Law Commons^™

A Short Comment On Current Detainee Policy: One Step Forward And Two Steps Back, Kyndra Miller Rotunda

ConLawNOW

During the Presidential Campaign, President Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay and to abandon Military Commissions. Shortly after taking office, he halted Military Commissions that were then underway, in order to explore other alternatives. Nearly three years later, Guantanamo Bay remains opens, and President Obama has recently resumed Military Commissions.

With the exception of a lone amendment to the Military Commissions Act, the procedures governing Military Commissions under President Obama and those under President Bush are virtually indistinguishable.

What is distinguishable is that now, under President Obama, many detainees will receive no procedural protections under the Military Commissions Act, but …

Book Review: Psychiatric Justice, Alice M. Batchelder

Akron Law Review

In an era in which extensive judicial emphasis has been placed on "due process of law" in criminal proceedings, both in the federal courts and in the state courts, Dr. Szasz's book serves as a jarring reminder that in at least one vital area of the concept of due process, much remains to be done. The emerging definition of due process has enunciated the rights guaranteed the individual by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments; and viewed within that framework, this book, although published in 1965, remains particularly timely, for Szasz, speaking as a psychiatrist, endeavors to demonstrate how …

Fifth Amendment - Due Process Clause- Sex Discrimination - Sex: A Suspect Classification; Frontiero V. Richardson, John J. Cook

Akron Law Review

Sharon A. Frontiero, a lieutenant in the United States Air Force, sought increased benefits for her husband as a "dependent" under 37 U.S.C. Sections 401, 4031 and 10 U.S.C. Sections 1072, 10762 Those statutes provide that spouses of male members of the uniformed services are always dependents for purposes of obtaining increased quarters allowances and medical and dental benefits, but that spouses of female members are not dependents unless they are, in fact, dependent for over one-half of their support.3

Double Jeopardy; Juvenile Courts; Transfer To Criminal Court; Adjudicatory Proceedings; Breed V. Jones, Barry S. Mittenthal

Akron Law Review

THE FIFTH AMENDMENT prohibition against double jeopardy is designed to protect both federal and state' defendants from the embarrassment, expense and ordeal of successive criminal trials, which not only create anxiety and uncertainty in an accused, but also increase the danger that an innocent person may be convicted.' However, as a result of the "juvenile court's assumed ability to function in a unique manner"' a juvenile is not extended the protection of the panoply of constitutional rights afforded an adult in a criminal proceeding. Accordingly, the Supreme Court, in Breed v. Jones, was called upon to determine the applicability and …

A Legal Note On The Nixon Pardon: Equal Justice Vis-À-Vis Due Process, Luis Kutner

Akron Law Review

THE FIRST TWO MAJOR ACTS of the Ford Presidency-the offer of earned amnesty (at least insofar as draft resisters in the Vietnam conflict are concerned) and the pardon granted to former President Richard M. Nixonwere charitable, wise and just. This article, of course, will discuss the presidential pardon for Mr. Nixon.

Fifth Amendment, Double Jeopardy In Capital Sentencing, Bullington V. Missouri, Patrick J. Keating

Akron Law Review

In Bullington v. Missouri the Supreme Court marked a significant departure from previous principles of double jeopardy. The Court, for the first time, applied the Double Jeopardy clause to a criminal sentence. By prohibiting the state from seeking the death penalty at retrial, the case also casts important implications on capital punishment.

Escobedo And Miranda Revisited, Arthur J. Goldberg

Akron Law Review

Shortly before the close of the 1983 term, the Supreme Court of the United States decided two cases, U.S. v. Gouveia and New York v. Quarles, which in effect overruled Escobedo v. Illinois and undermined Miranda v. Arizona.

Mental Sanity And Confessions: The Supreme Court's New Version Of The Old "Voluntariness" Standard, Alfredo Garcia

Akron Law Review

Although the voluntariness standard has not been entirely superseded by Miranda v. Arizona because it is applicable to confessions obtained through police coercion, in spite of compliance with Miranda's technical requirements, it has receded into relative obscurity in the wake of Miranda. In Colorado v. Connelly, however, the United States Supreme Court confronted a novel case which neatly juxtaposed questions relevant to the voluntariness test with issues arising from Miranda's dictates. This article will examine the issues raised in Connelly, critique the Court's application of both the voluntariness standard and Miranda to the facts of Connelly, …

Arizona V. Roberson: Further Extending The Bright-Line, Ronald Mark Wells

Akron Law Review

This casenote will summarize the case scenario and holding in Arizona v. Roberson. To place Roberson in context, it will then examine the legal history of the fifth amendment right to counsel and will critically analyze Roberson by questioning the necessity of its holding, reviewing the Court's cost/benefit analysis, and examining the dangers of overextending the rule in Edwards. Finally, this casenote will discuss Roberson's potential impact.

Mill's Theory Of Liberty In Constitutional Interpretation, Wilson Ray Huhn

Akron Law Review

I wish to apply Justice Thompson's discussion of the nature of liberty in a more general context in addressing fundamental questions of constitutional interpretation. Justice Thompson's essential inquiry is, "Should the enforcement of morals be the concern of the law?" I take the liberty of slightly rephrasing that question: "Is the enforcement of traditional moral norms per se constitutional?" I suggest that the answer to this question is "no." Courts and scholars have often confused our moral traditions with our traditions of liberty and equality. My central premise is that it is for the legislature to enact morality into law, …

Chief Justice William Rehnquist: His Law-And-Order Legacy And Impact On Criminal Justice, Madhavi M. Mccall, Michael A. Mccall

Akron Law Review

In this article, we explore Chief Justice Rehnquist’s criminal justice decisions through an empirical analysis of the Court’s decision-making tendencies for the most recent natural court and a review of selected criminal justice decisions written by Justice Rehnquist throughout his career. To start, we limit the analysis, with only two exceptions, to decisions actually written by Justice Rehnquist. Although Chief Justice Rehnquist, in that position, had an important role in leading other justices to agree with him by assigning cases, we gleaned a substantial amount of information regarding his decisional patterns and policy preferences by analyzing the opinions he personally …