Pro Bono Pros

Jill (00:06)
Welcome to this episode of Sisters Sidebar with Barb McQuade and me, Jill Wine-Banks. If you have a question for us, please email us at sistersinlaw at politicon.com or tag us on social media using hashtag sisters in law. But don’t just type them. We can play your question in your own voice without our reading it. We love to hear your voice, so send Sisters Sidebar your questions in your own voice. Email us a voice.

memo using one of our note apps and we might play it on the show. Well let’s get started. We have a lot of great questions and Barb the first question is an audio question from Steve for you.

Barb (00:50)
Sisters, this is Steve, and I enjoy listening

to you here in Sunny Fort Lauderdale. I read another news article this week about an ICE agent threatening someone with a gun without any apparent justification. It seems to be an all too common occurrence and one that has no place in our democracy. It got me think

Jill (01:07)
King.

Barb (01:08)
Do courts possess any inherent constitutional or equitable

Jill (01:12)
Authority.

Barb (01:13)
to provide a remedy in this case?

When a government agent abuses his power? For example, are there fundamental principles similar, I believe it’s called parens putriae authority to protect children that place some matters beyond Congress’s ability to completely fortificial

Jill (01:31)
Clothes.

Barb (01:33)
intervention? Thanks for considering my question and making our world more informed and hopeful. Wait, thanks, Steve. That’s a really interesting question. It seems like in a just world.

Courts would be able to do something about this, right? Because it is clearly in violation of the law. But our our Constitution separates powers and the power to bring a prosecution publicly is devoted to the executive branch. And so there are some cases about this, you know, runaway grand juries where they want to indict somebody that the prosecutor doesn’t want to indict.

You may recall the case of Eric Adams where D.O.J. wanted to dismiss the case and the judge, you know, recognized that it was clearly an abuse of power by the Justice Department. And so the answer’s really no. it is really the executive branch that has the power. Certainly civil lawsuits can be brought by individuals if they think there is some harm done. There are a lot of obstacles though, because of immunity that’s granted to various federal and

federal agents as well as state police officers, so it can be difficult to hold them accountable, but civil, private causes of action are a possibility. But courts themselves don’t have the power to do that. They really have to rely on prosecutors. And what’s problematic is in the current administration, we’ve got a Justice Department that seems pretty hands-off when it comes to any federal agent, including ICE agents, who are overstepping their legal bounds.

All right, Jill, here’s one for you. It comes from Christina who asks, is it true or not that if you’re married to a US citizen, you can have a green card and a right to be here? Is the movie The Proposal a total lie? Has this changed?

Jill (03:23)
So, Christina, I knew the answer to the first part of your question, but I had to look up the movie The Proposal to see what that was about. and the answer is sort of, because I I knew the answer to the first part because I actually did have an slight immigration practice when I was in private practice. And so I actually represented one of our clients who was marrying a Frenchman and had to prove

That the marriage was a real marriage, that they really were in a relationship, that it wasn’t a fraud, which is what was happening in the proposal. but you don’t automatically get a green card. You have to apply, and it’s quite complicated. You have to file a form I-130 and an I-485. You have to go through consular processing, you have to attend an interview where the two of you will be separated.

And each of the parties will be asked what’s his favorite color, what’s you know, s weird sort of questions that if you’re really know the person, you would know. But if it’s a fraud, then you wouldn’t know. And so it’s it’s an interesting process to determine that it is a bona fide marriage. And there also has to be something to show that the person will not become a burden on the state, that there’s financial means to go ahead.

And that’s how it goes. So you have to apply, but you are entitled to it if you can prove that the marriage is real.

Barb (04:57)
prosecuted a marriage fraud case. We had ring. Really? And there was yeah, and there was, you know, somebody who who’d gone through the ring and there was a they videotaped these interviews with the couples. and it was the wife who was the US citizen and the man who was married her, in a you know, a a a marriage just to get citizenship or green card. And about halfway through the interview, she just, I don’t know. I don’t know the answers to these questions. We’re not married. Which you know, they paid me

And I you know, just after like what color is this toothbrush and all this? She’s like, Stop just stop. Just stop right now. I I I don’t know any of this.

