Constitutional Accountability Center Constitutional Accountability Center

Criminal Law

Ensuring that our criminal justice system treats all in America with fairness, dignity, and equality
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Alcatraz Prison | miss_millions, Flickr

Summary

CAC works to ensure that all who interact with the criminal justice system enjoy the rights to which they are entitled and are treated with the dignity and equality promised to them by the Constitution.

Criminal Justice in Brief

Courtroom | Clyde Robinson, Flickr

On issues from policing and qualified immunity to cash bail, CAC works to redeem the promises of our Constitution — amended in the wake of the Civil War and the scourge of chattel slavery — that the law will be enforced equally for all in America.

Featured Case

Criminal Law January 22, 2025

Barnes v. Felix

The Fourth Amendment prohibits law enforcement officers from using excessive force when carrying out arrests and other seizures. To determine whether the force used by an officer was excessive, precedent requires examining the “totality of the circumstances.” But some courts have narrowed that inquiry by considering only the precise moment when an officer used deadly force, ignoring unreasonable conduct on the officer’s part leading up to that moment.  Ashtian Barnes was driving a rental car when Officer Roberto Felix Jr. pulled him over for toll violations associated with the rental car. Officer Felix ordered Barnes to exit the vehicle, then...

Case Timeline

Current
  • The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments.
  • CAC files amicus brief in the Supreme Court

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