Courts, the General Assembly, and Congress: A Status Call for Local Government Law

Responding to an emergency is an emergency … but it does not have to be. Learn useful information that both the county and municipal attorney can use to effectively provide legal guidance to clients through an emergency. The session will discuss issues that may arise from declarations and proclamations, local government powers, executive orders and enforcing them, meetings, and a myriad of other issues that may arise when the state or local government is in the state of an emergency.

Learn about efforts to eliminate qualified immunity, the move toward civilian review boards, endeavors to require police discipline arbitration decisions to be subject to broader judicial review, and the staggering differences in how excessive force claims against police are handled now (2020) compared to then (2019).

Learn about current challenges to rights guaranteed under the First and Second Amendment. Understand recent case law and how the pandemic, protests and riots impact the rights of speech, assembly, and petition, as well as the right to bear arms. Get guidance on maintaining public safety while preserving these fundamental rights in the context of an extraordinary new world.