The advantage of having U.S. Supreme Court panels all across the nation is that we would restore access to the highest court instead of having little fiefdom courts that try to avoid imposing Supreme Court precedents.
Andrew Straw articles
Andrew Straw, a Democracy Chronicles columnist since 2018, is a person with disabilities who practiced disability law and engages in disability law reform advocacy. Straw was a Virginia lawyer and has served as corporate counsel for billionaire Alan M. Voorhees, who designed the Interstate Highway System and the Metro in Washington DC. Straw then worked for the Chief Justice of Indiana and was the assistant dean in charge of the International Programs at Indiana University-Maurer School of Law. Straw remains a member of the bar in good standing since 1999 at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
He grew up in Indiana, where his brother, a retired USAF captain and twice a critical care trauma nurse veteran of Afghanistan, ran as a Democratic candidate for sheriff of Hamilton County in 2018. Jason Straw was head of Indiana NORML and still seeks reforms of the state’s marijuana laws like most other states have. Jason is known as “Captain Cannabis.”
Andrew Straw was born at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, where his father was training as a U.S. Marine for his Vietnam War duty. Straw was thus poisoned on the first days of his life but was denied compensation and health care. MDL-2218; Straw v. Wilkie, 843 F. App’x 263 (Fed. Cir. 1/15/2021); Straw v. United States, 4 F.4th 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2021). Straw started a group for people born or poisoned there called Children of Camp LeJeune in 2015. Congress voted to compensate people like Straw and his dead mother from the poisoning (S. 3373, Title VIII, Sec. 804). This new law passed the U.S. House by 342-88 and the U.S. Senate by 86-11. "Camp LeJeune Justice Act of 2022" was signed by President Biden on August 10, 2022.
Straw is a 9/11 victim, having been exposed to the toxic dust South of Canal Street in New York City in October 2001, with respiratory and throat illness.
Straw has visited 16 countries and has lived in the United States, Italy, New Zealand, Turkey, and the Philippines. Straw provided services to the Italian Foreign Ministry as a contractor and passed the written U.S. Foreign Service Officer Test in 1998. A National Merit Scholar, Andrew Straw’s CV can be found here. Straw has lived in the Philippines for over 5 years, starting June 2018, studying disability access in that country, but may one day return to the United States when the human rights violations against him stop.
He is an asylum seeker due to the discrimination and human rights violations of state and federal courts in the USA. Andrew Straw lives just 1374 km from where his father was stationed in Vietnam. See also. Straw is engaging in pro se civil rights and constitutional law reform from a distance.
Straw claims the certiorari system limiting access to the U.S. Supreme Court is unconstitutional under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment. If his lawsuit is successful, this will open the gates to 7,000+ appeals to the Supreme Court each year that are arbitrarily denied now without a merits decision in each. Such a reform would be the biggest pro-access change in federal court policy since the American Founding. Straw v. United States, 23-16039 (9th Cir.). He is pursuing these massive changes without any help, pro se and in forma pauperis, after being denied certiorari himself 13x from 2014 to 2022.
Notably, Straw's law license property rights have been denied at all levels, from state trial court to U.S. Supreme Court.
Judicial Weapons in the War Against Disability Civil Rights Lawyers
Maybe one day I will be able to escape this and get back to my disability civil rights leadership. Maybe one day, there will even be an apology from the 7th Circuit. Not holding my breath except for the manure.
Camp LeJeune Poisoning Reform Must be Prioritized
It is agonizingly slow trying to get justice for those born and poisoned at Camp LeJeune. I asked to overturn the denial of my Camp LeJeune Family Member Program application. I am still waiting.
Consequences of the Camp LeJeune Poisoning to Me and My Family
The Marine Corps and the judges who have been violating my disability and constitutional rights. They must be punished. Otherwise, more tragedies will happen as U.S. Marines are ordered to cut corners.
Virginia Can Fix Signature Gathering For Disabled Candidates
I have a suggestion that would improve the ability of disabled candidates and disabled voters to connect with each other and enable petitions for ballot access to be signed.
Court Decision Could Open Access to the Ballot for Disabled Candidates
It makes no sense at all for states to be registering people to vote online, but then not using that same system to make it easy for voters to sign ballot access petitions.
Docsmit: New Tool Helps Regular People Access the Legal System
Sometimes, when a person wishes to file a lawsuit to have their rights enforced, the Court requires paper filings through the U.S. Mail. In 2018, this seems like an archaic method of filing documents, and it is archaic. Enter Docsmit.
How ADA Reform Legislation Can Expand American Democracy
When the ADA and Rehab Act can be used to expand democratic inclusion, that’s the moment when people with disabilities can make that great leap forward into public office, even if they are poor and disabled.
Disability, Democracy and Mixed-Member Proportional Representation
New Zealand’s Mixed-Member Proportional election system would be good for disabled people in the United States because disability concerns could be heard in Congress more easily.
On Restoring the Right to Appeal to the Supreme Court
The easiest way to change this system is for Congress and the president to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1925 and give us back the right to appeal to the Supreme Court. That’s the system given to us by James Madison.