6/22/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

A recent article evaluates President Obama's clemency initiative and its lessons for criminal justice reform.

6/21/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Easha Anand makes her triumphant return to talk qualified immunity and police reform. The trio talk about the proposal to reform qualified immunity and debate whether that will do much. They then break down other new legal innovations in the various proposals and ask: is it enough to create new grounds for people to sue? Or are other reforms more important? Listen now!

6/16/20  //  Commentary

Following the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock, it's worth asking: Why has the law been so successful at improving the lives of gay people but much less successful at improving the lives of people of color?

6/7/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie take on two topics. First, what can the president legally do to use the military on American soil? Second, is it legal for the House of Representatives to vote by proxy, without being physically present in D.C., as alleged in a new lawsuit by House Republicans? Listen now!

5/24/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss the extraordinary motion to dismiss Michael Flynn's criminal case. Does the DOJ's logic make sense? And what can Judge Sullivan do if he chooses not to dismiss the case? Listen now!

4/20/20  //  Quick Reactions

Ten thoughts on Ramos v. LA

1/14/18  //  Daily Update

The White House conducts a "listening session" with criminal justice reform advocates focused on prisoner re-entry. The Justice Department is heightening efforts to increase the use of capital punishment.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Sessions rescinded 25 Justice Department guidance documents on how to interpret an array of federal laws.

12/4/17  //  Daily Update

The Attorney General announced stepped-efforts to address the opioid crisis.

11/26/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration has been vocal about "law and order" goals, but will leave most of the work to local law enforcement, as evidenced by a $100 million grant to local departments. The tough on crime stance is clear in DOJ's position in some upcoming Supreme Court casts.

11/5/17  //  Daily Update

Oral argument in Ayestas v. Davis indicates that the Supreme Court is likely to reverse the Fifth Circuit’s imposition of a “substantial need” requirement for indigent federal habeas petitioners to be eligible to receive funding for investigative or expert services.

10/31/17  //  Daily Update

The DOJ will end the standard gag orders that prohibit technology companies from telling customers when the government has requested their data.

3/16/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

President Trump favors federal legislation requiring states to recognize concealed carry licenses issued by other states. But that policy rests on shaky constitutional foundations.

5/31/18  //  Quick Reactions

The Supreme Court has been engaged in something of a shell game with respect to remedies in cases related to policing.

5/2/17  //  Commentary

100 days in and 25 years after the unrest in Los Angeles, the Trump Administration is failing communities entitled to fair and just policing.

4/11/17  //  Quick Reactions

The video of the United flight reveals more than just what happened. It also shows why DOJ oversight is so important.

2/8/18  //  Commentary

On the latest episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Easha talk all things Russia investigation (or tangentially Russia investigation)—the Nunes #meh-mo, the fallout therefrom, and whether Trump will be interviewed by the Special Counsel.

3/20/18  //  Quick Reactions

There's another reason the Court should take a close look at the cert petition in Williams v. Louisiana.

4/20/17  //  Latest Developments

Take Care is pleased to announce the release of "Versus Trump," a new, affiliated podcast about the ways that the Trump Administration is breaking the law—and what people are doing about it.

4/12/17  //  Commentary

Criminal justice agencies have become part of our communities' mental health services systems. They need to abide by the disability rights laws that govern mental health services

12/19/19  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Easha and Charlie discuss the Trump Administration’s efforts to resume federal executions after a decade-and-a-half hiatus. Listen now!

11/2/17  //  Uncategorized

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and special guest David Sklansky discuss the first shoe to drop from the Mueller investigation: the indictment of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and the guilty plea of George Papadopoulos. Listen now!

11/30/19  //  Commentary

When the Supreme Court considers an important Second Amendment case this week, it ought to consider a robust conception of the state's interest in regulating firearms. Properly understood, the state's interest in adopting gun laws includes much more than mere empirical studies about how effective gun laws are at preventing wrongful gun deaths.

3/29/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Jason talks to Rick Hasen, a leading election law scholar and purveyor of the Election Law Blog, about what's going on at the voting booth, possible campaign finance law violations by both Trump and Clinton in the 2016 cycle, and Justice Scalia, who is the subject of Rick's new book, The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption. Listen now!

