A civil rights group appears to have notched an early win in its effort to monitor Durham’s often-secretive abuse, neglect, and dependency court.
Civil Rights Corps, a legal advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., sued Durham County Judge Doretta Walker and Sheriff Clarence Birkhead last year, alleging that they had repeatedly interfered with the group’s constitutional right to “observe judicial proceedings relating to one of the most profound exercises of state power—the forcible separation of children from their parents.”
The state’s dependency courts decide what will happen to children whose parents have been accused of abuse or neglect. Due to the sensitive nature of these cases, records are sealed, and state law gives judges broad discretion to close hearings to the public—which they routinely do…