Any defense counsel who has ever sought to challenge a Government request for an above-Guidelines sentence knows that the task is not only daunting, it can be downright confusing - a fact absolutely confirmed by Judge Posner in the instant case.

Here, Francisco Castillo pled guilty to conspiring to make …

Anthony Shippley, who served as the “Sergeant at Arms” for a chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, was tried on various drug conspiracy charges. As the Court then explained: “At the end of trial, though, something strange happened. The jury returned a general verdict finding Mr. Shippley guilty of the …

In U.S. v. Jones, 565 U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 945 (2012), the Supreme Court unanimously held that physically attaching a GPS tracking device to a vehicle constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment - although, in the majority and two concurring opinions, the Justices largely agreed on little else.

Jones …

Because the foundations of our criminal justice system, which date back to the earliest days of common law, are so well established, it is rare to see a debate that strikes at one of great cornerstone of that system - namely the profoundly important principle of due process. Yet, that …

This case is a good example of how blind adherence to the Guidelines paint-by-the-numbers philosophy can lead to absurd results that defy common sense. Fortunately, at least in this case, wisdom and justice prevailed in the end to excise the lunacy of a mandatory minimum sentence that was imposed because, …

Here the Court held that the fact that a person, who was on release due to the grant of a conditional writ of habeas corpus, tested positive on five separate occasions to marijuana was not suffiucient cause to revoke his bail.

Thanks to District Judge Arthur Tarnow, Arthur Bell is …