Digital Commons Network^™

Search And Seizure, Daniel G. Lilley

Maine Law Review

Search and Seizure, authored by Colorado Judge Edward C. Fisher, is a book of better than 300 pages which purports to be a recent survey of the law dedicated to "peace officers of America." The foreword states that it is written for law enforcement officers and is a ready reference for attorneys, judges, and others concerned with the administration of criminal justice. The book is clearly written. It tells police officers how to conduct searches and seizures and it tells them why restrictions are imposed. Where there is still conflict and doubt, it gives the officer some "safe" approaches to …

Stewart V. Smith: A Misapplication Of North Carolina V. Pearce, Alton C. Stevens

Maine Law Review

Gordon Stewart was convicted of a felony and sentenced to fifteen to nineteen months in the house of correction and a $2,000 fine, or an additional 2,000 days in lieu thereof. Since he was indigent this represented a total sentence of approximately seven years. Upon petition to the Windsor County Court this original sentence was set aside as being in excess of the twenty-four month statutory maximum. Resentencing was ordered and a different judge sentenced respondent anew to a term of twenty-three to twenty-four months in the state prison with appropriate credit given for time already served. On appeal to …

Retroactivity Rethought: The Hidden Costs, Pierce B. Hasler

Maine Law Review

The validity of Justice Harlan's contention that retroactivity must be rethought is becoming increasingly evident, and it seems likely that extensive reevaluation of the doctrine will soon be necessary. The past six years have been marked by well over a dozen Supreme Court decisions addressed to the question of the retroactive or prospective effect to be given prior constitutional rulings in the area of criminal procedure. Rarely has an important constitutional doctrine achieved such full-blown proportions so quickly, yet several members of the Court would now vote to reject it and start anew. Linkletter v. Walkers was the landmark decision …

Argersinger And The Right To Counsel In The Military, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

The dramatic advances made since 1965 in recognizing the right to counsel for accused indigents have steadily, albeit unevenly, extended to military courts-martial. Despite this progress, many questions remain unresolved regarding right to counsel both generally and in the military. While the right to counsel is solidified in general courts-martial, it remains precarious in special and summary courts-martial, for the right to lawyer counsel is defeasible where a military exigency is shown in the former and lawyer counsel is not yet required service-wide in the latter. The military exigency exception to full sixth amendment rights to easily degenerates into a …

Argersinger And The Right To Counsel In The Military, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

The dramatic advances made since 1965 in recognizing the right to counsel for accused indigents have steadily, albeit unevenly, extended to military courts-martial. Despite this progress, many questions remain unresolved regarding right to counsel both generally and in the military. While the right to counsel is solidified in general courts-martial, it remains precarious in special and summary courts-martial, for the right to lawyer counsel is defeasible where a military exigency is shown in the former and lawyer counsel is not yet required service-wide in the latter. The military exigency exception to full sixth amendment rights to easily degenerates into a …

Law School News: Rising Leaders In Justice: Celebrating Rwu Law's Class Of 2025 Honorees 05-07-2025, Jane Govednik

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

No Lawyer, No Jail: A Critical Case Study Of Pragmatism And The Flaws Of “Purposeful” Decision Making In Argersinger V. Hamlin, Alisa Smith, Sarah K. Stice

Seattle University Law Review

By releasing conference notes and internal communications, Supreme Court Justices provide insight into the otherwise private decisionmaking process, shedding light on how case outcomes and legal reasoning are framed and negotiated. The watershed case of Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) extended the constitutional right to counsel to some, but not all, misdemeanor defendants. The case was argued twice, and the Court relied on empirical and authoritative sources to answer complex and practical questions about requiring counsel. This case study employs critical discourse analysis to uncover what influenced the Justices’ decisions and how they framed, shaped, and constructed social realities to foreground …

The Race To Erase: Destruction Of Government Documents Undermines Freedom-Of-Information Laws, Frank D. Lomonte

