U.S. Supreme Court,
Criminal,
Constitutional Law
Apr. 17, 2013
Time to stop defying prison overcrowding order
Gov. Brown's initial response has been to criticize the court decisions and to vow to take the matter to the Supreme Court. But the court already has ruled and was explicit that California must comply with the order to reduce its prison population. By Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
Gov. Jerry Brown's defiance of a federal court order requiring reduction of the California prison population is reminiscent of Southern Governors in the 1950s declaring their defiance of federal court desegregation orders. Both were misguided efforts to undermine enforcement of the Constitution. Ultimately, the rule of law must triumph and California must comply with the court's order to reduce its prison population to 137.5 percent of the planned capacity by Dec. 31 this year.
The...
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