Justice for Breonna Taylor: The Abuse of Prosecutorial Discretion
On March 13th, 2020, Breonna Taylor, an EMT, aspiring nurse, and unarmed Black woman, was fatally shot in her home. […]
Criminal Justice
On Jones v. Mississippi: a Case for Abolishing Life without Parole for Juveniles
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument for Jones v. Mississippi, in which the Court will consider whether a juvenile offender must be found incapable of rehabilitation to be sentenced to life without parole.
Veterans Day 2020: The Troubling Racial Disparities that Still Exist in Military Justice
As the country once again celebrates American servicemembers, we would be remiss if we didn’t examine the ways in which the military justice system continues to fail minority members of the armed forces.
Oh Deer!: Vermont Supreme Court’s Fourth Amendment Decision Generates Criticism from Supreme Court Justices
A recent Vermont Supreme Court decision imperils Fourth Amendment protections by further limiting the extent of curtilage. The decision drew criticism from Justices Gorsuch, Kagan, and Sotomayor in an interesting statement regarding the Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari.
Ending the 2020 Census Early is an Act of Violence Against Native Americans
Without ample time to accurately count the Native American population, the federal government is condemning Native American communities to at least another ten years of poverty and lower quality of life.
America’s War on Black Trans Women
The message of our federal and state governments failing to protect (and sometimes actively harming) Black trans women is terrifying: if the government doesn’t care about Black trans women, then citizens don’t have to care either. In other words, because the law treats Black trans women with disregard and violence, it gives individuals a free pass to do the same.
A Safe and Flourishing Future: One Law Student’s Case for Abolition
If you are new to abolition, I do not expect you to fully embrace these values. Rather, I again ask you to be courageously curious. When presented with new ideas, people project their own wants and needs onto them to make them familiar. Because abolition is borne from Black radical imagination, most people’s projections evoke fear. Black radical imagination is completely counter to the standard we are told to orient towards. Even with more people discussing race issues, we as a collective are still taught to fear and criminalize Blackness, especially in law school where the golden standard is white male “objectivity.”
The Ostrich Rears its Head: America’s 2020 Racial Reckoning is a Victory and Opportunity
The recognition of the pain that so many Black people experience is bittersweet. While a hard-fought culture war victory, it reflects the tragic reality that acknowledgment of this anguish was culture war fodder at all. We live in a world where a 12-year-old playing in a park with a toy gun was shot within two seconds, but mass murderers who target children, synagogues, and churchgoers are apprehended alive to have their day in court.
Why 8 Won’t Work: The Failings of the 8 Can’t Wait Campaign and the Obstacle Police Reform Efforts Pose to Police Abolition
Chants of “Black lives matter” and “no justice, no peace” have resounded in cities across the country and around the
AS GOVERNORS EMPLOY THEIR AUTHORITY TO MEET COVID-19 CHALLENGES, GREG ABBOTT STANDS OUT FOR HIS POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM
Photo credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune The spread of coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic that came with it has raised
Welcome to This Week in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Welcome to This Week in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. This week, the COVID-19 outbreak continued to disproportionately affect some