Perhaps of interest.... While legal ethics codes and the U.S. Constitution require a prosecutor to have "probable cause" to support a charge, there is broad agreement that prosecutors should apply a stricter charging standard, although exactly what is less clear. I offer my take in a 2020 article:

Not hearsay if offered to prove he didn’t Or is it A riff on one of my favorite problems in @bellinj.bsky.social’s excellent casebook

Not a lot of mystery here. DC prosecutors traditionally didn't charge these cases as felonies. This is why.

if you teach Evidence, the casebook landscape is shifting...

Amazon’s "Best Sellers in Law" offers an interesting snapshot of the otherwise non-transparent law school casebook market. www.amazon.com/best-sellers...

A legitimate - I think - retailer selling used copies of my $35 casebook for $250. (I guess they just assume the retail price is $300 since it is a law school casebook.)

A slice of Amazon's best selling evidence books. What do you notice?

This is one of the many - how have they not answered that yet? - cases in Fourth Amendment doctrine. Might also offer guidance on analyzing exigent circumstances that are safety- not crime-focused.

Touching tribute to Justice Souter from my colleague Alli Larsen www.scotusblog.com/2025/05/the-...

The library has *doubled* sales of @bellinj.bsky.social's 2nd edition of 'The Law of Evidence'! www.amazon.com/Law-Evidence...

Thanks to Paul Caron and TaxProf Blog for the shoutout to my symposium essay about law school casebooks.

It's live! Very proud of this piece I wrote with Jeffrey Bellin (@bellinj.bsky.social) for the Yale Law Journal. And thanks to Dave Pozen of Columbia Law School for writing such a provocative book for us to engage with! www.yalelawjournal.org/review/race-...

The good news is there are high quality, low-cost alternatives in many fields (especially Evidence 😀). My take on the general question - "The High Cost of Law School Casebooks" - is available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

👀 In separate statements today, Justices Gorsuch and Alito argue that the Confrontation Clause doctrine introduced by Justice Scalia in 2004 is flawed and needs to change. Alito suggests narrower protections for defendants and Gorsuch hints at broader ones. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

The Second Edition of my low-cost Evidence casebook is now available for adoption in Summer or Fall 2025. Instructors can reach out by email for a review copy. amazon.com/dp/B0F13TCCR7

A draft of my contribution to the @wmborj.bsky.social symposium on constitutional law casebooks is now available on @ssrn.bsky.social My essay explores, "The High Cost of Law School Casebooks"

Great news! "Vanderbilt Law School to establish 'innocence clinic' for the wrongfully convicted": fox17.com/news/local/v...

Rob Willey and Melanie Knapp, "The Top 100 Legal Scholars of 2024". W&M Law School's @bellinj.bsky.social at nos. 23 (Authors) and 15 (Co-authors): papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Just received my copy of David Sklansky's timely new book, "Criminal Justice in Divided America," can't wait to dig in. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

This is a concerning milestone. Bringing new investigations and prosecutions is different than just dismissing cases against allies.

Remarkable courage and integrity being shown by these DOJ attorneys. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Important comment on a pending amendment to Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A) from Colin Miller, a leading expert on wrongful convictions.

The Acting US Attorney of the SDNY resigned today, and she sent this letter yesterday to the Attorney General explaining why she refused to drop the charges against NYC's mayor. Read the whole thing, but the last two pages are in the screenshots. static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics...

The essays from Rich Friedman's Confrontation Clause symposium "Crawford at 20" are out in the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. My contribution warns SCOTUS about a flaw in its new doctrine-casual references to a founding-era "hearsay" definition that doesn't exist. repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/

Jeff Bellin's announced move from William & Mary to Vanderbilt is a major move in the crim law world. I'm a big fan of Bellin's scholarship; this is a savvy hire for Vandy. (cc @bellinj.bsky.social) leiterlawschool.typepad.com/leiter/2025/...

@bellinj.bsky.social on a clear due process ruling from the Court on prejudicial and irrelevant evidence teamevidence.pages.wm.edu/2025/01/24/a...

Thread on Andrew v. White, Tuesday's Supreme Court opinion which held that it is clearly established law that the introduction of evidence that is "so unduly prejudicial that it renders the trial fundamentally unfair," violates the Due Process Clause.

My latest article is now published thanks to the editors at the Texas A&M Law Review (who did a great job with it). It traces the history of the innovative American "hearsay" definition and defends that definition against its many critics. scholarship.law.tamu.edu/lawreview/vo...

Thanks Brandon Hasbrouck for this insightful review of "Mass Incarceration Nation" through an abolitionist lens. www.yalelawjournal.org/review/priso...

Dan Solove responds to critics (including me) of his groundbreaking and tremendously influential "big tent" conceptualization of privacy. Important essay in an important debate. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

My new article Murder on the Hearsay Trail explains and defends the US "hearsay" definition. To entice people to read, it unfolds as a murder mystery where the clues represent key inflexion points in the doctrine. (Movie rights are available!) Comments welcome: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Great to see the "Mass Incarceration Nation"-themed W&M Law Review symposium issue in print. Thanks to everyone who spoke at the symposium, those who contributed written pieces, and *most of all* the many student editors who turned the idea into reality. Available at wmlawreview.org

I have a new essay in Judicature discussing the judicial role in over-incarceration to help judges be more "conscientious in assessing their contributions to the country’s incarceration rate and potential role in reducing it."

A fellow at the Heritage Foundation just published a review of Mass Incarceration Nation that describes the book as an "ideologically driven tome with a pre-determined conclusion: the states and the federal government lock up too many people." Too late to add that blurb to the book jacket?

"Principles of Prosecutor Lenience," my contribution to the Texas Law Review's Mercy Symposium is now available on SSRN at the following link papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Compelling new piece by Chicago economists Neal & Rick on the causes of mass incarceration in the US: "The Role of Policy in Prison Growth and Decline" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Thanks Wake Forest Law School for hosting my talk on "Murder on the Hearsay Trail" -- got great feedback on my murder-mystery-law-review-article from a wonderful faculty.

Excited to see my article w Jenia Turner about the role of judges in "Sentencing in an Era of Plea Bargains" is now published in the North Carolina Law Review northcarolinalawreview.org/recent-issues/

For those using The Law of Evidence casebook in their Spring Evidence courses, the book now has a fancy new website with useful links and updates that can be shared with the class... teamevidence.pages.wm.edu

Quoted in this article on the new Rule 702 news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

A draft of my essay on the hearsay definition and the Confrontation Clause -- for a Spring symposium on "Crawford at 20" -- is now available on SSRN at the following link. Comments welcome!

Another great review of "Mass Incarceration Nation," this time in Jotwell!

Grateful to professor Graciela Perez for the generous review of Mass Incarceration Nation in the Criminal Justice Review: "highly informative and balanced book, offering a wide-ranging scope on the causes of mass incarceration" "an essential read for several audiences"

I was honored to be invited by the Federal Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules to present on rules most in need of change at their meeting in Minneapolis last week. My written submission is now available via SSRN for anyone who might be interested.

Spread the word to folks teaching Evidence in the Spring: my new $15 Evidence Rules Supplement, including Dec 2023 and 2024 amendments, is now available via Amazon www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLHPSR5X

My essay for Vanderbilt Law Review's evidence symposium on the federal rules of evidence at 50 is now available on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....