WJI's Daily Reads for Aug. 22, 2022

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Legal Action of Wisconsin receives grant to provide legal assistance to low-income individuals facing debt collectors.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Racine council member discloses city's settlement offer in open records case.

Wisconsin Department of Justice: Wisconsin attorney general signs on to amicus brief defending Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

ICWA is a critical framework for managing state-tribal relations, protecting the rights of Native American children, and preventing the unwarranted displacement of Native American children from their families and tribal communities. 

Politico: Record archiving and disclosure rules don't apply to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The executive branch is subject to detailed rules laying out what work product must be preserved, when and how it must be released to the general public, and — as Donald Trump has unhappily learned — what happens to officials who don’t play ball.

Not so for justices. (Retired Justice Stephen) Breyer, if he so chose, could toss his papers in a bonfire, auction them to the highest bidder, or ship them all to Mar-a-Lago for safekeeping. He could also hold onto them and pick and decide for himself just who gets to take a peek, ensuring that only ideologically friendly types can use the material for books and articles. In his will, he could appoint an executor to continue to enforce whatever standards he sees fit for decades or centuries to come. It’s none of your business.

Vox: Summaries of the four major investigations involving Donald Trump.

Associated Press: Federal appeals court rules that former attorney general William Barr improperly withheld memo about Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

Quartz: Incarcerated people should receive monkeypox vaccinations ASAP.

So far, only one case of monkeypox has been confirmed in a prison or jail, at Cook County Jail in Chicago, the same jail system that was one of the largest known sources of covid infections for incarcerated people in the country. More suspected cases have emerged, and like in the general population, it is likely that many cases are escaping detection because of a lack of widespread testing.

Still, the absence of large outbreaks in prisons should be taken as an opportunity to prevent the spread in what could be big sites of infection, not as a sign that inmates aren’t at risk.

The Guardian: In New York, a call for parole reforms and better medical care for seniors in prison.

“Val was given Pepto-Bismol when she went to the nurse’s office. Pepto-Bismol for cancer.”

At a rally this month, family members and friends of Valerie Gaiter, widely known as Val, as well as campaigners gathered to demand better medical care for those incarcerated and more parole opportunities, especially for elderly populations.

The Trace: State laws aiming to hold gun manufacturers accountable for gun violence.

In the last year, legislators in California, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York have passed laws that require gun companies to impose “reasonable controls” on their distribution chains and more carefully monitor how and where they sell firearms. Their greater significance, however, may lie in setting the stage for governments and private citizens to sue gunmakers by exploiting a narrow exception in PLCAA (the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act). If successful, such suits could mark the first time in nearly 20 years that gun companies have faced accountability in court for careless sales practices, and reshape how the firearms industry distributes guns to the American public.