Due Process

Probation on discriminating against Section 8 recipients does not violate due process

The Minnesota Supreme Court has held that a state statute that prohibits landlords from refusing to rent to housing voucher (Section 8) recipients does not violate the due process or equal protection clauses of the Minnesota Constitution. Fletcher Properties, Inc. v. City of Minneapolis, 947 N.W.2d 1 (Minn. 2020). While federal law does not require landlords to rent to...

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Section 8 recipients denied right to file §1983 suit for wrongful termination of benefits

The Eleventh Circuit has overruled Basco v. Manchin, 514 F.3d 1177 (11th Cir. 2008) and held that federal law does not empower housing choice voucher (Section 8) holders to bring civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. §1983 to contest wrongful termination of benefits by a housing authority. Yarbrough v. Decatur Housing Auth....

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Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states

The Supreme Court held in Timbs v. Indiana, 2019 WL 691578 (2019) that the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states by incorporation into the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. Tyson Timbs had pled guilty to drug crimes that had a maximum fine of $10,000 but the police had seized his car in a civil forfeiture even though the car was worth $42,000 or more than four times the maximum fine... Read more about Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause applies to the states

No sex discrimination or violation of privacy rights when trans students use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity

The Third Circuit entertained and rejected a claim by cisgender students (whose gender identity corresponds to the gender assigned at birth) that their constitutional rights to privacy and their statutory rights to be free from sex discrimination were violated when trans students were allowed to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity....

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New York City and San Francisco vote to guarantee lawyers for some or all tenants facing eviction

New York City was the first city to guarantee lawyers to most low-income tenants facing eviction. Ashley Dejean, New York Becomes First City to Guarantee Lawyers to Tenants Facing Eviction, Mother Jones, Aug. 11, 2017.. When fully in force, the law will provide legal services to tenatns...

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City has a constitutional due process obligation to notify an owner that the owner's property has been adjudicated to be blighted and subject to condemnation

Colorado statutes create a procedure for designating property as blighted and subject to condemnation and transfer either to public use or transfer to another owner. While the statute required notice when the city begins studying whether the property is blighted and when a public hearing is held, it did not require notice of a decision that the property is in fact blighted. The Tenth Circuit found this to violate the due process clause because the...

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Sex offender cannot be evicted from state-subsidized housing because of regulatory limitation imposed after the lease began

The Connecticut Supreme Court has held that a registered sex offender cannot be evicted from housing subisidized by the state when he obtained the subsidy and the housing before passage of the state law banning such assistance. Shannon v. Comm'r of Housing, 140 A.3d 903 (Conn. 2016) (see dissenting opinion...

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Admitted student status at public university held to be a property right that cannot be taken without due process of law

A federal court in Virginia has held that a student at a public university has a constitutionally-protected property interest in his place at the university and that he cannot be deprived of that right without due process of law under the fourteenth amendment. Doe v. Alger, 2016 WL 7429458 (W.D. Va. 2016).

The student faced disciplinary hearings arising oiut of...

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Sixth Amendment right to counsel prohibits state from freezing legitimate assets of a criminal defendant needed to pay for counsel of choice

The Supreme Court held in Luis v. United States, 136 S.Ct. 1083 (U.S. 2016), that the government may not prevent a criminal defendant from using funds not derived from a crime to pay for counsel of choice. No constitutional issue arose from confiscating the proceeds of a crime but the law in question froze the defendant's assets to ensure that moneys would be available to pay any eventual fines or penalties...

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