Statute
Eighth Amendment
833 published works
Government and Public Policy
Split Fifth Circuit panel rules that Mississippi’s lifetime felon disenfranchisement violates Eighth Amendment
This past Friday, a split panel of the Fifth Circuit handed down a remarkable ruling in Hopkins, et al v. Hosemann, No. 19-60662 (5th Cir. Aug. 4, 2023) (available here).…
Sentencing Law and Policy
"The Death of the Evolving Standards of Decency"
The title of this post is the title of this notable new article authored by Meghan Ryan. Here is its abstract: The Eighth Amendment Punishments Clause is in jeopardy. The…
Other
“The Death of the Evolving Standards of Decency”
The title of this post is the title of this notable new article authored by Meghan Ryan. Here is its abstract:The Eighth Amendment Punishments Clause is in jeopardy. The constitutionality…
Chicago Litigation Blog
A Review of Last Week’s Opinions
By Jake Leahy
Calcutt v. FDIC (Administrative) Listen to the Calcutt v. FDIC Decision Syllabus here. A banker was suspended and fined by the FDIC for actions he took on one financially troubled…
Simple Justice
Supreme Court Holds Retaining Tax Sale Excess Is A Taking
Some issues just seem so obvious as to defy imagination that it would even be in issue, requiring any court, no less the Supreme Court, to rule. Yet it did…
Sentencing Law and Policy
Justice Gorsuch (joined by Justice Jackson) talks up Excessive Fines Clause after SCOTUS majority finds tax forfeiture is a taking
A civil case on the Supreme Court's docket that I have been watching as the Term winds down is Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota, which presented these issues: (1) Whether…
Sentencing Law and Policy
Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Alito, dissents from SCOTUS denial of cert regarding challenge to execution methods
The particulars of constitutional challenges over execution methods has generated three modern Supreme Court Eighth Amendment rulings (Baze, Glossip, and Bucklew). Though the state prevailed in all these rulings against…
Other
Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Alito, dissents from SCOTUS denial of cert regarding challenge to execution methods
The particulars of constitutional challenges over execution methods has generated three modern Supreme Court Eighth Amendment rulings (Baze, Glossip, and Bucklew). Though the state prevailed in all these rulings against…
Sentencing Law and Policy
Modest musings on Eighth Amendment originalism two decades after <em>Ewing v California</em>
In part because adult offenders sentenced to prison terms have almost no chance of prevailing on an Eighth Amendment Cruel and Unusual Punishment claim, I overlooked that last month marked…
Criminal
US Supreme Court, in 5-4 ruling, rejects Arizona’s claim of proper state-ground basis to uphold death sentence
In an interesting little ruling in a state capital case, the US Supreme Court this morning in Cruz v. Arizona, No. 21–846 (S. Ct. Feb 22, 2023) (available here), rejected…