Opponents of our legal rights and protections have made increasing use of a back-door tactic to defeat legislative and constitutional mandates.

If victims of consumer fraud and workplace discrimination, environmentalists, and military detainees are barred from the courts, their rights are diminished.

Arbitration Policy.  Companies foist arbitration agreements upon consumers and workers, who are given little opportunity to grasp the full implications of the agreements and little choice but to sign them.  Because companies are repeat players, arbitrators have incentive to curry favor with them.  Moreover, companies have more information by which to choose the arbitrator most inclined to their interests.  The result is a system of private justice that is far less fair than our courts.  Alliance for Justice is working both on local and national levels to pass legislation to ensure workers and consumers have the right to bring their claims in a courtroom.

Related Resources:

• The Arbitration Amendments Act Levels the Playing Field for Consumers - fact sheet
• Mandatory Binding Arbitration: The Real Cost for Private Justice - fact sheet
  

Environmental Protection. Some judges have erected high barriers to prevent environmentalists from suing to enforce environmental protection laws.  Alliance for Justice strives to make the public aware of how judges hostile to environmental concerns can prevent environmentalists from suing.  For example, Chief Justice Roberts dissented in the Supreme Court's Massachusetts v. EPA case, arguing that the states that sued to have the EPA regulate emissions that cause global warming lacked the right to sue.  Specifically, the Chief Justice asserted that there was not sufficient proof that the emissions caused global warming, that the states were harmed by global warming, nor that abatement of emissions would mitigate any such harm.  However, the Chief Justice ignored substantial scientific evidence instead insisting on an absurd level of proof that will rarely be achievable in environmental science – effectively barring the courthouse door for many environmental claims.

Habeas Corpus. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) denied non-citizen detainees, many of whom are likely to have no connection to terrorism, habeas corpus rights – that is, the MCA allowed the United States to hold non-citizens without giving them access to a fair hearing in federal court to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.  Alliance for Justice has been at the forefront of the campaign to restore habeas corpus, engaging in extensive efforts to raise public awareness of the issue and to lobby Congress to pass legislation restoring habeas corpus.

Issue Allies

Enforcement of Arbitration Agreements:
Public Citizen
American Association for Justice
National Employment Lawyers Association
Public Justice
Center for Responsible Lending
National Association of Consumer Advocates

Habeas Corpus Restoration:
ACLU
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights First
Amnesty International

Environmentalists' Access to the Courtroom:
Earthjustice