TSA Booty, Part II: Money, Money, Money! - A passenger here, an empty pocket there proves that "spare" change left at airport security checkpoints adds up quite nicely.
TESTIMONY: Laptop Searches (and other violations of Privacy) at the U.S. Borders - Transcript of statement by Peter Swire (Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund and Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University) before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Property re: border agents' search and seizure of laptops and other computing devices returning to the U.S.
"Enhanced Patdowns" - TSA responds on its blog to reports and critics regarding the "new" enhanced patdowns at U.S. airports.
Unconstitutional: Baggy Pants Law(s)? - A law that criminalizes wearing baggy pants is under fire in Florida and the fashion industry weighs in with expert opinion.
Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Daughter Arrested for Shoplifting - Imagine the reaction any OTHER parent of an adult shoplifting arrestee would receive when asking for respect of "privacy" after the arrestee's crime was captured on camera? Imagine a store's management making phone calls after learning the identity of the caught shoplifter and "declining" to press charges (which are not theirs to decline)?
SCOTUS Blog - The popular blog maintained by lawyers from the law firms of Akin Gump and Howe & Russell.
BLOG: Wall Street Journal Law Blog - From the Wall Street Times, a blog "on the cases, trends and personalities of interest to the business community."
BLOG: American Constitution Society for Law and Policy - Podcasts, video, links, scholarship, and other useful information from the organization that takes a"forward-looking" perspective on the U.S. Constitution, thanks to the "vision" of the framers and the "wisdom" of "forward-looking" leaders.
BLOG: Transportation Security Administration - Official blog of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, sponsored "to facilitate an ongoing dialogue on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process."
BLOG POST: "Stop Resisting" - Digby's take in "Hullabaloo" on the Marin Sheriff Department's tasering Peter McFarland inside his home, as well as the legitimacy of videotaping on-duty police.
Consent To A Warrantless Search of Your Home? - Boston police plan to seize illegal handguns via "requesting" warrantless home searches of parents who live with children in "high-crime areas."
The iPhone as a "Container?" ABSTRACT: Adam Gershowitz - Should the search incident to arrest exception to the warrant requirement allow police the ability to open a suspect's iPhone's multiple applications, including call history, cell phone contacts, e-mails, pictures, and browsing history?
SLIP OPINION: Berghuis v. Thomkins - "Miranda" modified: Now, 1) if a suspect does not want to talk to police s/he must say so (silence and lack of cooperation are ambiguous) and 2) if a suspect answers a suggestive question with a one-word response that amounts to a confession, by itself, that will be understood as a waiver of the Fifth Amendment right to silence; specific waiver no longer required.
PODCAST: This American Life - Episode: "Pro Se" explores the pitfalls and potential triumphs of self-representation.
A Slice of Pizza Captured the Los Angeles "Grim Sleeper" - Based on DNA gathered from a discarded bit of pizza (after obtaining DNA via a new "familial search" law), a suspected serial killer of multiple young women was finally arrested after decades 10 victims.
North Carolina DNA Lab Misrepresents Evidence and Results - Falsehoods, missing evidence, and deception surround a crime lab responsible for providing evidence in support of defendants' criminal culpability when, in some cases, the evidence was questionable, weak, or utterly absent.
Crime Lab Lies - Bad "science," "procedure," "findings," and incriminating testimony connected with nearly 250 North Carolina criminal convictions are now the subject of a scathing audit that has revealed how a laboratory misrepresented, withheld, and lied to deliver results pleasing to prosecutors.
"The Dilemma of the Criminal Defendant With a Criminal Record" - (SSRN abstract) John H. Blume (Cornell Law School) challenges "conventional wisdom" that innocent defendants will testify at their criminal trials, given the significant risk that impeachment of the defendants' credibility will also provide jurors the opportunity to infer present guilt based on past crimes.
Prison Economies - When prisons in rural America close, an explanation of why "short-term economic distress" may occur.
GPS as an Investigatory Tool - Global positioning system devices increasingly used, by law enforcement and per Katz to investigate or develop criminal suspicion.
Police Using GPS in Crime-Solving - Police benefit from Americans' use of GPS and now rely upon this technology to track suspects' whereabouts and thereabouts in furtherance of criminal investigations.
DECISION: U.S. v. Maynard - D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding
the government's use of a GPS device violated the Fourth Amendment. Note how the federal court distinguishes the use of a beeper in Knotts vs. the use of the GPS here (beginning on p. 17) and "plain view" observations (beginning on p. 23).