5/3/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Charlie, and Jason continue their investigation of the relationship between federal and state law by debating the Trump Administration's reversal of Obama-era guidance about marijuana enforcement. Listen now!

10/30/17  //  Quick Reactions

As a nation, we now find ourselves in uncharted territory.

4/15/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Some recent cases suggest that, if anything, the Supreme Court should be harder on states in capital litigation proceedings. Instead, the Court has done the opposite.

8/22/18  //  Commentary

In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to grant Lacaze v. Louisiana, a case raising profound questions for the constitutional standards governing judicial recusal where a judge has --but does not even disclose--concrete connections to the case being tried before him.

3/23/18  //  Quick Reactions

Federal prosecutors who seek the death penalty in cases where no death results are inviting a constitutional challenge they’re likely to lose.

2/13/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Last week’s Supreme Court stay orders say a lot about how the Court views the substance of the underlying constitutional claims in Dunn v. Ray and June Medical Services v. Gee.

9/6/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The zone of interests test shouldn't apply to constitutional claims seeking injunctive relief. But even if it does apply, it doesn't prevent federal defenders from challenging arbitrary limits on attorney access under the Sixth Amendment.

6/5/18  //  Commentary

There are times when strategic ducking makes sense practically if not strictly legally

1/29/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Prisoners sentenced under the mandatory Sentencing Guidelines are not faring well in the courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court won't have a ton of opportunities to correct those decisions, if it thinks they are wrong.

4/19/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Trump Administration may already have the tools it would need to predict with high accuracy the religious identity of a significant percentage of U.S. citizens and visiting Muslims. And software engineers, not lawyers, may be our first line of alarm and defense.

7/18/18  //  Commentary

In the U.S. there are many “very unfair” situations involving prisons. But Trump’s policies are making prisons worse.

3/16/17  //  Commentary

It is time for progressives to embrace federalism and to use Supreme Court precedents protecting states’ rights to fight against Trump administration policies

8/31/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, we talk about web-hosting company Dreamhost's refusal to cooperate fully with the Trump Administration's broad request for information about the visitors to DisruptJ20.org, a website allegedly used by those involved in an Inauguration Day riot. Listen now!

5/23/18  //  Quick Reactions

Prosecutors recently agreed to the release of a man wrongfully convicted as a child. But not without a cost.

7/11/18  //  Uncategorized

I want to begin exploring ways in which liberals might try to defend what we value in the coming era of Supreme Court extreme conservatism

7/27/17  //  Commentary

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ charging memo undermines one of the premises of the Supreme Court’s recent cases

3/27/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss a lawsuit in Seattle, Dawson v. Asher, requesting that several vulnerable people in immigration detention be released. They discuss the legal standard for detention, why detention centers are particularly dangerous places, and what courts will be balancing when they consider these requests for release. Listen now!

3/1/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie check back in with the most politically charged of all Versus Trump suits: the Russia investigation. Listen now!

4/4/17  //  Quick Reactions

AG Sessions’s eleventh-hour effort to avoid a consent decree in Baltimore is indefensible and unmistakably political. The court should not allow it.

4/28/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

While President Trump has little direct control over how states administer the death penalty, his administration might seek to facilitate the acquisition of legal injection drugs and limit federal habeas review in capital cases. But these policies would raise major legal questions.

4/26/17  //  Commentary

Will Attorney General Sessions really get the federal government out of the police oversight business? Signs are increasingly pointing to yes.

4/14/17  //  Commentary

As part of the Trump administration's war on information, the administration has started to roll back federal investigations into police violence and criminal justice.

12/6/18  //  Uncategorized

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, the gang is re-united, and they discuss the Supreme Court motion contending that Matthew Whitaker was not legally appointed as Acting Attorney General. Listen now!

6/6/17  //  Commentary

By Allison Murphy: Given President Trump’s documented and acknowledged efforts to interfere with the independence of the FBI, the Senate should presume that could continue under a new FBI Director. It is therefore incumbent upon Senators to ensure that any Trump nominee for FBI Director commits to certain baseline aspects of independence and impartiality before any new nominee is confirmed. Here are 10 questions that require answers.

