On September 8, 2020, Swords to Plowshares and NVLSP called on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to do away with its unlawful eligibility rules that fail to honor and protect those who were unjustly separated from the military with a less-than-honorable discharge. The comments were filed with the pro bono assistance of Latham & Watkins LLP and the Veterans Legal Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School. (Read More)

NVLSP joined MOAA and more than 30 other VSOs to help advance amendments to FY2021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for presumptive coverage of bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinsonism for veterans who are suffering from these diseases as a result of exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. The groups also advocated for adoption of hypertension as a presumptive disease. See letters to the House and Senate Leadership here.

 

On August 6, 2020, NVLSP prevailed before a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a class action brought on behalf of the thousands of organizations and individuals who have been overcharged by the government since 2010 to gain access to all federal court case dockets using the PACER electronic database. In the case styled National Veterans Legal Services Program v. United States, the Court of Appeals agreed with NVLSP that the PACER fees were excessive and that they were being wrongly used to fund government programs not authorized by Congress.  The Court also indicated that these fees represented an impediment to the First Amendment right of access to courts. (Read More)