When it comes to criminal cases, jury selection is quite vital. Jurors can make or break a case, and attorneys around the country have different tactics on how they go about their selection. On both sides of a case, both the prosecution and defense have a certain number of peremptory strikes, depending on the state, which are used to remove jurors without having to provide a specific reason. However, in 1986, the Supreme Court case, Batson v. Kentucky, came out with an opinio

The death penalty has reserved a frequent spot in the Supreme Court docket; the most recent case in 2014 addressed botched injections. On November 6, 2018, legal injection returned to the Court in Bucklew v. Precythe. This case presents a unique question – what should a state do when a normally painless procedure could cause immense pain and suffering to an individual inmate? Russell Bucklew, an inmate on Missouri’s death row, suffers from a very rare congenital medical condi

The Supreme Court ruled (by 5-4 majority decision) that the revealing nature of CSLI data invokes a “reasonable expectation of privacy” (within the meaning of Katz v. United States). The Supremes held that Cell Site Location Information (CSLI) has such a “comprehensive” and “revealing nature” that any examination of CSLI data by law enforcement amounts to SEARCH. (Carpenter v. United States, 138 S. Ct. 2206, 2223). Now law enforcement may only gain access to this informati

On October 30, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in Garza v. Idaho. In this case, the petitioner, Gilberto Garza, Jr., is an Idaho inmate who pled guilty to aggravated assault and possession of a controlled substance pursuant to two plea agreements in 2015. The plea agreements included a waiver of his right to appeal. At the sentence hearing, “the court acknowledged the appeal waiver, but also told Garza about his right to appeal and have a lawy

The Eighth Amendment reads, “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This seemingly straightforward sentence is being reexamined by the Supreme Court in Madison v. Alabama. The Court is tasked with deciding if the prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishments” includes executing a man who cannot remember committing the crime. The State of Alabama is attempting to execute Vernon Madison, a sixty-seve

On February 27, 2018, the Supreme Court heard oral argument for United States v. Microsoft Corporation. The case considered whether a United States provider of email services must comply with a probable cause based warrant issued under 18 U.S.C. § 2703, even if the provider has decided to store the material abroad. Under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(a), the government may require disclosure by a provider of email services of wire or electronic communications stored in an electronic comm