Virus Snitching: Sign of the Times

It has been demonstrated, and widely reported since May, that near-universal mask wearing at 80% of the population or higher is crucial to flattening the COVID curve. Like Cheerios are part of a balanced breakfast, 80% compliance is effective as a complement to social distancing and excellent hand hygiene: all three are necessary to flatten the curve and get life back to near normal as we wait for a vaccine.

The fact that COVID death rates continue to rise in 30 US states and territories demonstrates how much Americans are struggling to implement solutions like near-universal mask wearing, hand hygiene, and social distancing. So far, roughly 160 days into this crisis, an effective way to get widespread buy-in on these public health initiatives has eluded us.

Person-to-person confrontation has proved unsuccessful and even dangerous, so communities have looked to leadership for norms enforcement. If the carrot of flattening the curve and saving lives won’t do the trick, leaders have increasingly reasoned, maybe the stick of consequence will. We now see many examples: anti-maskers have been arrested, had their businesses fined, and even been threatened with expulsion from elite colleges.

Because those with the authority to enforce cannot be present in all places at all times, they have increasingly relied on average citizens (and students) to “snitch” on people and businesses who refuse to comply. Many municipalities in Texas, including locally, have created hotlines to call to snitch on enemies of hygiene. The City of Frisco faced backlash when it added a feature to its app allowing residents to snitch without even making a call. Some states have created state-wide hotlines. The NBA set up its own hotline to snitch on people violating the now-famous bubble. Some colleges are encouraging student snitches to contact campus police, raising concerns among some that students of color who flout public health initiatives might face disproportionate consequence over white students. All of this puts average people in a difficult position as they have to weigh the value of ending our national COVID crisis against potential personal and societal ramifications of snitching.

Looking to snitch? Click here for who to contact in Harris, Fort Bend, or Galveston counties.

Service of Process Through Social Media Approved by Texas Supreme Court

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/

In 2013, a bill was introduced in the Texas legislature to allow substituted service through social media websites. We wrote about if for this blog in August 2018. The 2013 bill was never referred to committee, and the subject was not addressed again until last year when the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 891. This bill directed the Texas Supreme Court to adopt rules under Section 17.033, Civil Practice and Remedies Code that would “provide for the substituted service of citation by an electronic communication sent to a defendant through a social media presence.”

According to the high court’s Order, “the court may authorize service…in any other manner, including electronically by social media, email, or other technology, that…will be reasonably effective to give the defendant notice of the suit.” In deciding to authorize substituted service in this manner, the court may consider such factors as: the defendant maintains a social media page on the specified website; the profile on the social media page is indeed the profile of the defendant; the defendant regularly accesses the social media account; and the defendant can reasonably be expected to receive actual notice if the electronic communication is sent to the defendant’s social media account.

The amendments will take effect on December 31, but public comments submitted to the court until December 1, will be considered if any changes to the amendments are deemed necessary.

Houston Civil Rights Org Files Lawsuit to Enforce SCOTUS DACA Ruling

Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL) Houston has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to compel the Trump administration to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of Univ. of Cal., which was widely interperted to mean the executive branch must begin processing the tens of thousands of backlogged Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications.

Despite the fact that the Court held DACA must immediately be reinstated, as the United States District Court for the District of Maryland also held on July 17, to its “pre-September 5, 2017 status,” the Executive Branch has resisted. Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad F. Wolf, released a memo directing his agency to shorten DACA renewals, end the policy of allowing applicants with pending status to leave and then reenter the United States, and “to take all appropriate actions to reject all pending and future initial requests for DACA.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) described the actions outlined in the memo as “patently ilegal.” In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, University of Houston Law Center Professor Emeritus Michael Olivas explained, “The Supreme Court said you can’t shut it down without going through the proper channels, which they [DHS] have not yet done.”

“Nobody is above the law,” said Cesar Espinosa, Director of FIEL Houston. “If the Supreme Court gave a decision, [the Trump administration] needs to take action immediately.” His organization filed suit because, he explained, “These young people cannot wait anymore.”

The Houston Chronicle estimates the number of so-called “Dreamers” in Texas would double if the Trump administration accepted both new and outstanding DACA applications.

