Are the Cornell 7 Being Tried on Social Media?
Plus: Tennessee botches the execution of Christa Pike, and Sam Altman says the benefits of AI are worth the risks.
Criminal Justice
A SCOTUS Petition Argues That Pot Growers, Like Pot Smokers, Cannot Be Categorically Disarmed
The case involves a federal law that criminalizes gun possession by people convicted of nonviolent felonies.
Police Allegedly Destroyed $37,000 of Legal Hemp. Georgia's Supreme Court Just Upended 60 Years of Precedent.
The ruling has major implications for property owners when the government ruins their possessions in the exercise of "police power."
Minneapolis Activists Used Encrypted Group Chats To Outmaneuver ICE. Now the Feds Want To Prosecute Them.
"I think courts are going to be very suspicious of how broad this is," one Minnesota lawyer tells Reason.
2 Lawsuits Cast Further Doubt on the Claim That ICE Agent Jonathan Ross Killed Renée Good in Self-Defense
According to complaints filed by Good's family, Ross was not in any danger when he fired three shots into her car.
Would a Firing Squad Have Been More 'Humane' for Christa Pike?
Lethal injection dresses up the death penalty as something clinical and civilized. But the goal is the same: to kill someone.
Letitia James Has Already Suggested the Cornell 7 Are Guilty
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed a special prosecutor who has already implied that she sides with Jane Doe.
Cornell Lawsuit, Data After Dark, Botched Execution
Robby Soave and Christian Britschgi discuss the Cornell rape lawsuit, D.C.'s pro–data center party, an attempted hijacking, and Tennessee's failed attempt at capital punishment
Mamdani's Plan To Fight Antisemitism Will Fuel the NYC Nonprofit Complex
Mamdani wants to spend millions of dollars fighting "hate." Where does the money go?
Judge Preliminarily Blesses $1.5 Million Settlement for Victims of a Tiny Town's 'Policing for Profit'
Financially motivated traffic enforcement produced a huge surge in revenue for Brookside, Alabama, where "fines and forfeitures" accounted for half the city's income in 2020.
Border Agents Nabbed Their Phones. These Two Floridians Are Fighting Back.
A former assistant state attorney and an immigrant rights activist both had their phones seized, despite having attorney-client privilege. They're suing to protect their data.
Cops Used AI Surveillance To Detain an Innocent Texas Driver. His Lawsuit Just Got the Program Struck Down.
AI-powered license plate readers flagged an abnormal driving pattern. Then officers made up reasons to pull him over and interrogated him, and they faked a K-9 alert to justify a nonconsensual search.
Your Right to Privacy Doesn't Disappear When You're in Public
Defenders of Flock-style surveillance systems argue that people “have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public.” They're wrong.
Miami Beach Can't Dodge First Amendment Lawsuit After Police Questioned Woman Over Anti-Israel Facebook Post
Miami Beach detectives questioned Raquel Pacheco at her house over her pro-Palestine Facebook comments. A judge ruled several key claims in her First Amendment lawsuit against the city can proceed.
Hazy Drug Classification Criteria Invite Dubious Bureaucratic Judgments
A GAO report notes that the Controlled Substances Act does not define "potential for abuse" or "accepted medical use."
AI Facial Recognition Didn't Put This Tennessee Grandma in Jail for 6 Months. Bad Policing Did.
Angela Lipps is suing for $10 million after a Fargo police detective ignored evidence that she was innocent and arrested her anyway.
The 5th Circuit Rejects Qualified Immunity for Cops Who Searched a Driver After a Bogus Traffic Stop
"It is clearly established that an officer cannot pull someone over without reasonable suspicion and thereafter concoct a fabricated traffic violation," the appeals court says.
Police in Texas Totaled an Innocent Woman's Car. Why Did Houston Deny Her Claim for Compensation?
Law enforcement shot bystander Abigail Trujillo's vehicle dozens of times. Her struggle to get help is part of a larger pattern.
Border Agents Search Phones Without Warrants. This Case Asks the Supreme Court if That's Constitutional
Federal appeals courts differ on whether the Fourth Amendment protects your cellphone at the border. A Texas lawyer is asking the Supreme Court to settle it.
As Police Misuse Flock Cameras, 2 Senators From Opposite Parties Demand More Oversight
Sens. Raphael Warnock and Katie Britt would seem to have little in common, but they both feel people should have more protection from bad cops with surveillance tech.