GRAPHIC: Criminal Bagginess - How low can your pants go in Flint, Michigan? A police department chart depicting, inter alia, criminal bagginess -- leading to, if convicted, a minimum of 93 days to a maximum of one year in jail, and/or up to $500.00 in fines -- looks like.
U.S.: "Most Punitive Country in the World" - Equal Justice Initiative story reports that the United States has the world's highest incarceration rate, locking up five times more people per capita than Britain, nine times more than Germany, and 12 times more than Japan.
Consent To A Warrentless Search of Your Home? - Boston police plan to seize illegal handguns via "requesting" warrantless home searches of parents who live with children in "high-crime areas."
EDITORIAL: Arizona's Immigration Law & SCOTUS as Enabler - A NYT's editorial penned by Dean Kevin Johnson (UC Davis) and Gabriel "Jack" Chin (University of Arizona), noting how SCOTUS precedent gives legal foundation to Arizona's use of a suspect's "Mexican appearance" in its controversial (and challenged) immigration law.
"Securing" the (Southern) Border - $600 million dollar bill to send more agents, drones, and money to stop the tide of those undocumented from entering the U.S. via the southern border.
U.S. May Sue Arizona's Sheriff - Why the United States may sue the poster boy for Arizona's anti-illegal immigrant movement and immigration law: allegations of meritless corruption investigations of officials who have criticized his policies or opposed his requests.
Informants: Lifeblood AND Poison? - Discusses -- by way of the recent arrests of Brooklyn police officers -- the ethical, legal, and constitutional trickiness of police recruitment, cultivation, and management of confidential informants, aka "snitches."
CONVICTED: Cops' Cover-ups, Planted Evidence, and False Reports After Killing - The back story, cover-up, unraveling, and aftermath of an Atlanta, GA police department's purposeful cover-up of the wrongful killing of Ms. Kathryn Johnston, a 92 year old woman, innocent of criminal wrongdoing, in an unjustified home invasion that started with a manufactured informant's "tip."
Van der Sloot's "Alleged Confession" - Theories on why this high-profile suspect allegedly confessed to killing after successfully avoiding indictment on the high-profile Natalee Holladay disappearance in 2005.
PODCAST: How "NYPD Blue" Helped Overturn Miranda - NPR interview -- post-Berghuis -- with NYPD Blue co-producer David Milch, who consulted with an actual police officer, who insisted that, on the streets and in "real life," Miranda warnings are mostly a fiction and NEVER as regularly given or protective as TV portrays and society believes.
VIDEO: ACS Discusses Miranda Post-Berghuis - Constitutional law experts discuss -- via an American Constitution Society panel -- Miranda's future in light of the recent court rulings, such as Berghuis, and the administration's announcement that it would seek a broad exception to the Miranda rule.
LAPD Maps Muslims - Documents reveal that the Los Angeles police department intends to use demographic data to identify "Muslims communities," sparking religious profiling criticism.
TESTIMONY: Laptop Searches (and other violations of Privacy) at the U.S. Borders - Transcript of statement by Peter Swire (Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund and Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University) before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights & Property re: border agents' search and seizure of laptops and other computing devices returning to the U.S.
William Stuntz's Case for a "Police "Surge" - Making a case for a domestic surge - a la the military surge/troop increase in Afghanistan -- in so-called high-crime neighborhoods as an investment in their future and reduction in crime.
PODCAST: ACLU on FBI's New Domestic Spying Powers - Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald and the ACLU's Mike German discuss the new powers to conduct, inter alia, suspicionless searches of Americans' activities.
AUDIO PODCAST: America's Forgotten War - 5-Part NPR series examines the progress and the challenges in the war on drugs via: 1. six months interviewing more than 100 people — including former drug czars, former addicts and drug smugglers, and Drug Enforcement Administration agents and 2) reports on how incarceration of drug offenders in the late 1980s and early '90s is affecting American cities today.
South Carolina Troopers Use Cruisers to Hit Suspects - Video footage via dashboard-mounted cruiser cameras record South Carolina troopers' race-based policing tactic of intentionally hitting Black suspects fleeing on foot.
VIDEO: BART Transit Officer Kills Rider - Cell phone camera footage of BART transit officer shooting and killing subway passenger, Oscar Grant. Clip shows witness who videotaped the encounter with her cell phone explaining the course of events leading up to and after the shooting.
"Video Vigilante" - Urging video use by citizens to combat police officer violations.
Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty in Post-Katrina Killings - Former police lieutenant Michael Lohman pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the police officer killings of two and injuring of four civilians in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT: Obstruction of Justice - Lohman's indictment charging conspiring to obstruct justice re: the "legally unjustified" killings of two and injuring of four civilians, post-Hurricane Katrina.
Indiana Police Chief Recommends Firing of Officer - The city's police chief called Thursday for the Chief recommends the firing of a White officer who repeatedly struck in the face a 15-year-old Biracial boy (Black mother, White father) after the teen had been subdued by other officers.
Videos Will Dominate BART Killing Trial - Videos recorded by several people aboard a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) subway train chronicle the events leading up to the 2009 New Year's Day shooting are being relied upon by attorneys on both sides to help prove their case.
VIDEO: NY Police Beats an Iraq War Vet - Video that triggered investigation and criminal charges against NYPD officers for assault and falsifying police report re: the incident.
Chicago's Top Torturer: Convicted - Decorated former Chicago police lieutenant suffocated, shocked and beat confessions out of scores of suspects convicted of federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges for lying about the torture.
"Killed By the Cops" - A report showing that U.S. Blacks and increasingly Latinos are disproportionately represented in national "death-by-cop" statistics.
CONVICTED: Cops' Cover-ups, Planted Evidence, and False Reports After Killing - The back story, cover-up, unraveling, and aftermath of an Atlanta, GA police department's purposeful cover-up of the wrongful killing of Ms. Kathryn Johnston, a 92 year old woman, innocent of criminal wrongdoing, in an unjustified home invasion that started with a manufactured informant's "tip."
BLOG POST & VIDEO: The "Big Shove Cop" - Critiques the conduct of Officer Patrick Pogan, infamous for his pushing a cyclist from his bike during Critical Mass street protest (ultimately convicted for filing a false instrument) AND the second officer who "merely" stands by and watches his colleague's actions.
VIDEO: The "Big Shove Cop" - Police Officer Patrick Pogan videotaped violently shoving and arresting bicyclist Christopher Long during the Critical Mass protest.
BLOG POST & VIDEO: The "Big Shove Cop" - Critiques the sentencing judge, who ordered "The Big Shove" former NYPD Officer Patrick Pogan sentenced to a conditional discharge, rejecting both Pogan's lawyer's (who asked for community service) and the prosecutor's request (jail and probation).
VIDEO: Denver Police Beat A Cop's Son - Caught on law enforcement's video surveillance cameras: Denver, CO police -- accused of using excessive force against one young man bounced from a nightclub -- turned their attention to the young man's friend, who is on the phone, reporting the violence to his deputy police officer dad.
VIDEO: Man Tasered in his Home - The latest video footage of police officer conduct deemed questionable, given the lack of criminal suspicion.
"Personal Space Invaders": Slate.com - Identifies scientific and technological advances of 2007 that encroach upon, threaten, or potentially trump individual privacy. Also provides useful hyperlinks to related source information and articles (regarding, e.g., surveillance cameras, human chip implants, and mind-reading).
Harvey Weinstein's Garbage: Revealed! - Perusing the movie mogul's Tribeca trash uncovers intriguing communications about the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Moore,Bob Iger, Woody Allen, Alicia Keys, Nicole Kidman, Tommy Hilfiger, and the inimitable television reality show, "Project Runway."
Officer "Hunch" or Proper Policing? - A detective relies upon her faimiliarity with a neighborhood's funeral home folkways and a rape victim's description to nab a suspect.
Police Raid Mayor's Home and Kill His Pets - Detailed story of suburban D.C. mayor's home being invaded and dogs shot dead by law enforcement officers without a warrant, yet on the trail of a delivered box left upon the mayor's front porch.
Guess-timating Speeding Drivers - New Ohio state law regards officers' guessing of a motorists' speed can suffice to support traffic tickets' issuance.
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: 1st-Grader Handcuffed - Southern Poverty Law Center and Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana file a class action lawsuit against the New Orleans school district for shackling and handcuffing very young (early elementary school-aged) children for minor school violations.
Biometrics: Bodies As National IDs? - Discussing "Next Generation Identification," the FBI's impending billion dollar expansion of its biometric database, aimed at increasing identification of suspects, domestically and abroad. Notes also the current use of biometrics by DHS (e.g., iris scans) at American airports, as well as potential use for police officers.
PODCAST: "The Supreme Court: Home to America's Highest Court" - C-SPAN documentary; includes interviews with currently sitting and former Justices (including recently appointed Justice Sotomayor) on the uniqueness and workings of the Court, opinion writing, oral arguments, dissenting, and many other aspects regarding the making of law via the highest Court in the land.
