The Constitutionality of No-Knock Warrants: A Potentially Deadly The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects individuals' rights against "unreasonable searches and seizures." It also establishes that law enforcement may only obtain a warrant when they have probable cause. Of course, as is often the case with the Constitution,... Read More »
With November 3 approaching, most of the country is focused on the big names of the 2020 general election, and the words “split roll” aren’t set to dominate the headlines anytime soon. But in California, those words are all the more significant in light of the onslaught of pandemic updates,... Read More »
With the death of liberal and feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsberg just weeks before the Presidential Election, the Supreme Court is taking center stage in the media. President Trump wasted no time in selecting a judge to fill the empty seat. Liberals across the nation are struggling to come to... Read More »
In 2018, Florida voters filled out their ballots with a special referendum: whether or not the over 150 years-old state law dictating felon disenfranchisement should stand. With over ten percent of eligible adults in Florida rendered ineligible to vote due to the law, which required an often-years-long process of applications... Read More »
On August 31, California passed a bill that would make fake, racist 911 calls a hate crime that could result in fines and even jail time. Lately, there have been documented instances where predominantly white people have called the cops on people of color for doing everyday activities like bird... Read More »
In California, a law has been passed enabling prisoners who have worked in fire camps while incarcerated to become full-time firefighters after their release. Eligible ex-convicts must be nonviolent offenders. Once they are released, their criminal records will be expunged, allowing them to become firefighters more easily. This bill was... Read More »
Cook County, Illinois, and Massachusetts both have assault weapons bans in place. These bans are based on a national assault weapon ban that expired in 2004 when Congress did not renew it. Cook County enacted its ban in 2007. The Massachusetts ban has been in place since 1998. Cook County’s... Read More »
DACA, which is short for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a program that allows qualifying young immigrants to stay in the country, even though they are undocumented. Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, initiated the policy. The Trump Administration's approach toward immigration does not conform with DACA.... Read More »
A whistleblower complaint recently brought to light especially disturbing allegations about the treatment of immigrants at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Ocilla, Georgia. The complaint, filed by a nurse who worked at the facility until a sudden demotion in July, alleges that federal immigration detainees... Read More »
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away Friday evening, September 18, 2020, after serving nearly three decades on the nation’s highest court. Known affectionately as the “Notorious RBG,” she left an immediate wake of grief among her most ardent supporters and ideological opponents alike—but the aftermath of Ginsburg’s... Read More »
New Jersey law requires people looking to get a permit to carry a handgun to have a “justifiable need” to get one. A “justifiable need” is defined as “urgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant’s life that... Read More »
Recently, California placed a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. Magazines are considered “high capacity” if they hold more than 10 bullets. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, repealed this ban because it goes against the 2nd Amendment, which gives Americans the right to own guns.... Read More »
A time before ride-share apps seems like a distant memory, but California law may be steering the state back in that direction this November. Californians will vote on Proposition 22, a ballot measure that will determine whether companies like Uber and Instacart will endure on the West Coast. The App-Based... Read More »
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue that Montana’s public-funded scholarship program for students to attend private schools cannot exclude religious schools. “A state need not subsidize private education,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the 5-4 majority opinion. “But once... Read More »
If Joe Biden were to secure the presidency, he would face a scene not unlike President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s late-1930s America. The nostalgic similarities have some wondering if a Biden presidency, too, might seek to rework the lifetime-tenured, nine-Justice stalwarts of the U.S. Supreme Court. In the shadow of the... Read More »
