Maya Chaudhuri

The Project

Maya (she/her/hers) will bring strategic litigation to open Texas magistration hearings in order to provide public access to court proceedings and shed light on unconstitutional practices involving cash bail and incarceration for inability to pay fines.

Across Texas, people who are disproportionately Black or Latinx are jailed following magistration hearings solely because of their inability to pay traffic debt or a monetary bond. Most of these proceedings are closed to the public and undocumented. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to unearth illegal and unconstitutional court practices and vindicate low-income arrestees’ rights.

Maya’s time as an investigator working on advocacy and litigation around criminal courts in the South drives her commitment to open courts, which are an essential step toward empowering communities to enact change in local criminal legal systems. She is passionate about challenging injustices at the intersection of race and poverty in the criminal legal system.

Fellowship Plans

In coalition and coordination with local community organizations, Maya will bring claims under the First Amendment and the Texas Constitution on behalf of members of the public and organizational plaintiffs who have been denied access to magistration hearings. She will work to ensure these hearings are open and documented through this litigation. She will draft legislation and ordinances to ensure that magistration, and all other criminal hearings, remain public. Maya will also work with interested community members to start local court watching programs so community members can ensure litigation and policy successes are preserved.

Media