RJ Vogt

Law360

August 09, 2020

Created by the Obama administration and closed by the Trump administration, the Justice Department's Access to Justice Office was a first-of-its-kind federal effort to ensure the right to counsel and boost funding for legal aid. Amid a historic pandemic, will lawmakers reopen it?

Law360

July 12, 2020

In 12 days, a federal eviction moratorium will expire. Most state and local protections have already come and gone. Without more grace periods and direct rental payment assistance, experts say recent eviction filing spikes in some cities look likely to turn into a nationwide "tsunami."

Law360

March 08, 2020

To overcome the deportation fears that often deter undocumented people from reporting crimes to police, the U.S. government offers visas to victims and witnesses who assist with investigations. But backlogs and processing delays mean those who come forward must wait years for protection against the attackers they exposed.

Law360

October 06, 2019

Lawyers for a notorious mass murderer are headed to the U.S. Supreme Court to argue that his sentence of life in prison without parole, issued for crimes he committed at 17, is unconstitutional. The fates of at least a dozen other lifers hang in the balance.

Law360

August 25, 2019

The Department of Justice reports that there are more pending bids for pardons and commutations than ever before. Why is the process of presidential mercy so backed up — and does the First Step Act offer a new workaround for inmates?

Law360

February 10, 2019

An estimated 100 million Americans have criminal records that follow them for life. Some states have moved to ease the burden by passing record-sealing laws for certain offenses, but the process of clearing your name can be byzantine, expensive and futile in an age where mugshots are searchable online.

Law360

June 30, 2019

For trans and nonbinary people, updating legal documents is a burdensome process that often requires court orders, proof of expensive surgeries and notarized affidavits — barriers that prevent most of them from having IDs that match who they really are.

McSweeney's Quarterly

December 15, 2017

The following is excerpted from McSweeney’s Issue 51, in light of the distressing recent arrests of journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Myanmar. A former journalist at the Myanmar Times describes the newspaper’s deterioration at the hands of censorship.

Law360

December 02, 2018

Can a state seize your car if you're caught speeding, and does it matter if that car is a Bugatti or a beat-up old clunker? The U.S. Supreme Court asked these questions and more in a case that could have huge ramifications for America's booming fines and fees industry. 

VICE Sports

April 19, 2017

The Rohingya in Myanmar have been persecuted by their government and ignored by the rest of the world. Now a group of refugees is turning to soccer in their quest for global recognition and a more hopeful identity.

Law360

February 24, 2019

More than 530 immigrant soldiers enlisted in the military through a program that promised to naturalize them as citizens, only to be discharged without warning due to purported security concerns. Now they're fighting for due process in the country they pledged to serve and facing potential persecution in the countries they left behind. 

Law360

March 03, 2019

A city granted a $21 million settlement to an exonerated man who spent 37 years behind bars, less than a year after the state paid just $1.95 million. The discrepancy in sums raises the question: how much is a wrongfully convicted person’s lost time really worth? 

Esquire

July 25, 2014

Chris Ruder bought a Spikeball set from Toys R Us in the '80s. Now he's trying to resurrect it as everything lawn darts can't be -- a worldwide, competitive sport.

The Myanmar Times

July 22, 2016

The precious metal in the ground around Indawgyi Lake in Kachin State is proving to be more of a curse than a blessing: scientists are estimating that damage caused by pollution from gold mining in the area could cause what is currently Myanmar’s largest lake to shrink by one-third within 10 years.

Outside

July 19, 2018

On a sunny April afternoon in south central Los Angeles, 22-year-old Frederick “Woon” Frazier went for a bike ride that ended his life.

Frontier Myanmar

July 01, 2017

The win over Vitaly Bigdash makes him the first Myanmar national to win a major MMA world title, and more broadly, the most successful individual Myanmar athlete on the international stage.

Law360

February 10, 2019

An estimated 100 million Americans have criminal records that follow them for life. Some states have moved to ease the burden by passing record-sealing laws for certain offenses, but the process of clearing your name can be byzantine, expensive and futile in an age where mugshots are searchable online. 

Law360

May 07, 2018

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced his resignation late Monday night after The New Yorker reported that he’d subjected four previous romantic interests to “nonconsensual physical violence" including choking, hitting and threats to kill them if they broke up with him.

VICE Sports

June 29, 2017

Aung La Nsang is the country's most famous athlete -- this context helps explain the mania that accompanies Myanmar-born Aung La Nsang on a Wednesday afternoon in Yangon, two days ahead of his ONE Championship middleweight world title fight against the undefeated Russian Vitaly Bigdash on June 30.

The Myanmar Times

August 13, 2015

In the flood-ravaged town of Sidoktaya in Magwe Region, an electric murmur fills the air, buzzing louder as National League for Democracy officials form human barriers around a small walkway. The crowd surges forward, clamouring and thrusting smartphones over the barricade of bracing bodies. The occasion is momentous for the remote village – Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is here.

Law360

October 28, 2018

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to shut down the Legal Services Corporation, America's largest single funder of civil legal aid. It's not the first time federal funding for low-income legal assistance has faced the chopping block, and it may not be the last. 

Atlas Obscura

January 05, 2016

At the end of a dirt road that twists along Bago River in the old Myanmar capital of Bago, just a 90 minute train ride from country’s largest city, Yangon, a serpent of epic proportions sits on a bed of cash.

The Myanmar Times

June 17, 2016

All over Myanmar, domestic brands such as Myanmar and Dagon have dominated the beer market since the early 1990s, when the military regime established the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) conglomerate and founded Myanmar Brewery Limited. But, like everything else in The Golden Land lately, the beer landscape is changing – rapidly. 

Law360

March 29, 2018

 U.S. Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt has died at age 87, a Ninth Circuit court spokesperson confirmed Thursday, bringing an end to the 38-year appellate court career of a liberal lion who made a name for himself authoring key opinions on topics ranging from gay marriage to immigration.

The Myanmar Times

December 09, 2016

Back in 1932, when documenting the known seismic history of then-colonial British India, academic Coggin Brown wrote a 50-page note about the deadliest earthquake in modern Myanmar memory. “One witness records visible surface waves crossing a tennis court.”

Medal of Honor Project

July 29, 2014

He’s a guy who played high school football, loves fishing, and worked with his hands his whole life. But beyond his casual exterior, Vietnam veteran Sammy Davis is also one of America's few living recipients of The Medal of Honor.