While a court clerk fought to the last ditch against press access, a box on the counter in Ventura’s state court stood as a symbol of access past and future.
Screenshot of U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, during an interview with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
LOS ANGELES (CN) On the counter in Ventura Superior Court sat the ghost of access past, a white, plastic press box.
It came from the days of old when new cases were filed in paper and the local press was strong. But in 2011, when Courthouse News first challenged the Ventura court clerk on First Amendment grounds, it sat useless on the counter.
Meet 14 ABA members who inspired us in 2020
Year in Review
Throughout the year, the ABA Journal profiles exceptional ABA members in its Members Who Inspire series. In 2020, we featured attorneys from across the country whose important and influential work includes using visual storytelling for legal advocacy, bringing attention to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, and combating racial injustice and inequity.
LaToya Bell, an assistant public defender in Houston County in Georgia, handles as many as 200 to 250 cases involving misdemeanors and traffic offenses in state court. She also played a significant role in launching the first drug court in the county and establishing a wills clinic that prepares estate planning documents for local first responders and veterans.