Cleaning Up the ACCA Mess

David Holman has a helpful new article exploring the mess that has become the Armed Career Criminal Act jurisprudence in the wake of Begay v. United States. (I’ve blogged about this unfolding jurisprudence several times, e.g., here and here.)  The ACCA, of course, imposes a fifteen-year mandatory minimum for felons in possession of a firearm who have three or more prior convictions for a “violent felony” or a serious drug offense. It is the definition of “violent felony” that has occasioned so much litigation and so many unsatisfying judicial decisions over the past couple of years.  I’m glad to see David’s article because I think legal scholars have not been paying nearly enough attention to recent developments in this important area of federal criminal law.

I think David is correct to trace the jurisprudential difficulties to the tension between two lines of Supreme Court decisions.  

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Thank You

The Thanksgiving Holiday brings about the annual reminder to take a moment to reflect and to say thank you. So, be sure to thank those around you!

First, thank you to the MULS community because without all of you I would not be where I am today. To my professors, thank you for challenging me even though there are days when I would prefer you did not! You all have instilled in me a deep appreciation for the law and for Marquette. Sometimes it goes unsaid but thank you for all that you do.

Second, thank you to my classmates. Although some I do not know, I will leave law school in a short while having made friends that I consider family. So, whether we were friends in class, competitors in moot court, or friends for life, thank you!

Third, thank you to the Milwaukee community. You all have provided endless opportunities in legal work, volunteer work, and fun! Thank you to all of the firms, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and others who employ MU law students. The experiences are priceless. I am happy to call Milwaukee home for many years to come!

Last, but definitely not least, thank you to my family. Without your patience, your support, and your love I would not be where I am today.

Thank you and Happy Holidays to everyone!

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The Mayflower Compact

About a year before the first Thanksgiving, in early November 1620, the Pilgrims landed in Cape Cod.  In Mayflower Nathaniel Philbrick recounts how before landing in Provincetown Harbor, the Pilgrims drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact.  The Mayflower Compact states in full:

 Having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do these present solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, until which we promise all due submission and obedience.

 The Pilgrims fashioned this secular covenant to have an agreement for governance when they disembarked from the Mayflower. 

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