SCOTUS Blog - The popular blog maintained by lawyers from the law firms of Akin Gump and Howe & Russell.
Justice Sotomayor: "The Phone Call" - Justice Sotomayor describes the what she was told prior to President Obama's of her official nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court ... and her reaction to President Obama's call.
VIDEO - Solicitor General Elena Kagan accepts President Obama's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
SLIP OPINION: Berghuis v. Thomkins - "Miranda" modified: Now, 1) if a suspect does not want to talk to police s/he must say so (silence and lack of cooperation are ambiguous) and 2) if a suspect answers a suggestive question with a one-word response that amounts to a confession, by itself, that will be understood as a waiver of the Fifth Amendment right to silence; specific waiver no longer required.
WEBSITE: C-SPAN's Supreme Court - Includes podcasts, streaming video, interviews, reviews, and other information regarding the workings of the highest court in the land.
VIRTUAL TOUR: SCOTUS - The places -- including the Robing Room, the Supreme Court's Library, and the West Plaza Pediment's "Equal Justice Under Law" inscription -- and a few faces of the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to the work of C-SPAN's cameras and interviews.
SCOTUS "Experts" - Courtesy of C-SPAN, video snippets of those who have covered the U.S. Supreme Court and possess intimate knowledge of, inter alia, its rhythms, changes, collegiality, and the impact of a new Justice.
U.S. SCOTUS Media - A multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work.
ABSTRACT: The iPhone Meets the Fourth Amendment, Adam Gershowitz - Should the search incident to arrest exception to the warrant requirement allow police the ability to open a suspect's iPhone's multiple applications, including call history, cell phone contacts, e-mails, pictures, and browsing history?
Contacts Between Police and the Public - 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report that discusses results of 2005 Police-Public Contact Survey re: civilian/police face-to-face encounters (e.g., traffic stops), use of force, civilian satisfaction, as well as race, ethnicity, and gender
More Than 1 in 10 Americans: INCARCERATED - State and federal prisons and jails contain an all-time high of incarcerated individuals, making the U.S. the country that incarcerates at the highest rate in the world.
New York Minorities More Likely to Be Frisked - May 2010 New York Times story of the 2009 raw data by the Center for Constitutional Rights that, inter alia, nearly 490,000 blacks and Latinos were stopped by the police on the streets last year, compared with 53,000 whites. But once stopped, the arrest rates were virtually the same.
POLL: Americans' Awareness of SCOTUS - Recent findings -- via a C-SPAN/Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates Pollon survey -- of how aware U.S. public is of the highest court in the land.
Crack Tax? - New York's governor proposes a tax on marijuana, heroin, and cocaine; prepaid "tax stamps" would be affixed to bags of the substances, indicating that the dealer has complied with the tax law.
Officer Fido? - Dogs as "sworn police officers." Some do "take the oath!"
AUDIO PODCAST: Shaming Gang Members - From National Public Radio: Distributing flyers with suspected gang members' photos as a shaming tactic is a new weapon in Boston police officers' arsenal ... that may backfire.
Don't tase ME, Bro!" - Officer sues his former employer over its "training by tasing" policy, claiming the mandatory shocking violates his constitutional rights.
New York Minorities More Likely to Be Frisked - May 2010 New York Times story of the 2009 raw data by the Center for Constitutional Rights that, inter alia, nearly 490,000 blacks and Latinos were stopped by the police on the streets last year, compared with 53,000 whites. But once stopped, the arrest rates were virtually the same.
NYPD's "Stop, Question, Frisk" - 52,000 stops over a few blocks' range in 4 years? This article discusses whether the impact of these stats help or hurt.
VIDEO: NYPD's "Stop, Question, Frisk" - NYT Video depiction of the NYPD's justification for 52,000 purported Terry stops and frisks occurring in 4 years over a few blocks' city realty.
EDITORIAL: Arizona's Immigration Law & SCOTUS as Enabler - A WaPo editorial penned by Dean Kevin Johnson (UC Davis) and Gabriel "Jack" Chin (University of Arizona), noting how SCOTUS precedent gives legal foundation to Arizona's use of a suspect's "Mexican appearance" in its controversial (and challenged) immigration law.
NY Limits Retention of Stop-and-Frisk Data - Despite opposition from the NYPD, New York's Governor David Paterson signed into law a bill passed by the Senate and Assembly that would limit the retention of personal data gathered by New York City's police to prohibit the police from saving people’s personal data in cases when no enforcement action was taken (the database would still include a record of the stop, including the person’s age and race and the location and reason for it, as the City Council required in 2001).
