A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff Welty 
The legal tabloids spent much of the week focused on Texas judge William Adams, after a video was posted on YouTube of him brutally beating his teenage daughter. I watched a few seconds of it, which was a few seconds too many. The story is here if you’re interested; police have recently announced that no … Read more
On Halloween, I was dressed up as a sheep, trick or treating with my daughter, Little Bo Peep. Fortunately, serious legal business was being conducted elsewhere: the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Lafler v. Cooper, a fascinating ineffective assistance of counsel case. Here’s a summary of the case, courtesy of SCOTUSblog: Cooper shot a … Read more
I’m traveling today with only an iPad and inconsistent Wifi for Internet access, so pardon the short post and untidy formatting in what has been a VERY interesting news week. 1. The court of appeals heard the electronic sweepstakes case this week, as the News and Observer notes here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/10/26/1595110/court-weighs-video-gaming.html 2. John Edwards lost his motions … Read more
Jill Moore, one of my colleagues who works in the area of public health law, recently posted on the School of Government’s local government law blog about health care providers’ obligation to report certain injuries to law enforcement. It’s an issue that comes up from time to time, and I thought that our readers would … Read more
I’ve recently been asked by several people whether it is lawful to require officers to issue a certain number of citations, or to make a certain number of arrests, per day or per month. Generally, I think it is lawful, subject to some important caveats. Let me start by noting that the use of quotas … Read more
Regular readers may have noticed that I fell down on the job and didn’t get a post up on Wednesday. Sorry about that! It’s been a busy week with the various court officials’ conferences. But it’s also been busy in the wider world: 1. The North Carolina Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section is preparing for … Read more
Perhaps the biggest criminal law story here in North Carolina this week was the appointment of former court of appeals judge Joe John as the director of the State Crime Lab. The News and Observer reports here that Judge “John’s appointment was on the unanimous recommendation of an advisory committee that included defense attorneys.” Judge … Read more
Suppose that Bob Boyfriend moves in with Gina Girlfriend. Bob lives in Gina’s apartment for several months. He isn’t on the lease and doesn’t pay rent, but he does buy most of the couple’s groceries and does a fair share of the cleaning and other household chores. The relationship sours, and Gina asks Bob to … Read more
A lot of attention was focused on Cupertino, California this week as Apple introduced a new iPhone and company founder Steve Jobs died. There’s a gossamer connection to the blog, since a previous version of the iPhone was the subject of this prior post. In other news: 1. Also in California, the DEA has begun … Read more
Under 28 U.S.C. § 2, The Supreme Court shall hold at the seat of government a term of court commencing on the first Monday in October of each year and may hold such adjourned or special terms as may be necessary. Today is the first Monday in October, and so is the first day of … Read more