Joe Biden Rarely Issues Pardons but Made an Exception for His Son
Biden continues a modern trend of presidents who are stingy with the pardon pen.
Criminal Law
Review: Neil Gorsuch Says There Are Too Many Laws
No one knows how many federal crimes there are, the Supreme Court justice notes in Over Ruled.
Should California Vote To Roll Back Criminal Justice Reforms?
Conservatives blame Proposition 47 (2014) for higher rates of shoplifting in the state, but the real story is more complicated.
Georgia A.G. Drops Frivolous Money Laundering Charges Against Cop City Bail Fund
The three defendants remain under indictment for racketeering, along with 58 others.
Their Juvenile Records Were Supposed To Be Sealed. The NYPD Accessed Them Anyway.
According to a new lawsuit, NYPD officers have been illegally accessing sealed juvenile arrest records.
Massachusetts Ex-Cop Charged With Strangling Pregnant Woman and Staging Her Death as a Suicide
Matthew Farwell allegedly murdered a 23-year-old woman who was pregnant with his child. Their relationship is said to have began when she was 15. He was 27.
Special Counsel Jack Smith Files Revised Trump Indictment in Election Subversion Case
The revised indicment is intended to address the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling in Trump v. United States.
The Case Against Alec Baldwin Is Not a Slam Dunk
New Mexico law requires quite a high standard for proving criminal negligence.
Rapper B.G. Ordered To Turn Over New Song Lyrics to the Feds
Supervised release shouldn't require former inmates to give up their First Amendment rights.
The Stop Comstock Act Doesn't Go Far Enough
Upcoming legislation would repeal parts of the 1873 law that could be used to target abortion, but the Comstock Act's reach is much more broad than that.
Campus Anti-Israel Protests and the Ethics of Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience is sometimes justified. But current law-breaking by anti-Israel protestors on college campuses doesn't come close to meeting the requisite moral standards.
This Elderly Man Was Arrested After Shooting a Burglar in Self-Defense—for Carrying the Gun Without a License
Vincent Yakaitis is unfortunately not the first such defendant. He will also not be the last.
She Only Served 10 Months Behind Bars. Florida Still Slapped Her With A $127,000 Bill.
Under Florida's "pay-to-stay" law, inmates are charged $50 for every day of their sentence—including time they never spent incarcerated.
U.S. Sentencing Commission Restricts Federal Judges' Ability To Use Acquitted Conduct at Sentencing
The little-known but outrageous practice allowed judges to enhance defendants' sentences using conduct a jury acquitted them of.
Texas Takes Intellectually Disabled Inmate Off Death Row
Randall Mays, who has an IQ of 63, was resentenced to life without parole.
Nathan Wade Resigns From Trump Prosecution in Georgia
Neither Wade's letter of resignation, nor District Attorney Fani Willis' letter accepting his resignation, grapple with what a complete unforced error their relationship was.
Florida Lawmakers Vote To Raise Stripping Age to 21
Employing an 18- to 20-year-old at an adult venue could mean 15 years in prison, even if the young person used a fake ID.
Prosecutor Claims Official Forfeited Office by Going Nomad, Prosecutes Official for Theft, for Cashing Paychecks
No dice, says the Indiana Supreme Court, in an interesting case discussing mistakes of law.
Alabama Killed an Inmate With an Experimental Execution Method. Ohio Could Be Next.
Following the nitrogen hypoxia execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith last week, Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill to bring the execution method to their state.
Oklahoma Bill Would Specially Target Hispanic Gang Members
No, you can't do that.
Alabama Set To Use Experimental Execution Method
In killing Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen hypoxia, the state would be using him as a "test subject," Smith's lawyers argue.
"Purported Robberies Were Staged" to Support "Fraudulent Visa Applications"
A system for encouraging cooperation by crime victims was allegedly turned into a means of producing visa fraud.
Why Section 3 Disqualification Doesn't Require a Prior Criminal Conviction on Charges of Insurrection [Updated]
The reason is a combination of the general structure of our legal system and the original meaning of Section 3.
Biden Expands Pardons for Marijuana Possession
It's a commendable, but very modest, expansion of a step he took last year.
The Flimsy RICO Case Against Atlanta's Cop City Protestors
Law enforcement officials appear to have tarred ad hoc bands of protesters as members of an organized criminal movement.
Illinois Youth Lockup Is 'No Place for Children,' According to ACLU Lawsuit
Children held in the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center are routinely subjected to solitary confinement, inadequate meals, and filthy cells, according to legal documents.
Overcrowding Causes 'Unsafe and Unsanitary' Conditions for Youth In Philadelphia Jail
According to legal documents, children have been forced to sleep on the floor of offices and gymnasiums, with limited access to bathrooms and showers.
In French Thriller Anatomy of a Fall, the Law Is No One's Friend
A tricky, excellent legal drama shows just how hard it can be to pin down the truth.
Spousal Rape Conviction Reversed Because Lower Court Didn't Give Defendant Access to Accuser's Immigration Records
One of the defense's theories was that "the requested immigration records" might "support [the ex-wife's] motive to fabricate because claiming she was a victim of a sexual assault would provide a way to continue her legal residency in the United States without assistance from Appellant after her divorce."
Target Shuts Stores as Criminal Justice Reform Gets Mugged
We need less intrusive law enforcement, not the treatment of crime as a lark.
Three Interviews About the Criminal Cases Against Trump and his Possible Disqualification under the Fourteenth Amendment
I recently did interviews on these topics with Reason TV, the Washington Post, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Alabama Says Helping With Out-of-State Abortions Is 'Criminal Conspiracy'
Alabamans have no right "to conspire with others in Alabama to try to have abortions performed out of state," argues Attorney General Steve Marshall.
Alabama Set To Try New, Untested Execution Method
The state has filed a motion to set an execution date for Kenneth Eugene Smith, who survived a previous execution attempt.
Prosecution in Apple's iPads-for-Concealed-Firearms-Licenses Bribery Case Can Go Forward
"This appeal raises a question not yet addressed by any California court: whether a public official may be bribed with a promise to donate to the official's office."
Limits on Using Prior Acquittal of Sexual Assault as Evidence of Guilt in a New Sexual Assault Case
"[T]he Government argue[d] that when considering that the charged offenses occurred after the acquittal, the [appellant's] tactics were emboldened and this factor weighs in favor of admissibility."
Court Reverses Sentence Because of Denial of Allocution
"Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(i) ... commands that the court must address the defendant personally to afford him the chance to speak or present evidence in mitigation."
Fani Willis Is Abusing Georgia's Terrible RICO Law
Trump and his acolytes' conduct was indefensible, but the state's RICO law is overly broad and makes it too easy for prosecutors to bring charges.
The Georgia Case Against Trump
Trump's Georgia indictment has much in common with the most recent federal case against him. But also breaks some new ground.
Jack Goldsmith Responds to Critics on the Dangers of Prosecuting (or not Prosecuting) Trump for Trying to Overturn the 2020 Election
I was one of the critics he responded to, and in this post I offer a rejoinder.
Idaho Keeps Scheduling This Inmate's Execution Even Though It Lacks the Means To Kill Him
A federal judge ruled in favor of an Idaho death-row inmate who says that the state is "psychologically torturing" him.
The Dangers of Giving Trump Impunity are Far Worse than those of Prosecuting Him
Giving presidents impunity for using force and fraud to try to nullify election results is far worse than any potential risk of prosecuting Trump.