8/9/18  //  Commentary

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and Easha—in her last episode for several months—discuss the fast-moving lawsuit by states against the Trump Administration and Cody Wilson seeking to block distribution of plans for 3D-printed guns. As usual, you can listen online below, and subscribe via this page with any podcast player or here in iTunes.

9/12/19  //  Commentary

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and guest-host Alexandra Brodsky discuss a recent opinion invalidating the FBI's terrorism watch-list. They discuss the implications of the opinion for the Trump administration (and beyond), the merits (and demerits) of the court's reasoning, and all sorts of other cool stuff, including how annoying it is when people think they're important enough to be spied on by the FBI. Listen now!

11/16/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss a new lawsuit that forces courts to answer the question of whether the federal government needs a warrant to search people's electronic devices at the U.S. border, and they also respond to a discussion on the Supreme Court podcast First Mondays regarding the government's recent filing in the Hargan v. Garza abortion case. Listen now!

7/10/17  //  Commentary

As disenfranchisement and voter suppression efforts are on the rise, one partial response is reenfranchisement.

10/26/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

DOJ now argues that people who are in prison based on mistaken understandings of criminal statutes must stay there. The Supreme Court should consider granting certiorari to correct its mistake (and the Eleventh and Tenth Circuits’).

4/13/17  //  Commentary

The Trump administration has enacted several policies to conceal, subvert, or manipulate information. It has retracted a proposal to add LGBTQ identification to the U.S. census and eliminated LGBTQ identification from HHS surveys. These policies and others attempt to deny the existence of a problem by disappearing the (inconvenient) facts.

4/17/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Supreme Court has insisted on relitigating and reaffirming its decision in Dunn v. Ray. So let's do that.

2/22/19  //  Commentary

By Nabihah Maqbool and Sirine Shebaya: There are major problems with the Countering Violent Extremism program. Trump has only made the program worse. It should be winded down for good.

5/16/17  //  Commentary

Trump suggested in a recent signing statement that he could disregard an appropriations restriction on federal marijuana enforcement. But Trump is mistaken.

3/23/17  //  Commentary

The Attorney General’s embrace of private prisons is a victory for the industry, but it threatens the safety of correctional officers and prisoners.

6/18/18  //  Quick Reactions

Today's federal sentencing opinions create even more tension between the Court's sentencing jurisprudence and Beckles v. United States.

3/9/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Trump’s actions to quash the independence of federal law enforcement mirror the approach of autocratic leaders around the globe.

6/24/19  //  Quick Reactions

The reach of the Supreme Court’s opinion in United States v. Davis will be dictated by a host of procedural rules.

5/21/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Should former FBI Director Robert Mueller decide to bring criminal charges against President Trump for obstruction of justice, he would be acting well within the law, the norms of the profession, and the reasonable bounds of the discretion with which he has been entrusted.

3/22/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha and Charlie take a quick gander at Donald Trump's proposal to seek the death penalty for drug dealers. Listen now!

4/27/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

President Trump and Attorney General Sessions hold exceptionally pro-death penalty views. Here's how they might seek to increase use of capital punishment at the federal level, and why any such effort likely would fail.

5/18/18  //  Commentary

Courts are beginning to address how the Sentencing Guidelines might be affected by Sessions v. Dimaya.

5/29/18  //  Commentary

A currently pending cert petition provides the Court a welcome opportunity to clarify how the voluntariness standard applies to juvenile confessions and juvenile interrogations.

4/11/19  //  Commentary

A recently filed amicus brief asks the Sixth Circuit to reconsider en banc whether prisoners challenged under the mandatory Guidelines can ever air the claim that their sentences are unconstitutional in light of Johnson v. United States.

5/24/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Recent Harvard Law graduate, and soon to be civil rights lawyer, Shakeer Rahman offers some second thoughts about celebrating federal law enforcement’s independence.

10/31/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The stakes are high for defendants awaiting the Supreme Court's decision in Sessions v. Dimaya.

4/12/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie revisit two lawsuits in which the Plaintiffs have recently successfully fought off motions to dismiss and been allowed to proceed. And in a new installment of "Sanctions Corner with Uncle Charlie," Charlie answers questions about the FBI raid on the office of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Listen now!

5/22/18  //  Commentary

A recent article shows why federal courts can and should revisit the convictions and sentences of many federal prisoners affected by Sessions v. Dimaya.

