Faculty Commentary

The results of the Kerner Commission Report were published in the midst of racial unrest sweeping across the United States in the 1960s. The commission, established by President Lyndon Johnson and made up of bi-partisan officials, set out to investigate the cause of social unrest. It concluded that the unrest was largely triggered by police [...]

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The Supreme Court today issued a decision that the Trump administration’s rescission of DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was unlawful because it failed to explain adequately why it ended DACA. In an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court determined that the DACA rescission was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure [...]

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Roses are Red Violets are Blue These numbers confess That there’s something askew The arena of international commercial arbitration may seem a rarefied arena on which to discuss matters in this time of the murder of George Floyd. International Commercial Arbitration may seem so remote from protests in the street. However, in an article I [...]

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The COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police, and the subsequent protests have brought racial inequalities to the forefront of public square discussion.  As faculty of color in the fields of criminal justice and legal studies, we cover diversity issues in all of our classes, especially with students who will be [...]

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“Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.” – Hamlet For an afflicted American nation, it never seems to end. On June 1, 2020, President Donald J. Trump once again openly defiled US Constitutional protections of free speech and assembly, on this occasion by gratuitously violent treatment of law-abiding civilian demonstrators. A week later, [...]

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The image of Derek Chauvin’s knee on George Floyd’s neck as the dying man cried, “I can’t breathe,” is now etched in the consciousness of an entire generation. The repugnant violence committed by Chauvin and the other complicit officers – and by too many police before them – breeds severe community distrust of law enforcement [...]

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In the wake of the latest killings of minority citizens by police there are passionate calls to defund the police or to abolish police altogether. As to abolition, it’s worth remembering that this country made do without organized police forces for nearly its first century of existence, but that approach proved inadequate as society became [...]

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The D.C. Circuit held oral argument on Friday on General Mike Flynn’s mandamus to Judge Emmet Sullivan to grant the Department of Justice (DOJ) Motion to Dismiss false statement charges against Flynn (see my preview, discussed here). A majority of the panel seemed to believe Judge Sullivan should take the first crack at deciding DOJ’s [...]

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I am so pissed off. It is COVID-19 State Insanity to use riot-control agents such as teargas and pepper spray on peaceful protestors in a pandemic with highly contagious and deadly COVID-19. Let me break it down. Remember the protestors with guns walking into statehouses and protesting the stay at home orders? Do you remember a single [...]

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