis, communications and public education and convening key stakeholders, Legal Progress is helping to push the American legal system in a more progressive direction and educate the public about the impact of the courts on issues they care most about.

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The Million Dollar Judges of 2014 Article
Chief Justice Mark Martin responds to a question during the North Carolina Supreme Court Candidate Forum in Raleigh on September 17, 2014. (AP/Gerry Broome)

The Million Dollar Judges of 2014

Spending on judicial elections reached $15 million in 2014—a record for a midterm election—fueled by money from attorneys and corporate litigants.

Billy Corriher

Dirty Money, Dirty Water Report
The Allen Steam Station, operated by Duke Energy, sits on Lake Wylie in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Lauren Malkani)

Dirty Money, Dirty Water

A troubling correlation between judicial campaign contributions and success rates for law firms underscores the need to restore the state’s public financing of judicial candidates.

Billy Corriher, Sean Wright

Uncounted Votes Report

Uncounted Votes

A first-of-its-kind analysis of county-level 2012 election data finds that, in 16 states, voters in counties with a higher percentage of minorities cast provisional ballots at higher rates.

Joshua Field, Charles Posner, Anna Chu

In Texas, No Justice for Injured Patients Video

In Texas, No Justice for Injured Patients

This new video from Legal Progress documents the damaging effects of Texas’ 2003 tort reform legislation, which makes it virtually impossible for emergency room patients to hold hospitals accountable for medical malpractice.

Billy Corriher

Keeping Campaign Cash Out of North Carolina Courts Fact Sheet
Signs of coal ash swirl in the Dan River after a spill at the Dan River Power Plant in Eden, North Carolina, on February 5, 2014. (AP/Gerry Broome)

Keeping Campaign Cash Out of North Carolina Courts

The repeal of public financing for judicial candidates could give corporate polluters and other donors more influence in North Carolina courts.

Billy Corriher, Sean Wright

Most States Flunk a Test of Their Recusal Rules Interactive
 (recusal map)

Most States Flunk a Test of Their Recusal Rules

A CAP analysis finds that states have failed to strengthen their judicial ethics rules to address the growth in campaign cash.

Billy Corriher, Jake Paiva

Texas, Where Are the Judges? Report
Then-Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX), right, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) listen to a question from reporters outside a polling station in Dallas. (AP/LM Otero)

Texas, Where Are the Judges?

Federal court judicial vacancies in Texas are creating an untenable backlog of cases and denying Texans access to justice.

Sandhya Bathija, Joshua Field, Phillip Martin

Discrimination? Corporate Loopholes? Law Avoidance? Hobby Lobby’s Potentially Slippery Slope Fact Sheet

Discrimination? Corporate Loopholes? Law Avoidance? Hobby Lobby’s Potentially Slippery Slope

A poorly decided Hobby Lobby ruling has the ability to dramatically redefine religious liberty from a fundamental value that protects genuine religious beliefs to a loophole that can be used to discriminate and create unfair advantages in the corporate world.

Joshua Field

Infographic: Hobby Lobby’s Slippery Slope Article

Infographic: Hobby Lobby’s Slippery Slope

The outcome of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius has the potential to dramatically transform religious liberty.

Joshua Field

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