Seattle University Law Review

In August 2019, reporters with Chattanooga’s daily newspaper, the Times Free Press, filed what seemed to be a routine request for access to emails and other public records held by their local county government. The seemingly unremarkable request set the newspaper’s staff on a months-long journey of unpleasant surprises. The first was a demand to pay the county $717 in advance before being allowed to inspect the documents. The second was that—during prolonged haggling over the fee assessment— the county attorney’s office simply destroyed almost all of the disputed records. Third, and most glaringly, the journalists discovered that Tennessee law …

When You’Re Arrested For A Felony In Seattle, You’Ll Meet Me., Austin Field

Seattle University Law Review

In this Essay, Austin Field, a practicing public defender, uses a first-person perspective to describe what it is like to meet a criminal defendant for the first time. He explains the process from start to finish, detailing everything from the way he introduces himself to how bail works.

"I’ll ask you for your name. Most of the time, you tell me. I check your name against my list. On any given day I’m supposed to interview between five and fifteen people. I have a lot of questions for you. We only have about ten minutes."

Bostock And The Limits Of Textualism: A Doctrinal Structuralist Approach, Martin J. Katz

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

In Bostock v. Clayton County, the Court held that Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This result, the majority claimed, was required by the interpretive theory called textualism. But textualist justices in the dissent vehemently disagreed. This split, and the controversy that has followed it, has had two consequences. First, it added fuel to the ongoing debate about the value of textualism. Second, it opened the door for lower courts to decline to apply Bostock to similar antidiscrimination laws, such as Title IX in education or the Equal Protection Clause (such as the Skrmetti case, …

Understanding Dobbs V. Jackson Women's Health Organization: How The Modern Supreme Court Broke From Tradition And Changed The Original Meaning Of Due Process, Matthew W. Lunder

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

What follows here describes and criticizes the modern liberal and conservative approaches to substantive due process. Part I shows how substantive due process came about in the mid-twentieth century as the union of two extant doctrines: incorporation and fundamental rights. Part II then describes how modern conservatism used the doctrine to arrive at the deeply rooted-in-history-and-tradition test and shows the deliberate reconfiguration of the jurisprudence during the latter twentieth century into the novel patchwork of the modern-conservative method applied in Dobbs. Part III offers a contrast, describing and explaining the traditional due-process analysis of medieval origin and the concept of …

The Right To Grow Old, Jamal Greene

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter considers the status of a constitutional “right to grow old” under the US Constitution. Understood as a “positive” right – ensuring a certain minimum quality of life to people as they face the challenges of aging – such a right may seem unavailing given the austerity in respect to such rights that many lawyers associate with the US constitutional tradition. This chapter shows this view to be premature, at least. Unlike the kinds of positive rights overtly rejected in prior cases, such as rights to certain forms of social welfare or to racial equality, a right to grow …

Redistricting And The Origins Of The Good Faith Presumption, Leonard C. Brahin

Barry Law Review

Evidentiary and substantive presumptions are a well-established tool that courts employ when addressing a variety of legal problems. These presumptions streamline litigation, avoid debate over minor disputes, and ensure that the most important issues can be addressed. But these same presumptions just as frequently close the courthouse doors on meritorious claims and preemptively shut down litigation where a disputed issue exists.

One area this occurs is redistricting. In the last fifty years, the Supreme Court of the United States has expanded its substantive presumptions in redistricting matters to permit facially discriminatory redistricting plans. By invoking the presumption of good faith, …

Innocence And Habeas Corpus: A Call For Equitable Reforms, Paige Skousen Nelson

BYU Law Review

Congress intended the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) to codify the Burger and Rehnquist Courts’ habeas corpus jurisprudence, which aimed to establish finality and innocence as gatekeepers to the “Great Writ.” But in practice, AEDPA hinders innocence claims, particularly claims of legal innocence.

