ICAP, in partnership with Civil Rights Corps, represents the Choosing Justice Initiative (CJI) and its executive director, Dawn Deaner, in a federal civil rights lawsuit against judges of the Davidson County Criminal Court in Nashville, Tennessee. The suit was filed after the judges threatened Deaner with contempt of court and professional disciplinary action for her advocacy work. CJI’s mission is to ensure that indigent defendants receive their Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel by helping them navigate the court-appointment system and, where necessary, challenging the quality of the representation provided by the state.
The litigation centers on the First Amendment right of advocates and organizations to assist litigants in accessing the courts and to speak publicly about judicial administration. ICAP argues that the judges’ threats constitute unconstitutional retaliation designed to silence a critic of the county’s indigent defense system.
