Author Archive | Paul Cassell

Yesterday defendant Tim Donaghy (and former NBA ref) submitted a letter to the federal judge who will sentence him shortly for various federal offenses involving match fixing. While one “bad apple” can exist among referees in any sport, Donaghy’s letter makes some allegations that go to the very core of the integrity of the NBA. […]

David’s recent post about the Euro Soccer Championships got me thinking about a recent cover story in the New York Times Magazine. Written by Michael Sokolove, the article (which can be found here) reports that the ACL injury rate for girls in soccer (and perhaps similar “cutting” sports like basketball) may be as high as […]

Over at Doug Berman’s sentencing blog, there is this interesting discussion about whether asking the sentencing judge to perform a wedding service could be a sneaky sentencing ploy. Berman quotes a Washington Post article as follows: A former State Department officer has a proposal for U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee: Before the judge sentences […]

According to this new study. So stock up on some cabernet to get through any unfortunate election news.

Should the United States create domestic terror courts? My colleague Amos Guiora is testifying today before the Senate Judiciary Committee that it should. Here’s a summary of his argument: Considering how to handle terror detainees within the American justice system, there are three forum options: (1) treaty-based international terror courts, (2) traditional Article III courts, […]

Should a previously-deported alien felon who illegal returns to the country be able to claim the protections of the Fourth Amendment? This is an open question under current Supreme Court precedent. A few days ago, Judge Crow in the District of Kansas released an informative opinion, which concluded that such persons are not entitled to […]

My law school colleague Amos Guiora will be testifying Thursday before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment. The hearing is titled “The Resilient Homeland: How DHS Intelligence Should Empower America to Prepare for, Prevent, and Withstand Terrorist Attacks.” Amos’ blog has a link to the […]

I have been working on a pro bono crime victims’ rights case, involving the Texas City oil refinery disaster. Criminal negligence by BP Products led to an explosion that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170. The Justice Department and BP reached a plea agreement under which the company would plead to a felony […]

Senator McCain spoke at Wake Forest University today on his judicial philosophy. The text of the speech can be found here. From a conservative perspective, he says all the right things. I take him at his word. I can’t imagine that, were he elected President, he would select someone who would rankle the folks who […]

Heather MacDonald has this great article in the City Journal, persuasively debunking the myth that high black incarceration rates result from racial discrimination. She reviews the available empirical evidence, which finds no evidence of systemic racism. Instead, the studies show that a disproportionate number of African-Americans are in prison because they have committed a disproportionate […]

John Lott has this interesting op-ed arguing that “gun-free zones” are actually more dangerous because they spawn attacks. He mentions that in my home town of Salt Lake City, the Trolley Square massacre (6 killed last year) took place at an area where the property owner had excluded firearms — even those carried by concealed […]

Over at Concurring Opinions, my thoughtful colleague Alice Ristroph wonders why I was willing to criticize Justice Stevens’ opinion in Baze v. Rees without mentioning that he ultimately voted to uphold the death sentence in that case. She wonders: “Is the argument that a judge musn’t even say that he thinks a practice violates the […]

Justice Scalia’s concurring opinion in Baze v. Rees is a must-read. Responding to Justice Steven’s newly-minted view that the death penalty is now somehow always a violation of the Eighth Amendment, Justice Scalia marshals the arguments in favor of retribution and deterrence (citing Sunstein & Vermeule, Is Capital Punishment Morally Required? Acts, Omissions, and Life-Life […]

John Lott has this very interesting op-ed, tracking Senator Obama’s support for broad gun control measures … support that seems to have evaporated with the Pennsylvania primary just a few weeks away. Lott quotes a personal exchange with Obama in which Obama said directly to Lott, “I don’t believe that people should be able to […]

With Heller about to be argued, a lot of folks are debating what the Second Amendment means. But what does the historical record really show? A cool (and useful) website is ConSource, which is a free, fully-indexed online library of constitutional sources. Apparently the lawyers (on both sides) have been using ConSource to track down […]