Protesters rally outside Bronx courthouse against Hochul’s proposed changes to discovery reform law

Dozens rallied Friday outside the Bronx County Criminal Court, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to stop her efforts to amend a law requiring the state to promptly and automatically disclose evidence against criminal defendants in New York.

In her 2026 Executive Budget, Hochul proposed easing certain provisions of the 2019 discovery reform law, known as “Kalief’s Law.” The law is named after Kalief Browder, a Black teenager from the Bronx who spent years on Rikers Island awaiting trial without access to the evidence against him for a low-level theft charge.