Jill (05:34)
There used to be a quiz show like that. You know, I don’t know if you remember, I don’t remember the name of it, but The Newlywed Game. The Newlywed Game, that was it. Yes. Yes, yes. Well, my clients were legitimately in a relationship. and they were both very what well, at the time I thought elderly from my current stance. I’m not sure they were. No, they were definitely more than that. but yeah, it was a real marriage and they they got all the

You know, they got the green card, so no problem.

Barb (06:08)
A love story with a happy ending.

Jill (06:11)
Another great question, Barb, for you from Loretta. As a poll worker, I’m aware November will get spicy. that’s putting it mildly. But to be prepared, what’s the legal line between election monitoring and election intimidation? This is right up your alley with your book, The Fix, right?

Barb (06:30)
Yeah, so great question, Loretta, and thank you for volunteering to be a poll worker. I too have volunteered to be a poll worker, although I found out today in Michigan you get paid. So they said you can earn up to three hundred dollars. Now I probably won’t get the that’s probably for like a supervisor or something. I’ll be like on the the low level front lines. But it’s great that you’re being a poll worker and thank you for your work. each state has its own rules about this because there are two different things, right? There are election inspectors who work for

the clerk’s office, and then other organizations, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and other organizations are permitted to sign up to be election monitors. And there are strict rules about what they can and cannot do. And that is to prevent election intimidation. So typically they’re not allowed to talk to voters directly. They’re not allowed to touch certain things. They’re not allowed to be in certain areas. Usually when you’re an election monitor, you come in at the beginning of the shift,

And you introduce yourself to the election inspectors who are working there on behalf of the government. And you say, you know, I’m here, here’s my cr you have have a credential. Here’s my credential. I’m with whatever organization, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, whatever it is, and I’m here to monitor. Typically, these people will have gone through training to know what they can and cannot do. But if they violate the rules, the election inspector is allowed to remove them and say, you have to leave.

if they won’t leave to call for authorities to come in and remove them. Because what they can’t do is things like talk directly to voters, qu question voters directly. They can challenge them in the book and say, I have reason to believe this person is not authorized to vote here. Now how they might know that, they can’t do that for everybody. They have to usually have some bona fide reason. Now maybe I know someone’s not a a citizen. Maybe I know that someone lives out of this jurisdiction. most often

It’s strangers coming up. And most often what happens, I’ve I’ve done this, I’ve done this in all a variety of roles. most often the the biggest problem that happens is human error where somebody doesn’t know the rules. Most often the election inspectors are well trained and they will keep people in line if anybody crosses the line between election monitoring and election intimidation. But as we saw here in Michigan in the 20

twenty elections, sometimes people come in large packs too for the purpose of intimidating. And that’s when it can get a little hairy and people have to be reminded of the rules or even excluded from the polling place. So that can happen, but luckily I’m gonna be well trained and I’m prepared to defend democracy.

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Jill (10:31)
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Barb (12:06)
Jill, here’s one for you that comes to us from joy.

Jill (12:09)
A few evenings ago, I met a young waiter at a local restaurant in California who escaped Ukraine because of the war. He currently has a US visa, but it is expiring in the next couple of months, and the government will not re leave the US, but he has no idea where he can go and be safe. Do you know of any pro bono organizations or legal aid groups that could help him with his situation so he may be able to remain in the US?

If ever there was a refugee who deserves support, it is him. Thank you for any information you can provide. Thank you for this question and thank you for your concern about your fellow human being. I have put together a list of possible sources of pro bono lawyers. And I’m gonna put them in the show notes because it’s pretty complicated, but you could actually Google in your own community.

For pro bono immigration lawyers. and many organizations have a full list of people. Your local and state bar association probably has something, Catholic Charities has something, the National Council of Jewish Women often has links to people who will help with immigration. so there are a lot of lists, but please look at what we’re putting in our show notes as a way to help this person who.

may otherwise be sent back to Ukraine, a dangerous place right now. And Barb, there’s a question that was sent to us from Nancy in writing. She wants to know what happens to people’s assets if they die without a will. Great question.