This Note agrees that innocence should be one of the most important considerations in granting writs but argues that it is not as valued as Congress intended. This Note proposes two congressional reforms to reinstate innocence to its paramount role without compromising finality: first, amending the federal habeas petition rule to allow petitioners …

Analyzing The Role Of Socio-Political And Cultural Factors In The Implementation Of Transitional Justice In Afghanistan From 2001-2021, Narwan Alawi, Tufail Ahmad Peerzada

Indonesian Journal of International Law

After the end of conflicts, countries generally try to prosecute the criminals who committed war crimes and violations of human rights during conflicts and civil wars to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. In some cases, special courts have been established to trial the perpetrators of these crimes. In post-2001 Afghanistan, as foreign forces led by the USA removed the Taliban from power and with the establishment of the Republic of Afghanistan, a new phase of transitional justice was anticipated. Although the Afghans initially hoped that justice would not be ignored, however, preference was given to establish peace, and the …

Attitudes On Solitary Confinement, Emily Dewey

Undergraduate Theses

Solitary confinement is widespread and recognized as harmful in society. However, it is not as researched as other controversial issues, including immigration, gun control, abortion, etc. Due to this, it is hard to gauge how supportive the public is or isn't of related practices. In a general sense, public support has been established by legislators crafting policy, and by extension United States Supreme Court decision making. This is particularly crucial in discussions on interpretations of the 8th Amendment/ cruel and unusual punishment. Existing case law, such as Peoples V. Fischer, found that solitary confinement was arbitrary and needed reform, including …

Michigan V. Tucker: A Reevaluation Of Miranda, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

In Michigan v. Tucker the Supreme Court considered whether to exclude the fruits of an interrogation that did not meet the precautionary standards of Miranda v. Arizona. The defendant contended that use of the evidence at his trial violated his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In deciding that the evidence had been properly admitted, the Tucker Court interpreted Miranda v. Arizona as outlining recommended procedural safeguards for the protection of fifth amendment rights and reasoned that omission of procedural safeguards does not necessarily constitute a violation of the underlying rights. Specifically, the Court concluded that a suspect who did not …

Free Speech, Assembly, And Labor Rights In Singapore And The United States, Tyler Smith

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cyber And Tech-Based Partner Stalking In Jefferson County, Norah Wulkopf

Undergraduate Theses

Since stalking laws were enacted in the 1990s, they have been historically difficult to enforce. As less and less of our lives become private due to our ever-present devices, stalkers frankly have more access to their targets than ever before. The tenuous nature of stalking laws and the growing resources for stalkers place targets of stalking in a very precarious situation: the legal system has never been adequately equipped to handle stalking cases, and local justice systems do not have the resources to handle tech-based crimes. Through interviews with actors in the criminal justice system, this presentation considers how these …

Stacked Against Defendants: Retroactivity, Vacatur, And The First Step Act In Hewitt V. United States, Matthew N. Barry

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act with overwhelming bipartisan support. One of its provisions, § 403, clarifies 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) by eliminating the "stacking" of mandatory minimum sentences for certain firearm offenses for first-time offenders. Section 403(b) makes the provision retroactive so long as "a sentence for the offense has not been imposed" as of the Act's date of enactment.

In 2009, bank robbers Corey Duffey, Tony Hewitt, and Jarvis Ross were convicted of several federal crimes, including stacked § 924(c) offenses. After their sentences were vacated in 2020, they argued that they should be resentenced under …

Compelled Expression: Maynard V. Wooley, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

In 1969, the New Hampshire legislature enacted a law requiring that the state motto, "Live Free or Die," be displayed on all license plates for noncommercial vehicles. Many individuals in New Hampshire objected to the motto for various religious or philosophical reasons, and several decided to obliterate the motto by placing tape or painting over it. After numerous prosecutions under the license plate defacement statute, the constitutionality of the law was challenged as it applied to the obliteration of the motto. In 1972, the New Hampshire Supreme Court in State v. Hoskin held that the law did not violate the …

The Burden Of Proof And The Insanity Defense After Mullaney V. Wilbur, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

In 1970, the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of In re Winship specified an evidentiary standard of proof for criminal prosecutions as a requirement of the due process clause of the 14th amendment: "Lest there remain any doubt about the constitutional stature of the reasonable doubt-standard, we explicitly hold that the Due Process Clause protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged." Five years later, in Mullaney v. Wilbur, the Court extended Winship to invalidate Maine's statutory scheme of …

