Equality Is the Lesson of Our Day

JOSEPH MARGULIES

Cornell law professor Joseph Margulies observes that the COVID-19 pandemic reveals our shared equality as individuals but also lays bare the inequality of American society. Margulies argues that equality is an outcome achieved by one in aid to another, and by government in aid to all in need.

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Wisconsin’s Decision to Have an Election This Month Was Unjust, But Was it Also Unconstitutional? Why the Plaintiffs (Rightly) Lost in the Supreme Court

VIKRAM DAVID AMAR, JASON MAZZONE

Illinois Law dean Vikram David Amar and professor Jason Mazzone comment on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent per curiam decision staying an injunction by a federal district court in Wisconsin, effectively allowing the election in that state to go forward on with the normal timeline for casting ballots in place, despite concerns over the effects of COVID-19. Amar and Mazzone argue that, while the outcome might have been unjust, the plaintiffs in that case likely did not allege a constitutional violation and thus did not properly allege claims suitable to be remedied in federal court.

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State v. Harrison

Dockets: 2017AP002441-CR, 2017AP002440-CR

Opinion Date: April 17, 2020

Judge: Patience D. Roggensack

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision of the court of appeals reversing an order of the circuit court that granted sentence credit to Defendant, holding that the court of appeals correctly found that Defendant was not entitled to sentence credit but erred by advancing the commencement of Defendant's terms of extended supervision for Defendant's 2007 and 2008 cases. Specifically, the Court held (1) Defendant was not entitled to sentence credit under Wis. Stat. 973.155(1)(a) because the days he spent in custody for which he sought sentence credit were not in connection with the courses of conduct for which those sentences were imposed; and (2) the court of appeals erred by advancing the commencement of Defendant's terms of extended supervision for his 2007 and 2008 cases to the date they would have begun but for Defendant's confinement for unrelated convictions that were later set aside, holding that whether to employ advancement is a public policy decision best left to the legislature.