Thank you for reading Issue 3 of Volume 32 of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy.

This Issue brings together a wide range of author backgrounds, voices, and expertise, and presents a powerful connecting thread: that people who experience poverty are here—and cannot and will not be erased by violent policies. Their goals, aspirations, beliefs, identities, and visions for the future are as diverse as America itself. This final Issue of Volume 32 is a reminder and an assertion of the importance of the impacted individuals at the center of our inequitable systems.
In our first Article of the Issue, Christopher J. Ryan and Cassie Chambers Armstrong analyze thousands of eviction cases over a five-year period in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and share first-of-its-kind findings about how lengthening the time duration of an eviction case improves a tenant’s chances of avoiding an eviction judgment. These authors hope their analysis and conclusions can inform policy change to increase two potentially priceless commodities—time and representation—within eviction proceedings. Our second article, written by Yael Rimer-Cohen, presents an engaging and historic perspective on the political power and political speech of people living in poverty. In her case study, Rimer-Cohen uses methods of narrative analysis to expose the impact of Congressional testimony by people in poverty during the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, revealing a dual narrative that will better help today’s leaders understand poverty alleviation discourses, rhetoric, and advocacy.

We are thrilled to share that all three of our Notes in Issue 3 were written by Georgetown University Law Center students. First, Jay Arora writes critically about the interplay between public art, homelessness, and urban policy through an analysis of two installations in our very own backyard: D.C.’s NoMa district. Arora powerfully situates these installments, in his own words, “within the evolving legal landscape of anti-homeless ordinances,” particularly after last term’s City of Grants Pass v. Johnson decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Next, in his Note, Yaseen Hashmi highlights timely and intersecting issues of worker protections and exploitation, information transparency, antitrust, and immigration. His piece examines how advocates for workers’ rights can subvert the coercive function of status quo information privacy norms, while evading surveillance and its ripple effects. Finally, tying everything together, in Seline Wiedemer’s Note, she explores housing discrimination and proposes a federal policy change to address the issue. Wiedemer argues for a federal law to eliminate source of income discrimination, which would not only explicitly define “source of income” but would also specifically protect housing voucher recipients within the scope of the amendment.

As the nation’s first law journal dedicated to publishing critical scholarship focused on solutions to end poverty and economic injustice, we are excited to share these five pieces with the world. Thank you, once more, to our staff, senior editors, and executive board members who made Issue 3 possible. And thank you to the GJPLP staff, our Board of Advisors, and our Faculty Advisors for putting in thousands of hours of work to bring Volume 32 to life. Finally, thank you to our authors for trusting us with your brilliant ideas and writing, and for your partner-ship over the past several months. Onward to Volume 33!

Sincerely,

Sarah Clements, Editor in Chief, Vol. 32

Renée Cordio, Co-Managing Editor, Vol. 32

Maya Hamblin, Co-Managing Editor, Vol. 32