"How ambiguous a statute may Congress pass?"

Sasha Volokh has this lengthy post at The Volokh Conspiracy, addressing the question in both civil and criminal contexts, including the Armed Career Criminal Act and the Sherman Act.

"India law commission recommends abolition of death penalty for all non-terrorists"

From Jurist: The Law Commission of India [official website] has recommended [report, PDF] that the death penalty be abolished as a mode of punishment for all crimes except terrorism. This is the first time the Commission has addressed the death...

"Bystander’s Death Shows Risks in Gun-Buy Stings"

From The New York Times: In a dangerous profession, it is among the most dangerous of jobs. The police officers who go undercover to arrest illegal firearms dealers can quickly find themselves at the mercy of their targets, conducting big-money...

"Federal court lifts injunction on NSA phone surveillance program"

The story is at Jurist: The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] on Fridayreversed [opinion, PDF] a ruling that blocked theNational Security Agency (NSA) [official website] from obtaining call detail records from US citizens....

Freedman on Habeas Corpus as a Legal Remedy

Eric M. Freedman (Hofstra University - Maurice A. Deane School of Law) has posted Habeas Corpus as a Legal Remedy (Northeastern University Law Journal, Vol. 8, 2016) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This is the second part of a...

Kaye on The Hair Evidence Debacle

David H. Kaye (The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law) has posted Ultracrepidarianism in Forensic Science: The Hair Evidence Debacle (Washington & Lee Law Review Online, Vol. 72 (2015 Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For over 130...

McAdams on Empathy and Masculinity in To Kill a Mockingbird

Richard H. McAdams (University of Chicago Law School) has posted Empathy and Masculinity in Harper Lee's to Kill a Mockingbird (Ch. 13 (pp. 239-261) in American Guy: Masculinity in American Law and Literature, edited by Saul Levmore and Martha C....

"Federal judge halts use of lethal injection drugs in Mississippi"

From Jurist: A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi [official website] issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday blocking the use of two drugs for lethal injections. The order was issued [AP report] in a...

"From the Bench, a New Look at Punishment"

From The New York Times: Through everything from protest movements to bipartisan legislation addressing the high prison population, the nation is in the midst of a searching examination of the criminal-justice system, taking up long-simmering criticisms about race, inequality and...

"California lawmakers approve drone trespassing bills"

The story is at Jurist: California lawmakers on Monday approved two bills intended to regulate drones. The Assembly voted 43-11 in favor of abill [SB 142] that would make it a crime to fly a drone over private property without...

"Maryland Restricts Racial Profiling in New Guidelines for Law Enforcement"

From The New York Times: BALTIMORE — Eight months after the Justice Department announced new curbs on racial profiling, Maryland became on Tuesday the first state to follow suit, with guidelines aimed at severely restricting law enforcement officers from singling...

"In Rare Case, F.B.I. Tries to Fire Agent Who Shot Queens Suspect"

From The New York Times: WASHINGTON — For the first time in decades, the F.B.I. is trying to fire an agent for intentionally shooting a suspect, after finding that the agent violated bureau policy when he wounded an unarmed man...

"A different take on the Second Circuit’s Microsoft warrant case"

Orin Kerr has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: Microsoft is challenging a federal search warrant for e-mails that Microsoft has stored on a server in Ireland. According to Microsoft’s brief, the issue is whether the Stored Communications...

Criminal law position at Richmond Law

Corinna Barrett Lain reports: Richmond Law is looking to hire a criminal law professor whose focus is criminal adjudication (bail to jail). We’d love to get someone who has actually practiced criminal law (on either side), and demonstrated scholarly potential...

Entry level criminal law position at Richmond Law

Corinna Barrett Lain reports: Richmond Law is looking to hire a criminal law professor whose focus is criminal adjudication (bail to jail). We’d love to get someone who has actually practiced criminal law (on either side), and demonstrated scholarly potential...

Gajiev on Griffin v. California

Zaur D. Gajiev has posted Turmoil Surrounding the Self-Incrimination Clause: Why the Constitution Does Not Forbid Your Silence From Speaking Volumes (Faulkner Law Review, Vol. 6, 2015. Pages 231-81) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article explores the detrimental...

Khan on Excluding Expectant Mothers from Prosecution for HIV Exposure

Shahabudeen Karamat Khan (Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law) has posted The Threat Lives on: How to Exclude Expectant Mothers from Prosecution for Mere Exposure of HIV to Their Fetuses and Infants (Cleveland State Law Review, Vol. 63,...

Abrams & Garrett on Cumulative Constitutional Rights

Kerry Abrams and Brandon L. Garrett (University of Virginia School of Law and University of Virginia School of Law) have posted Cumulative Constitutional Rights on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Cumulative constitutional rights are ubiquitous. Plaintiffs litigate multiple constitutional violations,...

