Horton v. Rangos (Amicus Brief)

On July 3, 2024, the ACLU filed an amicus brief in Horton v. Rangos, a case challenging unwarranted and prolonged incarceration pending probation revocation proceedings. The lawsuit, brought by Civil Rights Corps and the Abolitionist Law Center, contends that Allegheny County, Pennsylvania’s practice of incarcerating people accused of probation violations—for months or years—without a meaningful assessment of their risk to the community violates the U.S. and Pennsylvania Due Process Clauses.

In 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled, on a motion for summary judgment, that people facing probation revocation do not have the right to seek release pending their revocation proceedings, even when they are accused of “technical violations” which would not otherwise constitute a crime (such as missing a meeting) or low-level offenses for which they would otherwise be released pending trial. This decision relied on language from two 1970s-era Supreme Court opinions to suggest that people on probation have limited due process rights.

The ACLU’s brief argues that being on probation does not limit an individual’s due process rights where, as in Allegheny County, probation no longer serves its original rehabilitative purpose. As the brief explains, probation was designed in the 19th century to spare people from prison and help them rehabilitate within their community. The Supreme Court relied on this understanding that supervision helps people avoid incarceration in Morrissey v. Brewer (1972) and Gagnon v. Scarpelli (1973) when it articulated the “minimum” procedures required prior to revoking probation and parole.

Yet in the more than five decades since the Court decided Morrissey and Gagnon, probation has fundamentally transformed. Today, probation is characterized by close surveillance, stringent enforcement of onerous conditions, and harsh punishments for minor slip-ups. Instead of serving as a diversion from prison, courts regularly impose probation in low-level cases that otherwise might result in lesser sanctions, such as fines. As a result, scores of people in Allegheny County today are jailed for alleged violations despite posing no inherent risk to the community. The ACLU’s brief argues that in such a punitive system, due process requires suitability-for-release assessments to prevent unwarranted incarceration.