Paul, Weiss Files Third Circuit Amicus Brief in Support of Release of Detainees at Risk of Contracting COVID-19

Paul, Weiss filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on behalf of certain public health and human rights experts in support of the release of immigration detainees who are at high risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19. The brief explains the heightened risk of death and serious illness that COVID-19 poses to older individuals and those with certain underlying conditions, as well as the danger of the spread of COVID-19 in enclosed environments like jails, prisons and detention centers.

The Third Circuit brief is the 17th amicus brief seeking the release of at-risk detainees and inmates that Paul, Weiss has filed in collaboration with the ACLU National Prison Project and local ACLU affiliates, which includes amicus briefs filed in the Ninth Circuit, the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Central District of California, the Southern District of California, the Western District of New York, the Southern District of Texas, the District of Maryland, the Northern District of Ohio, the District of Arizona, the Eastern District of Michigan, the Washington State Supreme Court, the Hawaii Supreme Court and the First Department of New York. To date, the amicus briefs filed in these matters have contributed to the release of more than 20 individuals housed in detention centers, jails and prisons across the country. The Paul, Weiss work on these matters is ongoing, with additional amicus briefs planned to be filed this week in the District of Oregon and the Western District of Washington.

The Paul, Weiss team includes litigation partners Joseph Bial, Susanna Buergel and Roberto Finzi, counsel Darren Johnson and associates Megan Gao, Benjamin Gitlin, David Kimball-Stanley, Avery Medjuck, Hank Topper and Jonathan Wall.