I likely should make even more of an effort to flag here the always great work done by the folks at The Marshall Project, and three new original pieces prompts me to do this quick round up. All three
Criminal
SCOTUS grants cert to address whether prisoner can seek money damages under RLUIPA
This morning’s Supreme Court orders list is quite short, but it is also sweet for one prisoner who is seeking damages from Louisiana prison official for a violation of his rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. …
When The Best Law School Paper Is Racist
The first two sentences of Richard Fausset’s article in the New York Times leaves nothing to the imagination.
Preston Damsky is a law student at the University of Florida. He is also a white nationalist and antisemite.
Remember the old…
Understanding the New Public Health Law in Dubai
Introduction
The government of Dubai enacted the new public health law, Dubai Law No. 5 of 2025, to promote public health in the emirate. The primary object of this law is public health and community well-being. The new health law…
Did War Just Start Or Just End?
Not too long ago, many people believed the “predictions” of Nostradamus that the world would end in 2025, and that it would come from war in the middle east, where certain nations were bent on the destruction of the decadent…
"State Constitutional Limits on Nitrogen Hypoxia Executions"
The title of this post is the title of this new article authored by William W. Berry III now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract:
In January 2024, the state of Alabama executed Kenneth Smith with nitrogen gas. One…
US Sentencing Commission publishes "2025 Amendments in Brief"
The US Sentencing Commission has recently published on this USSC webpage five short new documents as part of its helpful “Amendment in Brief” series. As explained on that page, “‘Amendments In Brief’ are short summaries, usually one to two pages,…
Checking in with police homicide data in big US cities at start of summer 2025
In this post a couple months ago, I rounded up a lot of encouraging police data on homicide rates through the first quarter of 2025. As summer officially gets started, it seemed a good time to update some of these…
"Compassionate Undercharging"
The title of this post is the title of this new article authored by Michal Buchhandler-Raphael and available via SSRN. Here is its abstract:
Undercharging, a common prosecutorial tactic, refers to the strategic pursuit of lesser charges than the law…
By 7-2 vote, Supreme Court holds in <em>Esteras</em> that federal judges cannot consider retribution factors when revoking supervised release
The Supreme Court this morning handed down a notable sentencing opinion this morning in Esteras v. United States, No. 23-7483 (S. Ct. June 20, 2025) (available here). The vote as 7-2, and the opinion for the Court was…