Weekend roundup: SCOTUS hears Rodney Reed case, COVID relief buys cop toys, the drug war on the ballot
Here’s your weekend roundup of criminal justice and civil liberties stories:
Go read Jake Tapper’s two-year investigation into a wrongful conviction.
This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Texas death row prisoner Rodney Reed, who has a strong innocence claim. Journalist Jordan Smith has reported on Reed’s case for years. Read her latest here.
Secret Service retaliates against former agent who criticized the agency’s behavior around January 6.
Mandatory reporting laws aren’t protecting kids from child abuse, but they are harming poor people.
Ron DeSantis’ Martha’s Vineyard stunt may have inadvertently cleared a path for the Venezuelan immigrants to remain in the U.S.
Voters in six states will decide whether legalize marijuana or psychedelics next month.
Cop who marched at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville is now a cop again.
Federal judge holds Bureau of Prisons in contempt for allowing a man to waste away and die of treatable cancer.
Sounds about right: Millions in COVID relief went to purchase gear for cops, including tasers and sniper rifles.
Justice Department dubs journalist Jason Leopold a “FOIA terrorist” because he’s good at FOIA. This would make me a “sandwich terrorist.”
Bad cop of the week: Louisville’s Officer Harry Seeders was arrested this week for sending a sexually explicit photo of a woman to a dozen people without her consent. This comes a year after Seeders was charged for punching and choking a woman he was dating. And that happened while he was on leave for shooting and killing a man Seeders claimed struck him with his car. Seeders’s body cam apparently fell off shortly before the shooting.
This week in dog history:
On October 14, 1990, “The Doghouse” closed at New York City’s Cooper-Hewitt museum. The exhibit asked 24 architects to design luxury homes for dogs, some of which included, according to the New York Times, “porches, decks and even a swimming pool.” The exhibit was sponsored in part by “Lick Your Chops” brand dog food. One house was made entirely out of dog biscuits stacked like bricks. The “Bauwauhaus” was made of Corian plastic and included a 1925 Laccio table designed by Marcel Breuer. The houses were eventually auctioned off, with proceeds going to a a group who train guide dogs for the blind.
Photo:
Lunar eclipse, or “blood moon” over Chincoteague, Virginia, May 2022