When in France... - France's constitutional court recently ordered in a landmark decision that French police be stripped of their power to arrest ordinary suspects and interrogate them for 48 hours without bringing charges or reading them their rights.
PROPOSED LEGISLATION: End Racial Profiling Act - Most recent iteration of the text of the bill repeatedly introduced by U.S. House of Representatives Member John Conyers to cease police race-based stop-and-frisk conduct.
REPORT: Targeting Blacks for Marijuana Use, 2004-08 - Drug Policy Alliance data supporting the practice of excessive/overpolicing of Blacks in California by Dr. Harry Levine, Queens College (NY) researcher.
STUDY: Race-Based Policing By the LAPD - ACLU report data, executive summary, and conclusions regarding police practices that disproportionately target and affect Blacks and Latinos in Los Angeles, CA.
All Shook Up: Police Vehicles That Rumble - Washington D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department upgrades its fleet by adding vehicles equipped with the "Rumbler," a device that emits a vibrating frequency felt up to 200' away in order to assist police emergency travel.
MA High Speed Chase Policy - Pursuit vs. public safety: how Massachusetts balances these interests in police high-speed chases.
ABSTRACT: Lawrence Rosenthal's "Pragmatism, Originalism, Rce, and the Case Against Terry v. Ohio - A criminal justice system that fails to keep disadvantaged persons of color safe, even as relatively wealthy whites live in security, can offer neither fairness nor legitimacy. Terry offered the police hope of a prophylactic approach to policing in which the authorities need not wait until a crime is committed to undertake measures to keep a community safe. ... The residents of high-crime, inner-city communities face threats to their safety that most of us would find unimaginable, and that surely those who framed the Fourth Amendment could never have imagined. Perhaps that is why so many rebel against the kind of stop-and-frisk regime undertaken in New York. The threat of violent crime that New York and other cities have faced, however, should be enough to expand one's imagination.
SCOTUS BLOG: City of Ontario v. Quon - Are an employee's text messages -- received and sent on an employer-provided device -- protected under the Fourth Amendment? Here's a primer on the issues before the Court.
VIDEO: Cops Planting Drugs on Suspect? - You be the judge. Dash cam films a traffic stop and Terry (perhaps) frisk(s) of a suspect. During the searching of the suspect (and use of force via repeated canine dog bites), one officer signals another, leading to the searching officer's movement to his own pocket, back to the suspect's pant pocket, and the sudden declaration of "found" marijuana.
NYPD's "Stop, Question, Frisk" - From the July 2010 NYT story detailing NYPD's justification for 52,000 stops in 4 years over several blocks (and reactions).
VIDEO: Chinese Police Shooting - Multiple gun shots fired to kill a hostage-taker armed only with scissors triggered commentary that celebrates and criticizes aggressive policing in China. Interesting/Complicating factors: 1) the hostage-taker stabbed a male victim with the scissors and took his (female) hostage after a botched robbery attempt, 2) the plainclothes officer is a woman (in "a white pantsuit and elegant scarf"), and 3) moments after the killing, the officer smiles and laughs.
VIDEO: ACS Discusses Miranda Post-Berghuis - Constitutional law experts discuss -- via an American Constitution Society panel -- Miranda's future in light of the recent court rulings, such as Berghuis, and the administration's announcement that it would seek a broad exception to the Miranda rule.
Increase in Prosecutions for Videotaping Police - Now that videotapes of police (mis)conduct have become hot items online on sites such as You Tube and in court, police are now seeking to kill -- or, at least confiscate -- the messenger. Others maintain that photography and videotaping are not crimes.
Secret Warrants Issued Without Probable Cause - Courts divided on the issuance of secret warrants to allow federal agents' tracking of individuals' cellphones via the Pen Register and Stored Communications statutes on less than probable cause.
Identity Theft, Drug Smuggling, and No-Knock (or not) Warrant? - Questions arise after local police execute a no-knock entry of local mayor's home, kill his family's Labrador retrievers, and attempt to connect the mayor and his wife to a package containing 32 lbs. of marijuana delivered to the home . . . by the police.
WEBSITE: American Constitution Society for Law and Policy - Podcasts, video, links, scholarship, and other useful information from the organization that takes a"forward-looking" perspective on the U.S. Constitution, thanks to the "vision" of the framers and the "wisdom" of "forward-looking" leaders.
4th Ed. Preface
