Equal Justice Under Law

If selected for The Elevate Prize, I would leverage the funding and exposure to pursue new lawsuits to end costly expungement fees and fees for voting re-enfranchisement after prior felony convictions. Every state allows for a person’s prior convictions to be expunged from their record after a number of years have passed.  While each state operates differently, this is done with the understanding that everyone deserves the right to move forward with their life without the stigma and barrier of prior convictions, which can impact employment and housing opportunities.  Yet some states charge exorbitant fees for expungement, making it so that only the wealthy are able to put their past behind them.  Similar fees serve as a barrier to individuals who are able to get their voting rights restored.  While they are eligible to regain their right to vote, they are forced to pay expensive fees, leaving hundreds of thousands unable to vote.  The Elevate Prize funding and support would enable us to begin new cases around the country to fight these discriminatory practices.  

I graduated from Harvard Law School and received the school’s first-ever seed grant to found Equal Justice Under Law. I have served as Executive Director for the past seven years.

I serve on the Washington, D.C. board for UNICEF USA, helping end childhood hunger. I also mentor high schoolers, help feed and clothe people experiencing homelessness, and support those institutionalized for mental health disabilities. Additionally, I take special consideration to prioritize human relationships over technology: we have no internet, television, or other digital media in our home. My romantic partner and I have never exchanged a text message.

My passion for justice is best demonstrated by a brief story: I was formerly director of a homeless shelter. Guests could stay 14 days and then had to leave for 7 days before returning. During a harsh winter, a guest asked to stay a 15th day. That night was forecasted to be frigid and he had no other options. I enforced the 14-day rule; he did not survive the night. This experience taught me the complex relationship between law and justice. We design rules within a fundamentally unjust system, and that context makes it especially hard for our laws to capture justice. 

Poverty is treated like a crime, and we believe it shouldn't be. We use class action impact litigation to set legal precedent and change cultural norms so that our justice system treats rich and poor equally. We have successfully challenged the use of money bail as a price tag on freedom.  If arrested, only those rich enough to pay can get out of jail, while those who cannot pay end up languishing in jail for weeks or months.  We have used litigation to stop this practice across the country.  We have also  stopped states from suspending driver's licenses of people too poor to pay court debt, restoring driving rights to over 600,000 individuals. We have also sued private probation companies for extorting money out of the indigent, and we have sued states for charging prohibitively expensive fees for expungements and voting rights restoration. Because there are so many areas of wealth-based inequality in the justice system that others aren't addressing, we seek new ways to force the system to live up to its promise of equal justice.

We use class action litigation to bring about real changes in laws and policies that treat people differently based on wealth status.  Through litigation, we are able to make real and sustainable change to the legal system in cities across the country, with the goal of being able to replicate those cases in other cities and states where similar policies exist.  Our cases can easily be replicated and set new legal precedent.  Our success rate is impeccable and our history of fighting poverty-based inequality makes us experts in this area.  Our issue areas are novel, and our approach is innovative.  We attack the inequalities that are overlooked by other organizations.  For this very reason, the need for our work is immense.

Our approach is three-pronged:  (1) We file impactful litigation that leads to important precedent, changes in the law, and changes in governmental practices. For example, our first case fighting the use of money bail as a price tag on freedom has been replicated by us and partner organizations in other cities and states across the country.  (2) We prioritize outreach and media coverage to educate people about how pervasive these problems are, and that there is no collective action to address them. We have had national exposure such as on CBS Sunday Morning. (3) We partner with other non-profits to mobilize support to change unjust practices. On every case, we partner with private law firms and local non-profit agencies to ensure we are taking the most effective approach in the lawsuits and maximizing our likelihood for victory. Through these partnerships, we have a much wider reach and impact than we could have alone.