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Brief Of Amicus Curiae Wesley Macneil Oliver In Support Of The Petition For Writ Of Certiorari, Wesley Oliver Jul 2010

Brief Of Amicus Curiae Wesley Macneil Oliver In Support Of The Petition For Writ Of Certiorari, Wesley Oliver

Wesley M Oliver

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that a lawsuit could proceed against John Ashcroft in his individual capacity for the way he detained material witnesses after the Terror of September 11, 2001. Ashcroft allegedly used those he believed to be terrorist suspects as material witnesses when he lacked adequate suspicion to bring formal charges. All of these “witnesses” otherwise qualified for detention under the federal material witness detention statute. The Ninth Circuit concluded that this “pretextual” use of the material witness detention statute clearly violated the Fourth Amendment as it circumvented the probable cause …


John Brown's Constitution, Robert L. Tsai Jan 2010

John Brown's Constitution, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

It will surprise many Americans to learn that before John Brown and his men briefly captured Harper’s Ferry, they authored and ratified a Provisional Constitution. This deliberative act built upon the achievements of the group to establish a Free Kansas, during which time Brown penned an analogue to the Declaration of Independence. These acts of writing, coupled with Brown’s trial tactics after his arrest, cast doubts on claims that the man was a lunatic or on a suicide mission. Instead, they suggest that John Brown aimed to be a radical statesman, one who turned to extreme tactics but nevertheless remained …