De Novo Archive
De Novo is the newest addition to the Minnesota Law Review family. The blog serves as a forum through which the staff, editors, and alumni of the Minnesota Law Review can contribute to legal thought and academic debate.
CATEGORICALLY INSUFFICIENT: THE U.S. SUPREME COURT MUST FIND ATTEMPTED HOBBS ACT ROBBERY IS NOT A “CRIME OF VIOLENCE” UNDER 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A).
By: Michael Van Ryn, Volume 106 Staff Member In United States v. Taylor, the U.S. Supreme Court is presented with the question of whether an attempted robbery in violation of the Hobbs Act qualifies as a “crime of violence” under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A).[1] The Supreme Court should find that it is not a crime…
Continue ReadingLOCKED, LOADED, AND CONCEALED—THE SUPREME COURT’S FIRST GUN RIGHTS CASE IN A DECADE
By: Michael Kinane, Volume 106 Staff Member INTRODUCTION On November 3, 2021, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.[1] New York currently requires that applicants for conceal and carry firearm licenses show “proper cause” for the license.[2] As license issuance is left to the discretion…
Continue ReadingTHE CANINE MAGISTRATE: THE FOURTH AMENDMENT IMPLICATIONS OF WEAK ALERTS TO NARCOTICS IN VEHICLE SEARCHES
By: Chase Slasinski, Volume 106 Staff Member The use of dogs in policing is a practice that has existed in the United States for over a century.[1] Countless searches and seizures have been predicated on dogs’ detection of the faintest odors of illegal drugs, explosives, and other contraband items. In the context of vehicle searches…
Continue ReadingGAME OF PHONES: THE IRS’S OUTDATED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS CAUSING SERVICE AND LEGAL ISSUES FOR THE U.S. TAXPAYER
By: Alec Lybik, Volume 106 Staff Member As a law student, I thought I was done with math. Unfortunately, my struggles in eighth-grade algebra came back to haunt me when I attempted to calculate the probability of reaching the IRS after they disconnected my call for the third time in one day. My experience is…
Continue ReadingCURTAILING INTERNET EXCEPTIONALISM: FRANCES HAUGEN’S CALL TO AMEND SECTION 230 AND HOLD FACEBOOK ACCOUNTABLE FOR ITS ALGORITHMIC HARM
By: Ellison Snider, Volume 106 Staff Member Last month, Frances Haugen, former product manager at Facebook, testified to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about the company’s one-way mirror on its users.[1] After leaking private internal Facebook documents to the Wall Street Journal, Haugen showed the public that Facebook knows a lot about…
Continue ReadingCAN A NON-SECRET BE A STATE SECRET? EXAMINING STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE IN UNITED STATES V. ZUBAYDAH
By: Kimberly Ortleb, Volume 106 Staff Member On October 6, 2021, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for United States v. Zubaydah,[1] which presents the question of how far state secrets privilege extends. Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn (“Zubaydah”) was disappeared and tortured as a part of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program in 2002.[2] From December…
Continue ReadingRISING TO THREE OCCASIONS: THE SUPREME COURT GRAPPLES WITH HOW TO COUNT PRIOR CONVICTIONS IN THE ACCA CONTEXT
By: Haley Wallace, Volume 106 Staff Member The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA)[1] was enacted to severely punish society’s worst criminal offenders.[2] Congress passed the ACCA in 1984 specifically to target the “most dangerous, frequent, and hardened offenders,”[3] and to “incapacitate the armed career criminal for the rest of the normal time span of his…
Continue ReadingFILMING POLICE IN THE WAKE OF GEORGE FLOYD’S MURDER: A FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT?
By: Dylan Saul, Volume 106 Staff Member The murder of George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, sparked a nation-wide reckoning with racism and police brutality that might not have happened had seventeen-year-old Darnella Frazier not recorded the murder on her smartphone.[1] The increasing public focus on police brutality[2] has contributed…
Continue ReadingPAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MEANING BEHIND THAT TEXT—HOW A TEXTUALIST INTERPRETATION OF THE FEDERAL OFFICER REMOVAL STATUTE CREATES ABSURD RESULTS IN BP V. BALTIMORE
By Hannah Wiles, Volume 105 Staffer On January 19, 2021, the Supreme Court heard arguments in BP PLC v. Mayor and City of Baltimore,[1] one of several “climate change” lawsuits currently being brought by cities, counties, and states against the fossil fuel industry.[2] While the cases have garnered attention for their potential to impose liability…
Continue ReadingWHAT’S SO DEPRAVED? ANALYZING THIRD-DEGREE DEPRAVED-MIND MURDER IN MINNESOTA AFTER THE CHAUVIN AND NOOR TRIALS
By: Keenan Roarty, Volume 105 Staff Member Third-degree depraved-mind murder has never had so much attention in Minnesota as it does now. In two recent, high-profile police brutality cases, Derek Chauvin and Mohamed Noor were both convicted of third-degree depraved-mind murder.[1] But under the unique quirks of Minnesota precedent, there is a meaningful chance…
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