Johnson & Gilden on The Cannibal Cop

Thea Johnson and Andrew Gilden have posted Common Sense and the Cannibal Cop (11 Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties 313 (2015)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Internet has created unprecedented opportunities for individuals to explore...

"Charlotte Officer Argues That Shooting Black Man at Door Was Self-Defense"

From The New York Times: CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The lawyer for a white Charlotte police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter concluded his defense on Tuesday by shifting accusations onto the black former college football player who died in the 2013...

"U.S. Budgets Cash to Treat Heroin Abuse in Northeast"

The story is in The New York Times. In part: The Office of National Drug Control Policy said it would spend $2.5 million to hire public safety and public health coordinators in five areas in an attempt to focus on...

"US government challenges Idaho ordinance that criminalizes sleeping in public by the homeless"

From Jurist: Last week the US Department of Justice [official website] challenged[complaint, PDF] the constitutionality of a Boise, Idaho city ordinance that criminalizes sleeping in public places by the homeless. The federal government's argument[Washington Post report] relies on the fact...

"Computer searches and the problem of withdrawn consent"

Orin Kerr has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: Computer searches usually happen in two stages. Agents take the computer, make a mirror image copy of its hard drive on a government storage device, and then search the...

"Illinois governor signs police body camera bill into law"

From Jurist: Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner [official website] on Wednesday signed into law the bill known as SB 1304 [materials] which includes the Law Enforcement Body Worn Camera Act, establishing sweeping regulations for police officers' use of body cameras while...

Levine on Judicial Rhetoric and Lawyers' Roles

Samuel J. Levine (Touro College - Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center) has posted Judicial Rhetoric and Lawyers' Roles (90 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1989 (2015)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Notwithstanding the rich scholarly literature debating the proper roles...

Treyger on Collateral Incentives to Arrest

Elina Treyger (George Mason University School of Law) has posted Collateral Incentives to Arrest (Kansas Law Review, Vol. 63, No. 3, pp. 557-631, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the 1960s, criminal procedure experts such as Wayne LaFave...

Garrett on Convicting the Innocent Redux

Brandon L. Garrett (University of Virginia School of Law) has posted Convicting the Innocent Redux (D. Medwed, Ed., Wrongful Convictions and the DNA Revolution: Twenty-Five Years of Freeing the Innocent (Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:...

Zhong on Remorse in Criminal Law

Rocksheng Zhong , Madelon Baranoski , Neal Feigenson , Larry Davidson , Alec Buchanan andHoward Zonana (University of Pennsylvania , Yale University , Quinnipiac University - School of Law , Yale University , Yale University and Yale University) have posted...

Marder on Social Media and Fair Trials

Nancy S. Marder (Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago-Kent College of Law) has posted Jurors and Social Media: Is a Fair Trial Still Possible? (67 Southern Methodist University Law Review 617 (2014)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Slowly but...

Marder & Hans on Juries and Lay Participation

Nancy S. Marder and Valerie P. Hans (Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago-Kent College of Law and Cornell University - School of Law) have posted Introduction to Juries and Lay Participation: American Perspectives and Global Trends (90 Chicago-Kent Law Review...

Schehr on The Unconstitutionality of Plea Bargaining

Robert Schehr (Northern Arizona University) has posted The Emperor's New Clothes: Intellectual Dishonesty and the Unconstitutionality of Plea-Bargaining on SSRN. Here is the abstract: United States Supreme Court and jurisprudential rationalizations for the constitutionality, centrality, and finality of plea-bargaining signify...

Mazza, Lederman & Johnson on Surcharges and Penalties in Tax Law

Stephen W. Mazza , Leandra Lederman and Steve R. Johnson (University of Kansas - School of Law , Indiana University Maurer School of Law and Florida State University - College of Law) have posted Surcharges and Penalties in Tax Law:...

Caldwell on Miller v. Alabama as a Watershed Procedural Rule

Beth Caldwell (Southwestern Law School) has posted Miller v. Alabama as a Watershed Procedural Rule: The Case for Retroactivity (Harvard Law & Policy Review, Vol. 9, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Three years ago, in Miller v. Alabama,...

Litton on Execution Protocol Reform

Paul Litton (University of Missouri School of Law) has posted On the Argument That Execution Protocol Reform is Biomedical Research (90 Washington L. Rev. Online 87 (2015)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Regardless of whether the Supreme Court rightly...

Gershowitz on Cell Phone Searches

Adam M. Gershowitz (William & Mary Law School) has posted The Post-Riley Search Warrant: Search Protocols and Particularity in Cell Phone Searches on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Last year, in Riley v. California, the Supreme Court required police to...