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ICE’s New Courthouse Arrest Policy Set Them on a Collision Course with State Courts
The arrest of a Wisconsin judge comes after ICE walked back policies designed to ensure communities wouldn’t be afraid to access courts
People v. Jennings
Will consider what standard Michigan courts should adopt to determine whether prosecutorial misconduct bars retrial under the state’s double jeopardy clause. The defendant argues that the federal constitutional standard -- which requires proof that a prosecutor specifically intended to cause a mistrial -- inadequately protects the principles of double jeopardy and insufficiently deters egregious conduct, so an objective standard should apply under the Michigan Constitution.
Federal Workers Have Scant Job Protection in the Constitution
In contrast, some state constitutions protect explicitly both the civil service and public employee unions.
Michigan’s High Court Is Charting a Course Against Punitive Excess
The court has perhaps never been friendlier to criminal justice reform.
People v. Langston
Court will consider constitutionality of mandatory application of life-without-parole sentences to adults convicted of “felony murder" when there is no evidence defendant acted with malice.
State v. Gonzalez
Held that defendant's mental health could not be considered in determining whether sentence was unconstitutionally disproportionate
White v. City of Mableton
Held that legislation that created and incorporated a city and created community improvement districts within it did not violate the Illinois Constitution's single subject rule
Wasserman v. Franklin County
Held that federal third-party standing was not compatible with Georgia's well-settled constitutional standing rule requiring a plaintiff to assert her own rights to maintain an action; therefore, a plaintiff cannot establish constitutional standing in Georgia courts asserting only the rights of third parties not before the court
People v. White
Held that an open, blind, guilty plea with no agreement as to sentence did not waive a constitutional challenge to the sentence, overruling prior precedent holding otherwise