Franz Kafka, between 1923 and 1924. Credit: Wikimedia Commons In First Case of Term, Justices Review 'Kafkaesque' Alabama Procedural Bar
"What was Kafkaesque is the ruling that we couldn't challenge our inability to exhaust precisely because we haven't exhausted," said the plaintiffs' lawyer, Adam Unikowsky of Jenner & Block.
October 07, 2024 at 02:28 PM
4 minute read
The U.S. Supreme Court opened its October 2024 term Monday morning by examining what a group of plaintiffs call a "Kafkaesque" procedural rule in Alabama making it impossible for them to sue the state for violating their civil rights.
The case, Williams v. Washington, centers on a group of Alabama plaintiffs whose unemployment claims languished in the system following the COVID-19 pandemic. They filed suit under one of the nation's most prominent civil rights laws, Section 1983, alleging the state's administrative process violated their constitutional right to due process.
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