A Constitutional Commitment to Access to Literacy: Bridging the Chasm Between Negative and Positive Rights

EVAN CAMINKER

Michigan Law dean emeritus Evan Caminker discusses a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in which that court held that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause secures schoolchildren a fundamental right to a “basic minimum education” that “can plausibly impart literacy.” Caminker—one of the co-counsel for the plaintiffs in that case—explains why the decision is so remarkable and why the supposed dichotomy between positive and negative rights is not as stark as canonically claimed.

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United States v. Alexander

Docket: 18-1896

Opinion Date: April 30, 2020

Judge: Sandra Lea Lynch

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court denying Appellant's motion to dismiss the indictment and affirmed the sentence imposed, holding that the district court correctly denied the motion to dismiss and that the sentence was reasonable. Appellant was charged with conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and import cocaine into the United States. Appellant moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the government could not prove the element of the offense that Appellant knew or intended that the cocaine would be sent to the United States. The district court denied the motion to dismiss. Appellant entered into a conditional plea agreement and then appealed. The First Circuit (1) affirmed the district court's denial of Appellant's motion to dismiss, holding that Appellant's challenge to the validity of the indictment failed; and (2) affirmed Defendant's below-guideline sentence, holding that the sentence was reasonable.

United States v. Lopez

Docket: 18-1418

Opinion Date: April 30, 2020

Judge: Selya

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The First Circuit affirmed the imposition of a role-in-the-offense enhancement in connection with Defendant's conviction for racketeering conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1962(d), holding that there was no error in Defendant's sentence. Defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity. A PSI report applied a three-level role-in-the-offense enhancement under USSG 3B1.1(b). The probationer arrived at the enhancement by analyzing Defendant's role in each of the predicate racketeering acts separately and concluded that the enhancement applied only to a murder plot. The government argued that the role enhancement should apply across the board based on Defendant's managerial role in the overall conspiracy. The district court effectively adopted the government's interpretation of the relevant guideline and sentenced Defendant to the statutory maximum sentence. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the role-in-the-offense enhancement is dependent upon the defendant's role in the criminal enterprise as a whole instead of his role in the discrete acts of racketeering activity that underpin the RICO conviction; and (2) the district court's factual finding that Defendant played a managerial or supervisory role in the RICO conspiracy was not plainly erroneous.