John and Jane, two students in Purdue University’s Navy ROTC program, began dating in the fall of 2015 and had consensual sex 15 to 20 times. According to John, Jane’s behavior became increasingly erratic, culminating in a suicide attempt he witnessed that December. They broke up in January 2016, after John tried to get Jane […]
While 33 states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, the federal government recognizes no exceptions to pot prohibition. Marijuana Federalism, an essay collection edited by Case Western Reserve law professor Jonathan Adler, maps some promising pathways through this cannabis conflict. Duke law professor Ernest Young argues that the combination of limited federal resources and […]
Three Louisville, Kentucky, police officers executed the fruitless drug raid that killed Breonna Taylor, an unarmed 26-year-old EMT, in the middle of the night on March 13. But just one faces criminal charges, and those charges have nothing to do with Taylor’s death. State prosecutors concluded that the two other officers were justified in returning […]
After William Rainsberger was arrested for murdering his 88-year-old mother, he spent two months in jail before he was released on bail. A year later, prosecutors dropped the case, citing a lack of evidence. That decision was not surprising, because Rainsberger’s arrest was based on a probable cause affidavit written by an Indianapolis detective who […]
Rickey Kanter, who owned a Wisconsin company that sold therapeutic shoes and footwear inserts under the brand name Dr. Comfort, pleaded guilty in 2011 to one count of mail fraud for shipping inserts he falsely claimed were approved by Medicare to a podiatrist in Florida. Kanter received a prison sentence of a year and day, […]
The process for filling a Supreme Court vacancy is straightforward: The president chooses a new justice “with the advice and consent of the Senate.” Any other conditions, including those imagined by Republicans in 2016 or by Democrats now, are nothing but self-serving nonsense. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.), who has promised a vote on […]
Belarus, whose autocratic president has barely acknowledged the coronavirus pandemic, let alone imposed a lockdown in response to it, nevertheless has seen fewer COVID-19 deaths per capita than most European countries. A recent BMJ article suggests several possible explanations, including the country’s unpopularity as a vacation destination, high levels of testing in the early months […]
Appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett, a leading contender to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, is a popular choice among conservatives. That fact does not, by itself, tell us much about Barrett’s treatment of criminal defendants’ constitutional and statutory claims. When it comes to the rights of criminal defendants […]
Joe Biden, who as recently as Wednesday was claiming he would have the authority as president to impose a nationwide mask mandate, suddenly reversed himself last night. “I cannot mandate people wearing masks,” the Democratic presidential nominee admitted during a CNN “town hall,” adding that he could still require masks in federal buildings and on […]
In this month’s issue, we draw on decades of Reason journalism about policing and criminal justice to make practical suggestions about how to use the momentum of this summer’s tumultuous protests productively. Check out Damon Root on abolishing qualified immunity, Peter Suderman on busting the police unions, Sally Satel on rethinking crisis response, Zuri Davis […]
