NCLEJ Joins Amicus Brief in Virginia Driver’s License Lawsuit

NCLEJ signed on to an amicus brief in Stinnie v. Holcomb, a class action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Virginia’s statute automatically suspending the driver’s licenses of hundreds of thousands of Virginia drivers who cannot afford to pay court costs and fines. The Legal Aid Justice Center brought the lawsuit to end the statutory scheme, which has resulted in nearly one million Virginia drivers currently having at least one suspension on their license for failure to pay, including approximately 650,000 people whose licenses are suspended solely for not paying court costs and fines. The amicus brief advises the Court “regarding the important civil rights issues at stake, and the devastating impact that Virginia’s statutory license suspension scheme has had on some of the Commonwealth’s poorest citizens, especially its poor black citizens.”

NCLEJ joins 17 civil rights and poverty law organizations from all over the country, 16 law professors, and the Institute for Justice on the brief. To read more about the lawsuit, go to http://www.justice4all.org/drive.