Renée Good's Mom Wanted Trump to Protect Her Family. Her Daughter Was Killed by ICE.
Donna Ganger's heartbreaking testimony to a Senate committee offers a vital insight into the vicious politics of authoritarianism.
Banning Flock Won't Be Enough Without Police Reform
It was Flock that led cops to the wrong woman. It was police who ignored the other evidence and jailed her.
A Tennessee 1st Amendment Auditor Is Suing After Videos of Police Led to a Predawn Arrest Raid
Joshua Gibbons says his embarrassing videos of police officers in Kingsport, Tennessee, were a motivating factor in their decision to arrest him on minor charges that were thrown out of court.
Homeland Security Is Monitoring Activists Building Anti-Flock Tech
SparrowMap uses volunteer cameras to track the police in the same way police track the public. The government considers it a potential threat.
Flock's Gunfire Alerts Raise a New Fourth Amendment Question
Gun owners should be paying attention to how police use gunfire microphones in conjunction with license plate cameras.
No Warrant, No Suspicion, No Problem: Flock and Border Cellphone Searches Excluded From 4th Amendment Rules
Cops keep carving out tech exceptions to the Fourth Amendment—and courts are giving them their blessing.
Customs and Border Protection Doesn't Deny Using Facial Recognition To Target Foreign OnlyFans Models
The immigration system has a confusing and opaque approach to foreigners who have done sex work.
The Shaky Evidence That Flock Cameras Reduce Crime Rates
Flock has been promoting a recent study of its cameras' impacts on car theft. But the paper didn't demonstrate a causal effect.
Lindsay Clancy's Holdout Juror Did What Jurors Are Supposed To Do
Just as a holdout may be a bulwark against wrongful conviction, a unanimous verdict is difficult to obtain by design.
Border Officer Convicted of Raping and Robbing Chinese Sex Workers
Jurors didn't buy Luis Uribe's defense: that he was targeted by "hustlers" for being an immigration officer.
Memphis Task Force Caught on Video Arresting Activist Already Suing It for First Amendment Retaliation
The ACLU says Hunter Demster's arrest shows a continuing campaign of intimidation and retaliation by the Memphis Safe Task Force.
A Federal Judge Enjoins DHS From Threatening To Prosecute a Critic for Constitutionally Protected Speech
After David Streever castigated ICE's acting director in an email, investigators delivered a "warning notice" saying he "may be in violation of federal law."
Trump Backs Flock Cameras, Continuing His Long-Time Support for Unchecked Police Power
Trump says he supports the cameras simply because law enforcement does, no matter that they can be misused or abused.
Federal Judge Refers Philly DA to Department of Justice for Potential Prosecution
Judge concludes "progressive prosecutor" Larry Krasner and a deputy engaged in unethical--and potentially unlawful--conduct in their zeal to undo a criminal conviction.
The Trump Administration Shut Down a Police Misconduct Database. Now It's Facing a FOIA Lawsuit
The White House said the database tracking misconduct by federal law enforcement officers was "full of woke, anti-police concepts."
Study: Reimbursing Victims of Police Property Damage Would Cost Very Little
And yet governments deny reimbursement claims more often than approving them, according to the Institute for Justice.
A $95,000 Fine for Transporting a 6-Pack of Beer Defies the Eighth Amendment, a Supreme Court Brief Argues
The history of the Excessive Fines Clause shows why Alaska pilot Ken Jouppi should not lose his airplane simply because he helped a passenger defy a local alcohol ban.
How a Street Brawl Led to a 5th Circuit Case That Casts Doubt on the Constitutionality of Many Federal Laws
Challenging his conviction for illegal gun possession, Curtis Squire argues that the Commerce Clause cannot justify bans on intrastate, noncommercial conduct.
A Somali Man With No Serious Criminal Record Is Spending 9/11 in Detention at Guantanamo Bay
Adam Abdullah was legally working in the U.S. when he was detained as part of "Operation Metro Surge" in the Twin Cities. His biggest criminal offense is a parking ticket.
Michigan Judge Can Be Sued for Livestreaming a Mock Hearing of Teen Who Fell Asleep on a Field Trip
The Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that judicial immunity did not cover Kenneth King's "scared straight" approach to a sleepy 15-year-old.
Appeals Court Grants Immunity to Texas Cops Who Held Handcuffed Woman Face Down in a Fire Ant Hill
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Taylor Rogers didn't show that it was clearly established that it was excessive force to be held down on a pile of fire ants while handcuffed.
