this new location. More than a few folks have expressed interest in preserving the comment function and some other key features that were part of this blog when hosted by Typepad. So I believe comments can be shared at
Douglas A. Berman Blogs
Latest from Douglas A. Berman
Florida completes its 15th execution in 2025
As reported in this AP piece, a “Florida man convicted of raping and killing his neighbor decades ago was put to death Tuesday evening in a record 15th execution in Florida this year.” Here is more:
Norman Mearle Grim
“The Problem of Prosecutorial Sentencing”
The title of this post is the title of this book chapter now available via SSRN and authored by Donald Dripps. Here is its abstract:
This is the first chapter of Sentencing Discretion and the Constitution: Due Process of Time
Focus on Florida’s potential to reconsider constitutionality of death penalty for child rape
A few months ago over at the Sentencing Matters Substack, I penned this short essay about Eighth Amendment issues surround state efforts to subject certain child rapists to the death penalty. That essay, titled “After Kennedy: pondering Eighth Amendment functioning
Rounding up wide array of (standard?) stories and commentary
A host of other commitments prevented me from regular blogging this past week, even though there were plenty of stories and commentary that were blog-worthy. And yet, all these news items rounded up below also somehow seem standard for the
Supreme Court grants cert to consider Second Amendment challenge to firearm possession prohibition for drug users
Regular readers know I have been closely following an array of disparate lower rulings regarding the application of the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 Second Amendment ruling in Bruen. The Supreme Court this morning decided it will take up one big
Prez Trump gets back to clemency by commuting sentence of George Santos
As noted in this prior post, Prez Donald Trump was quite active with his clemency pen at the start of his second term in the Oval Office. He granted multiple pardons in each and every month from January through
Supreme Court to explore ex post facto limits on restitution award
The US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument on Tuesday in Ellingburg v United States. This SCOTUSblog post previews the case, and starts this way:
In Ellingburg v United States, to be argued on Oct. 14,
Supreme Court takes up new case exploring exceptions to general appeal waivers
As reported in this SCOTUSblog post, the US Supreme Court “on Friday afternoon added another case to its oral argument docket for the 2025-26 term. The justices agreed to take up the case of Munson Hunter, a Texas
Surprising(?) outcomes in two high-profile federal sentencings
I previewed the two notable federal sentencings in this post, and here are links to press accounts of the outcomes:
From NPR: “Sean Combs sentenced to over four years in prison for prostitution-related charges.” The start of