By Christopher Zoukis The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in which the American Civil Liberties Union requested documents from several government agencies relating to the use of lethal drone strikes. The requests were initially made by the American Civil Liberties Union and
By Christopher Zoukis The Arizona Supreme Court has cleared up confusion in the state about the amount of suspicion required to legally search a probationer’s home without a warrant. Christian Adair was on probation for two felony convictions for solicitation to possess crack cocaine for sale. His probation conditions required that he “submit to search
By Christopher Zoukis The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a trial court’s decision to sentence a prisoner to a consecutive term for assaulting a prison guard and to enhance the sentence because it was committed by a prisoner in custody. Curtis Gordon Adams was found guilty of second-degree assault for kicking and head-butting a guard
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has taken the bold step of finding a new cause of action that would allow indigent criminal defendants to prospectively sue a county for failing to adequately fund and operate a public defender’s office. The right to the assistance of competent counsel in criminal prosecutions is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment
By Christopher Zoukis In a deposition taken in a federal lawsuit challenging the lack of legal representation for children in deportation hearings, a longtime immigration judge caused the Justice Department to distance itself from his claim that he had “taught immigration law literally to 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds” well enough to ensure “a fair hearing.” He
Counter-Terrorism Unit Tasked with Prison Censorship The life of an incarcerated writer is anything but ordinary. While my fellow prisoners are working out on the yard, playing cards, or watching television, I am often at the desk in my cell or in the law library working on my next project. It’s long and hard work,
A divided federal court of appeals has rejected a challenge to the three-drug execution protocol Ohio plans to use. The state had suspended executions for more than three years due to litigation attacking its three-drug lethal injection method, and to its inability to obtain barbiturates formerly used to anaesthetize death row prisoners before being
By Christopher Zoukis On November 2, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of death row prisoner Thomas D. Arthur’s challenge to the use of the drug midazolam in the lethal injection protocol used by the State of Alabama. Arthur challenged midazolam as the first in a series of three drugs administered during
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has resurrected a challenge to the constitutionality of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that requires mandatory detention of undocumented immigrants who have committed certain crimes. The challenge was brought in 2012 by plaintiffs Garfield Gayle, Neville Sukhu, and Sheldon Francois.
By Christopher Zoukis On November 2, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a district court’s denial of death row prisoner Thomas D. Arthur’s challenge to the use of the drug midazolam in the lethal injection protocol used by the State of Alabama. Arthur challenged midazolam as the first in a series of three drugs administered during
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