Barb (13:54)
It is a great question. I’ve actually been going through an estate these days myself, having lost a close family member recently. fortunately they died with a will, which made it easy. If a person dies without a will, their estate gets adjudicated through probate court. You may see these signs about electing probate judges or who’s a probate judge. And one of the things they do is when people die without a will, they will appoint an executor to handle that person’s estate.

And what they will do is they will gather up all that person’s assets, which takes some work, right? They have to do an investigation into their bank accounts, any real estate they might own, any financial assets they have, figure out what they own. And then they have to work pretty hard to find family members. They will look first for immediate family members, then for more distant family members. You know, you see these old-time movies where a long-lost aunt has died.

without any other heirs except you and you’ve won, you know, you you you get her castle in the countryside in England or something like that. but they really do look to find these assets, to be able to give it to somebody. And if they can’t find anybody, there’s no one left, then all that money goes to the state. And so it’s a reason for everybody to have a will because what happens is who gets who pays this executor? Well it comes out of the estate. And so they

the all that work that they’ve done to gather up the assets and to find the heirs and ultimately to conclude they couldn’t find any and go to state, they’re getting paid for their work. And that all comes out of the estate. And so it really is a good a a good reminder that everybody should have a will, even a simple will that just says, here’s where I want it to go. And if you don’t have any family members, you can always send it to a charitable cause of your but at least it’s your choice. If you want it to go to the state, that’s fine too. But

If you know, you have a a favorite cause, you have the ability to direct your assets to go wherever you want them to.

Jill (15:49)
Yeah, and the laws of intake in states vary, but you may find that it’s going to a sibling who you did not want to get any assets if you don’t have a will. So it’s wouldn’t you rather give the money to charity than have it go to the state?

Barb (16:10)
All right, Joe, we got one for you. Here’s the last one. It comes from Sean who asks, what does it mean to vacate a conviction?

Jill (16:19)
Well, that’s an interesting question. And let me just say there are some similar acts. There’s vacating it, there’s a pardon, and there’s also

Barb (16:31)
A

Jill (16:32)
expungement. So let’s talk about all of them so you can understand the differences because the vacating means the case is dismissed. It’s the original either guilty plea or the finding of guilt is dismissed. It’s like

didn’t happen. It’s generally clears your record from public view so no one can see it. and it won’t show up on a standard job background check, so that can be a big advantage to somebody. but it’s different than expungement, which completely erases the record as if it had never ever happened. and it doesn’t automatically restore rights like the right to own a gun. so that’s what vacated conviction means.

and you don’t just get it out of nowhere. You have to apply for it. You file a motion, you have to appear before a court. The prosecutor has to be notified that you’re trying to vacate the conviction. And then there’s a hearing before a judge. And usually there has to be some reason for it. You have to have served your sentence and shown that you’re a good citizen. you don’t just get to go in and say, I didn’t like this. I want it removed so that I can go about my life without any

you know, restrictions like for example, if you were a sex offender and you have certain rules about where you can live, that would be lifted if it’s expunged, or vacated. And so that’s that’s what it is. It basically changes history.

Barb (18:02)
Thank you for listening to Sister Sidebar with Joe Weinbanks and me, Barb McQuaid. Keep sending in more great questions for next week’s show. And if you send in a voice memo, we’ll try to play your question during our next episode. We love hearing your voices. Follow Sister Sidebar and hashtag SistersInLaw wherever you listen. And please give us a five-star review. It really helps others to find the show. Please show some love to this week’s sponsor, Bowl and Branch. The link is in the show notes. Please support them because they make this podcast possible.

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Barb (18:57)
Easy is easy peasy. That reminds me of my favorite

jill (18:57)
wasn’t easy. So easy.

Barb (19:01)
New Yorker con cartoon ever. Have you ever seen this one? The businessman on the phone. And he says, How about never? Is never good for you? He’s trying to set an appointment. See?

jill (19:12)
How about that? That worked. I hope it worked anyway.