Britney Spears deserves more “autonomy” and the right to select her next lawyer, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday after filing an amicus brief in the pop star’s conservatorship case and an offer of free assistance.
In back-to-back court filings, the ACLU asked a Los Angeles judge to facilitate a private meeting with the pop star because it believes she’s demonstrated adequate capacity to pick her next lawyer and should have all the support she needs.
The ACLU said it was aware of reports Spears already has chosen a replacement for her recently resigned court-appointed counsel Sam Ingham. But the organization said it also knew of reports that claimed she had limited access to the internet and private phone calls.
“As non-profit organizations with no vested interest in the outcome of this case, petitioners offer their services confidentially and without cost,” the petition filed by the ACLU Disability Rights Program and ACLU of Southern California said.
According to TMZ, Spears hopes to hire former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart as Ingham’s replacement.
Rosengart now works for the high-powered firm Greenberg Traurig and has represented other celebrities including Steven Spielberg.
Rosengart did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily News.
“Britney Spears has said that she wants to pick her own lawyer and the court should respect that wish,” Zoe Brennan-Krohn, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Disability Rights Project, said in a statement Tuesday.
“The court should ensure Spears has access to the tools she needs to make that choice meaningfully and to hire someone she trusts to advocate for her stated goal: to get out of her conservatorship,” she said.
“Spears’s right to select an attorney is not only a basic tenet of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, but also consistent with principles of personal autonomy and agency,” Brennan-Krohn said. “The California Superior Court must recognize Spears’s autonomy and the rights of people with disabilities to live independent, self-directed lives as active members of their communities.”
Spears. 39, made explosive allegations against her 13-year court-ordered conservatorship during a rare address to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny on June 23.
The “Toxic” singer said she felt forced into labor, forced to use birth control in the form of an IUD and confined against her will. She asked for an immediate end to her “abusive” conservatorship with out any further evaluation.
