Nov
13
A New Approach to Prisoner Treatment
November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Statistics about America’s prison system are disturbing.The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world; as of 2008, it was 756 inmates per 100,000 people. There were 2,310,984 inmates in American prisons and jails as of June 2008. This number has quadrupled since 1980, due not to an increase in violent crimes [...]
Nov
9
On the Slippery Slope to Gay Marital Bliss
November 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment
On Friday, November 6, Andrew Koppelman, the John Paul Stevens Professor of Law at Northwestern, visited William & Mary School of Law and gave a talk on gay marriage. His speech was presented by the Institute of Bill of Rights Law and the American Constitution Society.
Koppelman stated that the gay marriage movement is one of [...]
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
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 [...]
Feb
16
Secret Courts Multiply in the U.S.
February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc
Oral arguments available here (audio .wma).
Mohamed, and 4 other plaintiffs, are suing an airline for transporting him around the world, against his will, for the purpose of subjecting him to the torture of foreign governments. Apparently he has some pretty damning quotes which (if believed) make it as clear as day [...]
Feb
3
Maybe Cruel, Definitely Unusual
February 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment
After a one day trial, 13-year-old Joe Sullivan was convicted of burglary and rape, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He and his friends had burglarized the house of an elderly woman, and she was raped, though it is unclear whether Sullivan was the rapist. Now 33, Sullivan is asking the Supreme [...]
Feb
2
Excluding the Exclusionary Rule
February 2, 2009 | 1 Comment
A couple of weeks ago, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Herring v. United States, providing for limitations on the application of the Exclusionary Rule in cases of police negligence. The ruling is ill-conceived, but certainly not outrageous. However, in a few pieces of dicta in his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts seems to [...]
Jan
22
Coming and Going; the Going Part: Saucier Overruled
January 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Yesterday, in Pearson v. Callahan, the Supreme Court overruled Saucier v. Katz. This is a really big deal. Section 1983 makes it a crime for anyone to violate the civil rights of another citizen ‘under color of law’. Given that expansive language (which is just as expansive as it sounds), and the availability [...]
Nov
18
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
November 18, 2008 | 1 Comment
On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court struck down a California voter referendum banning same-sex marriage. It was a historic decision, and made California the second state to legalize gay marriage, after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004. The decision came after several gay couples filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination, and in [...]
Nov
11
2008: The Year of the Young Voter (Revisited)
November 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Young voters were an important factor in the 2008 election outcome. Official results are forthcoming, but Rock the Vote reports that an estimated 54.5 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds turned out last Tuesday. This was an increase of nearly six percent from 2004 and almost 15 percent from 2000. A record 24 million young people [...]
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