Changes

In the last Term the Court was sharply divided over whether police could secretly attach a GPS monitoring device to a suspect's car without a search warrant, and thereby monitor his movements by computer.  The police could track exactly where the suspect went every day and night.  Do you think the Fourth Amendment should be interpreted to protect against this government action, when done without obtaining a search warrant?

In the last Term the Court was sharply divided over whether police could secretly attach a GPS monitoring device to a suspect's car without a search warrant, and thereby monitor his movements by computer.  The police could track exactly where the suspect went every day and night.  Do you think the Fourth Amendment should be interpreted to protect against this government action, when done without obtaining a search warrant?

In another case we discussed earlier this year, in wcauhich New Jersey Governor Chris Christie felt compelled to "commute" (lift) the 7 year prison sentence of a man (Brian Aitken) for having a gun in the trunk of his car, which he lawfully owned in Colorado before moving here, there was a Fourth Amendment issue of whether the police properly searched his trunk without his consent and without a search warrant.

In another case we discussed earlier this year, in which New Jersey Governor Chris Christie felt compelled to "commute" (lift) the 7 year prison sentence of a man (Brian Aitken) for having a gun in the trunk of his car, which he lawfully owned in Colorado before moving here, there was a Fourth Amendment issue of whether the police properly searched his trunk without his consent and without a search warrant.

 

 

But today the United States has far more people in jail than any other nation in the world, including communist countries.  Prison sentences in the United States are typically much longer than anywhere else in the world, at taxpayer expense.  20-year sentences for non-violent crimes are increasingly common in America.  Massive billion-dollar prison systems are repeatedly being built, often to house  defendants who pose no threat to society.  In Florida earlier this year, a woman was sentenced to 20 years in jail for merely firing a warning shot against her husband.<ref>http://flcourier.com/2012/07/19/a-march-for-marissa/</ref>  Prisons became so overcrowded in California that the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the State to start releasing thousands of prisoners.

== Federal Cases ==

== Federal Cases ==