Federal Criminal Law & Process – Page 5 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Third Circuit Rules on Use of GPS Technology

Post author:Jonathan Koenig
Post published:October 1, 2014
Post category:Federal Criminal Law & Process Public

This short post is not the promised second part of my intended series on what the Seventh Circuit did during your summer vacation. But, it may interest those of you who follow developments in the criminal law. In a much-anticipated decision with parallels to United States v. Brown, 744 F.3d 474, 476 (7th Cir. 2014), the en banc Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held today that pre-Jones warrantless use of GPS to collect data about a suspect did not require suppression of the GPS-evidence under the exclusionary rule. The case is United States v. Katzin, No. 12-2548 (3d Cir. Oct. 1, 2014).

What the Seventh Circuit Did During Your Summer Vacation

Post author:Jonathan Koenig
Post published:September 9, 2014
Post category:Federal Criminal Law & Process Federal Sentencing Public Seventh Circuit

seventh-circuit51 Part One: Supervised Release

It’s been an eventful summer at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. In addition to deciding high-profile cases involving same-sex marriage and the validity of Wisconsin’s “Act 10” legislation, the Court has issued noteworthy opinions addressing criminal sentencing procedure and the law of evidence.

Seemingly out of the blue, the Court has signaled a new willingness to take a closer look at the imposition of supervised release conditions in federal criminal cases. Prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and probation officers will all be required to “up their game” in response to this new scrutiny.

US Supreme Court Review: Should the Court Care How Effective a Statute Is?

Post author:Michael M. O'Hear
Post published:July 1, 2014
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Federal Criminal Law & Process Public U.S. Supreme Court

(This is another post in our series, Looking Back at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 Term.)

In my previous post, I noted a number of the considerations that the Supreme Court emphasized in its criminal statutory interpretation cases from the past term. In this post, I will highlight one recurring point of controversy, that is, whether the Court should try to maximize the effectiveness of statutes in achieving their overarching purposes.

Abramski, the firearms purchase case, provides a good illustration.