Would you mind speaking a bit about your life and career and how you became interested in teaching in prisons? I became interested in teaching in prisons when I heard about the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an organization that trains instructors to teach courses bringing together incarcerated and non-incarcerated college students. As a grad student in the humanities just beginning my teaching career, I was figuring out how to approach teaching so that I could feel as f

On June 28th, 2018, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Gamble v. United States, a case questioning whether the “separate sovereigns” exception to the double jeopardy clause should be overruled.[1] The double jeopardy clause in the Fifth Amendment, which states “no person shall … be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life and limb,”[2] is generally understood to prevent multiple punishments for a singular offense. However, the Supreme Court has long held

US immigration is now, more than ever, at the forefront of a polarized debate that implicates both enforcement and economics. The Trump administration embarked on an unprecedented strengthening of immigration enforcement that reduced refugee admissions to its lowest mark since 1980.[1] Between President Trump’s first day in office on January 20, 2017 to the end of the 2017 fiscal year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 61,000 immigrants from within the c

The Eighth Amendment states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This promise of protection against unjust punishment remains relevant and is subject to reinterpretation, especially in light of the drastic changes to the American penal system since the nation’s founding. Although directly contradictory case precedent exists that demands sentencing practices consider the character and actions of indi

Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza woke up one morning in 2017 to find she had been blocked by @realDonaldTrump on Twitter. Dani Bostick woke up to the same news later that year, as did Annie Rice, an author, William LeGate, a tech entrepreneur, and Caroline Orr, a researcher. Soon, a contingent of Twitter dissenters emerged who all had been banned from the president’s official Twitter page.[1] While a salvo of news stories broke following a related lawsuit filed against Donald Trump, a

The practice of students calling upon their First Amendment right to free speech when attempting to protest on school grounds has a long history in the United States. One of the most widely known cases of this premise is Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), when several students faced school suspension due to wearing armbands in protest of the Vietnam War—and subsequently filed a lawsuit against their school district. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 majority that the s

Does West Virginia actively discriminate against former federal government officers through its tax exemption policies? James Dawson, a retired state marshal, believes so. While filing his taxes, Dawson learned that the West Virginia Tax Commissioner grants a tax exemption to retired state officials, but not to retired federal agents: violating 4 U.S. Code Section 111 (4 U.S.C. § 111), which allows for such exemptions as long as “the taxation does not discriminate against the

In recent years, a new trend of creating “safe spaces” has emerged on college campuses across the country. While the implementation of safe spaces varies between universities, the term is generally applied to certain areas on campus that are intended to be free from bias, potentially offensive ideas, topics of controversy, or other forms of conflict. In most cases, colleges designate specific areas intended to protect students from any potentially harmful or offensive speech

The State of New York’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Certification Program was established in 1988 under Article 15 of the New York State Executive Law. The program was designed with the intent of “ensur[ing] and promot[ing] fair and equal employment and participation”.[1] Since its institution, the program has provided resources and established goals for businesses that are owned by minorities and women around the state of New York. But despite New Yor

In the narrow 5-3 decision of Smith v. Maryland 1979, the Supreme Court warranted perhaps one of the greatest intrusions upon privacy with the establishment of the Third Party doctrine. The defendant Michael Smith was found guilty of robbing and sending threatening phone calls to Patricia McDonough. However, the controversy in this case lies not in Smith’s innocence or guilt, but rather in the legality of how the incriminating evidence was obtained: the warrantless use of pen