Brief of Professor Kevin Lapp, et. al., as Amici Curiae in Support of Rehearing en banc, C.J.L.G. v. Sessions, No. 16-73801

Abstract

This brief explains how the 9th Circuit panel opinion in CJLG v. Sessions refusing to recognize a right to appointed counsel for juvenile respondents in removal (deportation) proceedings creates an anomaly in the legal landscape for juvenile litigants. It argues that the same fairness concerns that have led state and federal courts and legislatures to provide juvenile litigants with appointed counsel in various civil proceedings (some of which do not involve the dire consequences of deportation, and some of which are not even adversarial) demand appointed counsel for juveniles in immigration removal proceedings.