4/13/17  //  Commentary

Given the nativist overtones of his campaign and his administration’s signature policies — from the Muslim ban to an immigration crackdown that equates being a foreign-born minority with criminality — Trump has exploded the fiction that we live in a post-racial society.

2/22/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie discuss what's going on in courts related to gun regulation. They focus on one set of Versus Trump lawsuits in this area: suits by the Gabby Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence requesting any Trump Administration records that would show the influence of the gun lobby on the Administration. Listen now!

6/8/17  //  Commentary

A new letter from a bipartisan group of senators shows that Attorney General Sessions’s approach to charging is out of the mainstream, contrary to our justice system’s values, and unsupported by existing crime research.

3/16/17  //  Commentary

The president has continued existing policies, but also signaled a misplaced (and dangerous) reliance on immigration enforcement and incarceration to protect the public.

6/19/17  //  Commentary

The AG's argument for harsher sentencing recommendations in federal drug cases is weak and shows little regard for the truth.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Jeff Sessions advocated returning to harsh punishments for low-level drug offenders.

5/7/17  //  Daily Update

Capital punishment and tension between communities and law enforcement may escalate under President Trumps' Department of Justice.

8/20/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Sessions may be back in the President's good graces.

9/24/17  //  Daily Update

Changes the Justice Department proposed to community policing initiatives drew widespread criticism. Commentators argue DOJ must better review police departments' actions.

6/18/17  //  Daily Update

Criminal justice reform advocates turn focus to Jared Kushner and to local efforts.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

This week, the Department of Justice ordered a nationwide review of consent decrees implemented to curb civil rights abuses. State governors are poised to fight back against Attorney General Jeff Sessions's federal marijuana policy. And a decline in incarceration rates is threatened by the Trump Presidency.

4/23/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Sessions has started to make significant changes at the Department of Justice by doubling down on mass incarceration and weakening police accountability. Such efforts face significant criticism.

3/26/17  //  Daily Update

Private prisons have newfound influence in the White House and have benefitted from the Trump Administration's Justice Department policy reversal.

4/30/17  //  Daily Update

The Administration may remove oversight of local law enforcement agencies, and use the federal death penalty more often.

10/1/17  //  Daily Update

The U.S. Sentencing Commission released a report on alternatives to incarceration in the federal criminal justice system.

6/4/17  //  Daily Update

The proposed budget for the Department of Justice signals the administration’s intent to forego enforcement of civil rights laws. Meanwhile, proposed congressional legislation to provide greater protections for police officers may further criminalize communities of color, advocates worry.

8/24/17  //  Daily Update

While the Trump administration has revived policies associated with the "War on Drugs," it has not yet taken meaningful steps to respond to the opioid crisis.

7/16/17  //  Daily Update

A DOJ report criticized the use of solitary confinement for mentally ill inmates. Attorney General Jess Sessions spoke again about his drug enforcement policies.

7/23/17  //  Daily Update

AG Sessions announced plans to expand civil asset forfeiture and encourage prosecutors to seek harsher criminal penalties. Sessions was heavily criticized both by Democrats and President Trump this week.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Jeff Sessions released more details on his plan to reduce violent crime.

10/21/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Sessions testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Former Attorney General Eric Holder criticized the Trump Administration’s criminal justice policies as “not smart on crime"; law enforcement leaders are pressuring the Trump Administration to join the “bipartisan movement for criminal justice reform."

4/16/17  //  Daily Update

This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ushered in the "Trump Era," heralding increased enforcement of immigration offenses. The Department of Homeland Security has resurrected programs deputizing state and local police to enforce immigration laws. And Nikolas Bowie, writing for Take Care, argues that the internal review of Civil Rights Division consent decrees threatens its value as an unbiased source.

8/13/17  //  Daily Update

Drug courts are not the perfect solution some make them out to be.

6/25/17  //  Daily Update

The DOJ ramps up the War on Drugs but has no plans to conduct federal investigations of officer-involved shootings.

8/6/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump appeared to endorse police brutality in a speech to community college students and law enforcement officers.

6/11/17  //  Daily Update

Questions asked about the Justice Department's mandatory minimums policy and the continued United States Attorney vacancies.