The outrage much of the nation and world has expressed at the police killing of George Floyd has been accompanied by demands for greater punishment of all of the officers involved. These demands call attention to an often-overlooked element of the problem of police violence: those subjected to unlawful police practices largely depend on other [...]
That’s not a chip on my shoulder. That’s your foot on my neck. – Malcolm X On May 25, a Minneapolis police officer tortured George Floyd to death in what his brother, Philonise Floyd, called “a modern-day lynching in broad daylight.” Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in all 50 states and [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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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