The Validity Of The Restrictions On The Modern Advisory Opinion, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

In 1831 the Maine House of Representatives, relying on its constitutional authority to request advisory opinions, sought the counsel of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court regarding voting requirements for the election of state officers. Because the House was about to adjourn, it requested that the Justices forward their answers to the Governor for publication. The Justices, without mentioning any constitutional limitation on their power to answer questions propounded by the Governor or the Legislature, complied with this request. One hundred and forty years later, the Senate requested the Justices' advice regarding the reapportionment of the House of Representatives. …

The Development And Consequences Of The "Good Faith" Exception To The Exclusionary Rule And The Qualified "Good Faith" Immunity From Liability Under Section 1983, Philip M. Coffin Iii, Paul F. Driscoll

Maine Law Review

The remedies fashioned to redress violations of the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution continue to be the subject of much judicial, legislative, and scholarly inquiry. In striking the balance between the need to protect individual freedom and the need to protect society from criminal activity, the Supreme Court and Congress have developed two principal remedies for fourth amendment violations: the exclusionary rule and civil actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or under theories of constitutional tort. on the development of both of these remedies it is assumed that their effectiveness is the true measure of fourth amendment liberties. …

New York's Constitutional Guarantee Of Environmental Rights, Katrina Fischer Kuh, Nicholas A. Robinson, Scott Fein

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

New York is embarking on the interpretation and implementation of potentially transformative constitutional reform, the addition of Article I, § 19 to New York’s Bill of Rights, which provides that “Each person shall have the right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” To ensure the fulsome and effective implementation of Article I, § 19, and give effect to the intent of the legislators and voters who adopted it, it will be important to provide substantive guidance to courts, government actors, and litigants in the interpretation and application of the new constitutional text. In Pennsylvania and other states, …

Antiquated Practices In Mississippi That Are Impeding The Right To Vote, Amanda Noel

SLU Law Journal Online

Mississippi is historically one of the most difficult states to cast a vote, especially for marginalized groups. Despite voting becoming more accessible throughout the United States, recently, Mississippi courts and legislature have sought to reverse years of progress by denying those convicted of felonies the right to vote upon reform and by making it a crime to assist others in casting absentee and mail-in ballots. In this paper, Amanda Noel discusses the implications of Mississippi’s attempts at disenfranchisement and proposes feasible solutions to aid those in accessing their fundamental right to vote.

Generative Privacy Doctrine: The Case For A New Legal Privacy Framework For Gen^Ai, Karina Devi Etminani

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

From quills to queries, from secrets once scrawled in private to personal prompts on glowing screens, debates over privacy rights endure. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) further confounds by conflating confession with code, and intimate thoughts with algorithms. Although technologists have predicted AI’s ascent before, and have critically assessed privacy rights for decades, the unprecedented engagement with GenAI following OpenAI’s public launch of ChatGPT marks a distinct moment— one where a generation of rights holders actively builds and converses with emerging platforms while the law strains to keep pace.

Existing privacy doctrines are ill-prepared for GenAI’s dynamic data processing and its …

Hate Groups And The Charitable Tax Exemption, Miriam Galston

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Familial Fairness: Guaranteeing The Right To Counsel For Indigent Parents In Juvenile Dependency Proceedings, Jake Toth

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Fairness principles enumerated in the seminal case Gideon v. Wainwright stand for the proposition that fundamental fairness and due process require appointment of counsel for indigent litigants. However, this principle has been constrained to criminal contexts. Many other types of litigation are just as impactful as a criminal proceeding, including juvenile dependency proceedings. Nevertheless, indigent parents do not enjoy an unqualified representation right.

This Comment traces the history of the representation right and how it has been treated in a juvenile dependency context, beginning with Gideon itself and examining other cases such as Eldridge and Lassiter. It then examines …

U.S. Territories And The Criminal Law Curriculum, Emmanuel H. Arnaud

Articles

No abstract provided.