Get In Focus: Law Enforcement Departments Should Strongly Consider Body Cameras
8/9/13
By: Ali Sabzevari
For quite some time now, law enforcement departments have used dash-mounted cameras in patrol cars, and for the most part, they have been effective in preserving the events leading up to and during an arrest. Several law …
Tinkering With Tinker: How Much Can Schools Limit Students’ Provocative Speech?
8/8/13
By: Katie Dod
In the Supreme Court’s seminal case of Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503 (1969), the Supreme Court held that schools can impose restrictions on the speech of students so as to protect …
You May Not Have The “Right to Remain Silent”
6/20/13
By: Sun Choy
Everyone who watches police dramas knows about the “right to remain silent.” Under the famous right, the police cannot use a defendant’s statement in a prosecution unless it can be shown that the defendant was first informed …
Law Enforcement Officers Permitted To Take DNA Cheek Swabs From Arrestees
6/7/13
By: Ali Sabzevari
The United States Supreme Court has continued to expand the thought that bodily intrusions constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court has applied the Fourth Amendment to police efforts to draw blood, scraping an …
Does the Fourth Amendment Allow for a Forced Blood Draw after a DUI? – Part II
4/22/13
By: Sun Choy
In a previous post, I posed this question in light of the oral argument in Missouri v. McNeely. This week, the Supreme Court answered by holding that requiring a warrant under the Fourth Amendment “must be …
Attention All Georgia Probate Court Judges: Convicted Felons are Eligible for Weapons Carry License without a Pardon
4/16/13
By: Coleen Hosack
A Probate Court Judge in the State of Georgia must issue a Weapons Carry License to a convicted felon even if no pardon is produced, if the applicant can produce an Order of Restoration issued by the …
Supreme Court Snuffs Warrantless Sniffs at the Stoop
4/9/13
By: Brian Dempsey
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court recently decided that a narcotics detection canine’s sniff at the front door of a suspected marijuana grow house is a search requiring probable cause and a warrant. (Florida v. …
Supreme Court Update: Drug Dog’s Sniff is “Up to Snuff”
2/21/13
By: Brian Dempsey
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court concluded that an “alert” by a well-trained narcotics detection dog establishes probable cause for the search of a vehicle’s interior for further evidence of illegal drugs. Florida v. Harris, …
Disability or Criminal Behavior? ADA Claims Involving Law Enforcement
2/7/13
By: Brian Dempsey and Ali Sabzevari
Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) prohibits a “public entity” from discriminating against a “qualified individual with a disability” based upon that individual’s disability. An individual is deemed to have a …
Does the Fourth Amendment Allow a Forced Blood Draw After a DUI Arrest?
1/14/13
By: Sun Choy
The Supreme Court will answer this question in Missouri v. McNeely. It is well established that the Fourth Amendment allows a warrantless search under exigent circumstances. During the oral argument last week, the Court suggested that …
Temporary Flooding May Give Rise to a Takings Claim
1/2/13
By: Ali Sabzevari
A fundamental part of our Takings Clause jurisprudence holds that when the Government physically takes possession of an interest in property for some public purpose, it has a duty to compensate the former owner. There is a …
Do You Have a Constitutional Right to Smoke on Public Property?
11/9/12
By: Sun Choy
According to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, there is no constitutional right to smoke on public property. In Gallagher v. City of Clayton, Missouri, the court rejected plaintiff’s request to declare …