The Brennan Center filed an amicus brief in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Rhode Island district court’s settlement conference process. The program, which is being challenged by some bankers, helps borrowers and lenders negotiate affordable loan modification that restore value to distressed mortgage loans and keep families in their homes.

In 2008, California voters enacted Proposition 9, which would severely abridge the provision of counsel to parolees and increase the risk that parolees are wrongly or unnecessarily returned to prison. A group of parolees, along with the Brennan Center and other groups dedicated to ending unnecessary incarceration, are now in fighting in federal court for the continued right to counsel in all revocation hearings.