Michael Smith's Law Blog

The Los Angeles Times reports : Civil rights lawyers filed suit Tuesday accusing the Los Angeles Superior Court of improperly suspending d...

So reports Governor Andrew Cuomo's office in this press release : Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today directed the New York State Departme...

The title of this post admittedly involves a bit of a paraphrasing, but not much. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has this post on a Texa...

During the past week, I noticed that this 2014 post I wrote on bar exam dress codes was getting suspiciously high traffic. I then realized ...

Kevin Underhill at Lowering the Bar comments on an unusual case where a Greek court convicted a defendant in absentia for stealing electri...

Over the weekend, I noticed that the first issue of Volume 62 of the UCLA Law Review is now available online . While there are several artic...

From the CrimProf Blog , I learned about Paul Robinson's essay , The Rise and Fall and Resurrection of American Criminal Codes . Here is...

While researching and writing a paper on arbitration by combat and Game of Thrones, I came across the case of Smith v. State , 9 Tenn. 228 ...

So reports the LA Times : Penalties for common drug and theft crimes in California will be reduced from potential felonies to misdemeanor...

So states section 594.1(b) of the California Penal Code , which also criminalizes the sale of spray paint to minors. California is apparent...

The case is Jones v. Chappell . From the LA Times : A federal judge in Orange County ruled Wednesday that California’s death penalty viola...

A while ago I blogged about a case where an Ohio court upheld a court order that a man was prohibited from fathering any children while he ...

In case you didn't notice, I have a pretty generic name, so whenever I submit a paper for publication, I sign my paper as "Michael ...

From the Christian Science Monitor : An Ohio appeals court has upheld a judge's order that a father can't have more kids until he...

At The Volokh Conspiracy , Orin Kerr criticizes commentators who write on Fourth Amendment issues for using puns in the titles of their note...

The BBC reports : A judge in Egypt has sentenced 683 people - including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie - to death in a mass tri...

From Fox News' late-night show, Red Eye , I learned about the unpleasant story of James Caroll Butler, who attempted to spike his cowor...

Douglas Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy posts that the Heritage Foundation is endorsing the Smarter Sentencing Act -- citing this recent...

Via the CrimProf Blog , I learned about a recent article by Michael Pinard entitled, Criminal Records, Race and Redemption . The citation is...

The New York Times reports : A sweeping amnesty that is underway in Russia was extended on Tuesday to a member of the crew of the Arctic S...