How The Supreme Court Has Gradually Weakened The Legal Protections You Have When You’re Arrested
For decades, the Court has been carving out generous exceptions and crafting new rules that limit the Miranda warning’s real-world impact.
Jay Willis Jun 23, 2020
The Supreme Court Buys Into Donald Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Fearmongering
Using language evoking pernicious stereotypes about immigration and crime, the Court’s conservative majority clears the way for the Trump administration to deport legal permanent residents for crimes committed long ago.
Jay Willis Apr 29, 2020
Tennessee Set to Execute Intellectually Disabled Black Man In Killing of White Woman Even Though Innocence Questions Persist
Attorneys say the prosecution’s theory of the murder case was ‘concocted out of whole cloth’ and based on ‘outdated racial stereotyping.’
Judges Are Exploiting the COVID-19 Pandemic to Advance the Conservative Agenda
A trio of cases in Wisconsin and Texas illustrates how Republican judges are feigning helplessness in the face of a public health crisis while furthering their own ends.
Jay Willis Apr 22, 2020
The Supreme Court Just Struck Down the Last State Law Allowing Split Jury Verdicts
Ramos v. Louisiana is a long-overdue affirmation of the constitutional rights of criminal defendants—and sets the stage for dramatic Supreme Court fights in the years ahead.
Jay Willis Apr 20, 2020
Five Jurists Said Donnie Lance Deserved a New Sentence. Georgia Executed Him Anyway.
Three Supreme Court justices and others said competent counsel could have saved his life.
The Appeal Podcast: A Lack of Basic Rights for Incarcerated Workers
With journalist Sessi Kuwabara Blanchard
Adam H. Johnson Oct 24, 2019
A Deadly Father-And-Son Bank Robbery Raises Questions About Culpability and The Adolescent Mind
Christopher Lay grew up under the influence of a father who was mentally ill. Drawn into a crime at age 19, he’s now seeking a second chance that could help other young adults demand the same.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 18, 2019
Court-Packing Is The Tip Of The Iceberg
Sarah Lustbader Oct 16, 2019
Missouri Executes Russell Bucklew Despite Threat of Botched Execution
His legal team had pushed for clemency, arguing that Bucklew’s previous attorneys mishandled his capital murder case.
Lauren Gill Oct 02, 2019
Missouri Is Set To Execute Russell Bucklew. His Lawyers Say His Case Was Mishandled.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his execution, which experts have said will be bloody and gruesome, does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. But problems with his case started long before that, his attorneys say.
Lauren Gill Sep 20, 2019
He Entered Prison As a ‘Whiskerless Kid.’ Will Oregon Ever Let Him Out?
Despite supporting Oregon’s new juvenile justice law, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is still fighting to keep people in prison who received life sentences as minors.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Sep 03, 2019
Sentenced to Life Without Parole at 17 and Denied Freedom at 52
Richard Kinder thought he would die in an Alabama prison until the Supreme Court ruled mandatory juvenile life without parole unconstitutional. But last year, despite a judge concluding there was “uncontradicted evidence” that Kinder had worked to rehabilitate himself, the state parole board refused him release.
Lauren Gill Aug 07, 2019
The Power of Peremptory Strikes
As public servants, prosecutors should be willing to put their cases before anyone in the communities they serve.
Vida B. Johnson Jul 18, 2019
Pennsylvania Case Challenges ‘Death by Incarceration’ for 18-year-olds
Recent Supreme Court rulings have led to a review of life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed at age 17 and younger, but attorneys for Avis Lee say there’s no reason to stop there.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Nov 12, 2018