Mar

31

How Dangerous are Tasers?

March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Tasers are often thought of as non-lethal alternatives to firearms. Police often use them when dealing with a less than cooperative suspect. The recent death of a young teen has caused many to question the safety of tasers. Officers in Michigan tasered the young man in self-defense, when he attempted to fight them off. When [...]

Mar

31

WM ACS Goes to D.C. - “Dude, it was awesome.”

March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment

On Friday, William & Mary ACS traveled to D.C. for a visit to the Supreme Court, and meetings with two lawyers working in very different jobs on House committees.
The travel to D.C. was nice, and incredibly fuel-efficient for those of us in Mark’s 50.4 MPG Prius.  I had no idea the Prius had that kind [...]

Mar

31

Fear, Loathing, Clinging, and Buying at an Awesome Clip

March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The phrase is an infamous part of the history of the 2008 election.  Those small-town folks that “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them…”  Its one of the reasons that some fear the policies of the Obama administration.  That fear has culminated in another form of economy stimulation; gun [...]

Mar

25

Go to School, Lose Your Rights?

March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

How far can public schools go in trying to enforce their anti-drug (or anti-weapon) policy?  That question is coming before the Supreme Court on April 21.  That particular case involves a 13-year-old girl who was strip-searched at her Arizona public middle school because she was suspected of having prescription strength ibuprofen.  Savana Redding was stripped [...]

Mar

24

Bush v. Gore Redux?

March 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

So, that Minnesota Senate recount nonsense still isn’t resolved.  The word on the street is that Norm Coleman (or his wily lawyers, to be more accurate) is going to try to invoke the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore to win his legal challenge against Al Franken.  It isn’t exactly clear what a “win” [...]

Mar

18

The End of Privacy

March 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment

[What follows is a summary of a fantastic article (Jay Rubenfeld, The End of Privacy, 61 Stanford L. Rev. 101 (2008)) (PDF link) on reconceptualizing the Fourth Amendment. I hope this summary will make the article more widely accessible, but if you have any interest in the Fourth Amendment, or privacy generally, you should definitely [...]

Mar

16

Some Truths About Guantánamo Bay

March 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Guest Blogger: Lawrence Wilkerson
There are several dimensions to the debate over the U.S. prison facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba that the media have largely missed and, thus, of which the American people are almost completely unaware.  For that matter, few within the government who were not directly involved are aware either.
The first of these is [...]