{"id":28344,"date":"2025-09-24T13:54:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T17:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=28344"},"modified":"2025-09-24T13:54:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T17:54:39","slug":"sen-ossoff-leads-effort-to-protect-americans-civil-rights-in-federal-courts","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-leads-effort-to-protect-americans-civil-rights-in-federal-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Leads Effort to Protect Americans\u2019 Civil Rights in Federal Courts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is leading an effort to protect civil rights in Federal courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff is spearheading a new inquiry into numerous Federal courts\u2019 reported failures to uphold Americans\u2019&nbsp;civil rights as they await a full trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freedomdenied.law.uchicago.edu\/report\">recent study<\/a>, in numerous Federal courts across the country, judges jail defendants without lawyers at initial appearance hearings, in violation of their civil rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEnsuring that every person is afforded legal counsel at their first appearance before a federal judge is not only a statutory requirement\u2014it is a foundational protection for our adversarial legal system,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>wrote Sen. Ossoff.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cGiven the gravity of these findings, I urge the Judicial Conference to prioritize this issue as a matter of urgent concern and bring the offending district courts into compliance with federal law immediately to ensure that no individual is jailed without the benefit of legal representation at the outset of their case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the study, proceeding unrepresented at an initial appearance severely disadvantages defendants, leading to increased pretrial detention rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues working to ensure civil and human rights are safeguarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In May, Sens. Ossoff and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced the bipartisan&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sens-ossoff-cruz-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-help-solve-civil-rights-cold-cases\/\"><em>Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;to help secure justice for civil rights cold case victims and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, President Biden signed into law Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/signed-into-law-sens-ossoff-braun-durbin-reps-mcbath-armstrongs-bipartisan-federal-prison-oversight-act\/\"><em>Federal Prison Oversight Act<\/em><\/a>, prison reform legislation to overhaul independent oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prison\u2019s 122 facilities nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/25.09.19-Access-to-Counsel-at-Initial-Appearances-Letter.pdf\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read Sen. Ossoff\u2019s letter to the Judicial Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is leading an effort to protect civil rights in Federal courts. Sen. Ossoff is spearheading a new inquiry into numerous Federal courts\u2019 reported failures to uphold Americans\u2019&nbsp;civil rights as they await a full trial. According to a&nbsp;recent study, in numerous Federal courts across the country, judges jail defendants without [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28344","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/28344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/28344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28345,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/28344\/revisions\/28345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}