When the Courtroom Fails: Why More Families Are Choosing Alternatives to Court Divorce
The Bottom Line Court-based divorces are fundamentally adversarial. They create financial incentives to escalate conflict, drag proceedings out for years,…
Rita Williams
Rita Williams is a Michigan-based judicial oversight analyst and founder of Clutch Justice, an investigative platform focused on court system accountability, sentencing integrity, and SCAO policy. Her work examines how courts, policies, and administrative systems operate in practice, with a focus on where process breaks down and harm is created. Drawing on lived experience and systems-level analysis, she writes to make legal structures more readable, expose institutional gaps, and advocate for reforms grounded in both evidence and human impact. Rita’s writing bridges legal analysis, institutional critique, and public education, with a consistent focus on accountability without losing sight of the people most affected by the justice system.
24 Years Later, Michigan Still Ignores the Whistleblower Who Tried to Save Family Court — and Survivors Like Christine Morrison Are Still Fighting
The Bottom Line In 2001, Michigan’s first acting JTC director warned Attorney General Jennifer Granholm that family courts were retaliating…
PREA in Principle, Violated in Practice
The Bottom Line A lawsuit alleges that approximately 500 women at Michigan’s Huron Valley Women’s Correctional Facility were recorded nude…
5 Reasons to Think Twice Before Moving to Barry County — Courts in Chaos and Reform Stalled
Barry County’s justice system presents a measurable operational risk to defendants, attorneys, and taxpayers due to patterns of appellate reversals,…
How to Protect Yourself from a Frivolous or Vexatious Litigant in Michigan — Without a Law Degree
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an…
Life Beyond Life: Michigan Events Spotlight the Urgent Fight to End Juvenile Life Without Parole
This month, Safe & Just Michigan is bringing two powerful events to the state aimed at changing one of the…
You’ve Been Targeted By a Vexatious Litigant. Now What?
None of what I’m about to share is legal advice; just the musings of a former policy wonk and strategist….
The Right to Be Left Alone: When Journalists Are (and Aren’t) Public Figures
Read more about Michigan’s proposed Anti-SLAPP legislation, HB 4045 The “right to be left alone” is one of the most…
What to Do If a Public Figure Threatens to Sue You in Michigan
There’s nothing that rattles a reporter quite like a letter from a lawyer with bolded words like “DEFAMATION” and “IMMEDIATE…
Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline: How Artificial Intelligence Could Help Dismantle a Broken System
For decades, advocates have warned about the school-to-prison pipeline, the pattern where disciplinary practices push students, especially Black, Brown, disabled, and…
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