Harvard Law & Policy Review

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Antitrust, Political Economy, and the Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

By Chris Sagers[1] In the world there are weightier things than antitrust, and the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh involves many of them. His replacement of Anthony Kennedy will likely change the Court’s balance in several areas, perhaps including the constitutional status of abortion, marriage rights, and who knows what other civil rights affairs. It also no doubt poses concerns about challenges to the Trump administration and the President himself, in the ethical, national …

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Plea Bargaining: Lessons Learned, Issues Outstanding

By Milton Heumann*   The classic “you’ve come a long way baby” mantra from the world of tobacco advertising has an analogous application to plea bargaining. Fifty years or so ago, plea bargaining was just emerging from the shadows of the perception of our trial courts, but today it is recognized as occupying the central position in understanding the ways justice is allocated. The final acknowledgment of the “long way” plea bargaining has come came bluntly in the Supreme Court’s 2012 …

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Fighting to Restore Civil Rights and Felon Rehabilitation in Florida

By Eric Allen Kauk* This November Florida will vote on Amendment 4, a measure that would automatically restore the right to vote to 1,487,847 convicted felons who have successfully served their entire sentence and paid their debt to society. Florida lags far behind the rest of the country when it comes to restoring individuals’ civil rights. In 2016, more Floridians had lost their civil rights due to prior convictions than citizens in any other state.  Florida disenfranchises more people …

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Trump’s Flailing Ratchet: From “Bad Hombres” to “Zero Tolerance”

By Amien Kacou* The Trump administration has made fighting illegal immigration a top law enforcement priority. But, despite the President’s frequent displays of availability bias—if not vicious cynicism—on this issue, it is well-established that immigrants, regardless of legal status or origins, are on average less likely than citizens to commit most crimes. In fact, their presence usually translates to an overall reduction of crime rates in areas where they settle. Likewise, at the …

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Obama and the Good Old Days of Federal Prosecution?

By David Patton* These days as a federal public defender, I’m often asked some version of, “Aren’t federal prosecutions horribly unfair and draconian now that Jeff Sessions is heading the Department of Justice?” I usually respond with some version of “Yes, they are.”  What I often leave out is, “And they have been for as long as I can remember.” A casual observer of the federal criminal justice system could be forgiven for thinking that Sessions has put an end to an enlightened and …

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Federal Hate Crime Prosecutions are Critical, but Are They Enough?

By Melissa Garlick* Three militia members from southwest Kansas were recently convicted on federal civil rights charges and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction for targeting Somali Muslim immigrants for a plan of mass murder in 2016.  On a recording made available to the jury, one of the defendants said: “The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.” The convictions sent an important message of reassurance to a small community left rattled and fearful.  The unique impact of this crime – …

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