Criminal Procedure

Online
Essay
Constitutional Amendment by State Statute? The Case of Dual Sovereignty in Illinois
Luke Henkel
J.D. candidate at The University of Chicago Law School, Class of 2026.

Thank you to Tyler Ashman and Liam Haffey for providing helpful feedback and assistance on this Case Note.

The Constitution’s Double Jeopardy Clause allows successive criminal prosecutions for the same conduct so long as they are pursued by separate sovereigns (such as two different states). This Case Note examines Illinois law to argue that state statutes are a useful, though imperfect, means of addressing the dual sovereignty doctrine. It argues further that the details of statutory language are highly consequential to whether states can scale back dual sovereignty in practice.

Online
Essay
United States v. Harris: A Hard Sell for Involuntary Medication of Defendants
Rachel Caldwell
Rachel Caldwell is a J.D. candidate at the University of Chicago Law School, Class of 2025.

This Case Note offers some direction for handling competing interests in this developing body of law and other complex cases weighing intersecting constitutional rights against governmental interests. Parts I and II provide background information, describing the Sell test and the current state of constitutional and statutory religious protections. Part III critically analyzes how courts, including the Fifth Circuit, have considered religious objections in Sell determinations so far. Because such analysis remains underdeveloped in the courts, Part IV suggests frameworks for coherently integrating Free Exercise doctrine into Sell inquiries based on the “hybrid theory” of constitutional rights.

Online
Essay
Who Are They to Judge? The Scope of Absolute Immunity as Applied to Parole Psychologists
Zoë Lewis Ewing
Zoë Lewis Ewing is a J.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School, Class of 2026.

She thanks the University of Chicago Law Review Online team for their helpful feedback.

This Case Note first provides a background on the doctrine of absolute immunity. It then evaluates the court’s analysis in Gay and compares Gay with the Third Circuit’s decision in Williams v. Consovoy (3d Cir. 2006). Finally, this Case Note argues that Gay is more consistent with Supreme Court precedent on absolute immunity and more in line with historical understandings of the doctrine. This issue has particularly high stakes, as psychologists’ medical role can create a “guise of objectivity.” As a result, even a biased psychologist might still receive strong deference from a judge and could then be the reason a person spends the rest of their life in prison.

Online
Essay
An Argument to Permit Greater Disclosure of Grand Jury Legal Instructions
Danielle Tyukody
Danielle Tyukody is a J.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School, Class of 2024.

She thanks Professor Jonathan S. Masur, Matthew Makowski, Claire Rice, Annie Kors, Lea Haddad, Dylan Salzman, and the University of Chicago Law Review Online team.

The difficulty of accurately portraying complex and nuanced aspects of the law to lay jurors is well-recognized.