Police and Policing

What can Joe Biden or any U.S. president do when it comes to reforming the approximately 18,000 locally governed police departments around the U.S.? The infamous Rodney King video showing him being graphically beaten by police officers helped catalyze a giant 1994 crime reform bill that brought the pattern and practice of local police departments under federal scrutiny. How does it work? Listen to episode 52 of What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law.

Last week, America watched a new type of Democratic National Convention. It was more representative of our country and we were glad to see Latino entertainers, workers, immigrants, mothers, daughters, and elected officials representing constituencies at different levels of government.

Episode 43 of the “What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law” podcast reviews some of the big cases of the past Supreme Court term and considers the constitutionality of the federal policing of the Portland protests. Listen to the podcast

[Cross-posted from Trumpconlaw.com]

Episode 42 of the “What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law” podcast: As people around the world continue to protest police brutality, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have proposed bills that would reform policing across the U.S. But in the American system, states are given a lot of latitude over law enforcement, down to the use of tactics like chokeholds and tear gas. Given the Constitution, what can the federal government actually do to make things better? Also, why was the ever-obscure Third Amendment trending last month?

Sometimes a marketing pivot serves a truth-telling function.

Most Wanted Poster

Trinity County, California, Courthouse, July 2018

Photos by Lisa R. Pruitt 

The headline is "Calling 911 in rural California?  Danger might be close, but the law can be hours away," and four Sacramento Bee journalists contributed to this major feature, which has been in the works since December, 2017.

In recent weeks, King Hall faculty have written several opinion pieces for the press.

Kevin R. Johnson in The Sacramento Bee: Trump's Immigration Promises Fraught with Obstacles

The Case Western Reserve Law Review published its symposium on the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Whren v. United States.

Faculty members at UC Davis School of Law publish truly unique scholarship that advances the legal profession. You can view their scholarly works via the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) Legal Scholarship Network. An archive can be found on this web page.

What follows here is the most recent collection of papers:

Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, Justice Antonin Scalia was often described as the intellectual anchor of the court's conservative wing. After his death, many commentators are reviewing his body of work, notably his interpretations of the Constitution, as well as his acerbic attacks on his colleagues' opinions and angry dissents, such as in the gay marriage cases.