National Conference of Bar Examiners Clarifies Position on Menstrual Products

As the United States continues to struggle to flatten the COVID curve, one of its innumerable areas of impact has been bar exam administration. Under normal circumstances, aspiring attorneys nationwide would have sat for the bar starting July 28, with little thought or attention from the rest of the legal community. But as jurisdictions scramble (or don’t) to adjust long-standing policies around licensure, it has brought attention from lawyers and legal academics to all aspects of the process.

The most luminous spotlight of scrutiny has hit on an area that might surprise many readers: multiple jurisdictions, including Texas, ban test-takers from bringing menstrual products to the examination. Critics argue this places a disproportionate burden on women bar applicants.

Arizona, for one, said it would mitigate any such impact by providing free supplies in women’s restrooms. But attorneys and bar candidates say this doesn’t go far enough for a wide range of reasons, including that COVID makes it unsafe to touch products handled by other test-takers, that products provided may not be adequate for the needs of all test-takers in need of such items, and that transgender test-takers who menstruate may not have access to the women’s restroom. Facing extensive pressure on social media, Arizona capitulated and said they will allow examinees to provide their own products.

Menstrual products are not the only medically necessary items banned from testing sites. For example, Iowa appears to also ban inhalers.

The National Conference of Bar Examiners responded to inquiries from Law360, explaining that it does not support bans on menstrual products. “We have recently contacted all jurisdictions to clarify any misunderstanding about our policy,” NCBE spokesperson Valerie Hickman told Law360, “and to let them know that we strongly discourage any prohibition on allowing candidates to bring their own menstrual products into the testing room.”

#StayHomeWorkSafe with Free Access to Westlaw Edge

The Stay Home Work Safe order in Harris County remains in effect until April 30. As we all do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19, access to digital legal research resources remains critical. That’s why we are pleased to report that Thomson Reuters is providing free access to Westlaw Edge for Harris County Law Library patrons!

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Free Access to Westlaw Edge

To help you keep researching while you stay home and work safe, you can sign up for a free Westlaw Edge account that extends the typical 7-day trial to give you 20 hours of research through June 30, 2020. Edge is the latest research platform from Westlaw that integrates artificial-intelligence search capabilities with Thomson Reuter’s catalog of must-have titles and tools for legal researchers. Access Keycite, headnotes, annotations, and more legal research necessities for free while you work remotely. To get started, download the instructions:

Please note: if you’ve subscribed to Westlaw in the past or signed up for a trial account, the email address you used may not be eligible for this offer.

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Keep Researching with free access to Lexis, HeinOnline, Fastcase, and more!

Westlaw joins a growing number of legal research database providers who are extending free access during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, we shared news about an offer from LexisNexis to make Lexis Advance database subscriptions available to all Harris County Law Library patrons. Additional options include:

• The Texas State Law Library offers access to several databases to all Texans through its website. If you are in Texas, you can sign up for a free account and learn more about accessing Lexis eBooks, Fastcase, HeinOnline, and more at https://guides.sll.texas.gov/electronic-databases/remote.

• Update! Casetext is offering free access to its AI-powered legal research platform through May 31 for attorneys who are unable to access their usual research resources. More details at https://casetext.com/covid-access/.

• Texas Bar Books is offering free access to the Texas Guardianship Manual Online through May 31. The Manual includes a wide range of power of attorney and advance directive documents that many attorneys will find useful while assisting clients during the current public health concerns.

• New Emergency Procedure Forms from the Texas Family Law Practice Manual are now available for free online. The new forms help attorneys and litigants request modification of deadlines, leave to appear remotely, and other procedures in family courts during times of public emergency.

• Visit the Harris County Law Library’s Online Legal Research Tools page to learn more about free access to digital legal materials at your fingertips!

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Document Delivery from the Law Library’s Legal Research Databases

Even with free access to standard tools from Lexis at your disposal, not every copyrighted practice guide, form book, and treatise is available to you. Under normal circumstances, everyone has access to robust subscriptions from Lexis eBooks, Westlaw, Lexis Advance, HeinOnline, State Bar of Texas Practice Manuals, and more within steps of the courthouse on the Law Library’s research computers. To help maintain access while we’re all working remotely, our law librarians can make many of these materials available to you via email through our Virtual Reference Desk. If you need a document, let us know and one of our law librarians will provide it to you via email (subject to limitations set by the vendor) as soon as possible.