The case against Michelino Sunseri exemplifies the injustice caused by the proliferation of regulatory crimes—the target of a recent presidential order.
The president's crusade against attorneys whose work offends him, which defies the First Amendment and undermines the right to counsel, has provoked several judicial rebukes.
Two of his targets are seeking permanent injunctions against the president's blatantly unconstitutional executive orders.
Two decisions respecting a denial of certiorari suggest the Court should reconstruct Confrontation Clause jurisprudence.
The draconian penalties that Hunter Biden escaped affect many people whose fathers cannot save them.
Joe Biden says his son did not deserve prison for violating firearm laws that the president vigorously defends and has made more severe.
Iowa has one of the most aggressive court systems in the country when it comes to billing defendants for court-appointed attorneys, even in cases where they're acquitted or charges are dropped.
Paul Erlinger was sentenced to 15 years in prison based largely on a determination made by a judge—not a jury.
Bans have resulted in what some have called the "whitewashing" of American juries.
The Sixth Amendment was originally seen as vital to preserving liberty. Yet it has been consistently watered down.
Judges can sentence defendants for charges they were acquitted of by a jury, a practice that troubles criminal justice advocates, civil liberties groups, and several Supreme Court justices.
Prosecutors have enormous power to coerce guilty pleas, which are the basis for nearly all convictions.
The collapse of his plea deal set up a clash with his father, who doggedly defends the firearm regulations his son violated.
The two alleged racketeers complain that irrelevant evidence concerning distinct, uncoordinated conduct aimed at keeping Donald Trump in office will impair their defense.
Maurice Jimmerson finally got a trial after a decade of pretrial detention. It ended in a hung jury.
Maurice Jimmerson has spent 10 years in jail awaiting trial for a 2013 murder charge.
It may sound bizarre, but yes, you can be punished at sentencing for an offense you were acquitted of by a jury.
Oregon was one of only two states that allowed for non-unanimous guilty verdicts until the Supreme Court outlawed them in 2020.
A former guidance counselor served six years of a 25-year sentence thanks to a public defender's incompetence.
John Adams called jury trials part of the "heart and lungs of liberty." Today, defendants are often punished for exercising that very right.
By smearing public defenders, the Texas senator shows what he thinks of constitutional rights.
Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said Moses would be a free woman—if she hadn't insisted on exercising her constitutional right to trial.
Coercive plea deals trample on defendants' Sixth Amendment rights.
Plead guilty and get "punishments ranging from probation to nine months in prison." Insist on a trial and face decades in prison.
The ACLU argues the lack of state funding and oversight creates an unconstitutional lack of access to legal counsel in poorer California counties.
No, President Trump cannot invoke his Sixth Amendment rights in connection with House impeachment proceedings
Yes, Trump (and everybody else) has a right to face their accusers when they’re charged with crimes. But that hasn’t actually happened.
Plea deals aren’t about mercy these days. They’re about intimidating defendants into giving up the right to a trial.
Understanding what’s at stake in Ramos v. Louisiana.
It's not the first time the two justices have teamed up on a criminal justice case.
Many face getting tossed out of the country for minor crimes. This ruling could result in big changes.
Silk Road founder's appeal stresses the dangerous Fourth and Sixth Amendment implications of his prosecution and sentencing.
Rural Nevada counties use overworked contract attorneys as public defenders, leaving poor defendants at a huge disadvantage, the ACLU says.
A civil rights lawsuit says a state judge and a private company are effectively holding defendants for ransom.
The Kentucky senator laments that "there's very little of this attorney general, this Department of Justice, doing anything favorable towards criminal justice or towards civil liberties"
In many parts of the U.S., those who can't afford a lawyer must wait months to meet with public defenders.
Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.
This modal will close in 10
