Boies Schiller Flexner, along with co-counsel at the Center for Constitutional Rights and Lambda Legal, has filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a transgender woman who was sexually assaulted while incarcerated in a male prison.
The brief was filed on behalf of 16 nonprofit and grassroots organizations, including the ACLU and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, that are dedicated to eradicating discrimination and violence against transgender individuals. It argues that the federal government has a responsibility under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) and the Eighth Amendment to protect vulnerable incarcerated people, including transgender prisoners, and that it cannot evade liability for harm committed against prisoners in its care by citing the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act. The Boies Schiller Flexner attorneys working on the matter are Joanna Wright, David Simons, and Erica Sweeting.