How Mike Huckabee and Robert Bork Could Help Center Neil Gorsuch

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb analyzes an unusual comment by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee that a government restriction on the size of people’s Thanksgiving gathering would violate the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures. Colb describes a similar statement (in a different context) by conservative Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork during his (unsuccessful) confirmation hearings in 1987 and observes from that pattern a possibility that even as unenumerated rights are eroded, the Court might be creative in identifying a source of privacy rights elsewhere in the Constitution.

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United States v. Hernandez-Roman

Docket: 18-2133

Opinion Date: December 1, 2020

Judge: Selya

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court convicting Defendant of armed bank robbery and related crimes, holding that Defendant's claims on appeal were without merit. After a trial, the jury found Defendant guilty of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, armed bank robbery, conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, and using, carrying or brandishing firearms during and in relation to a crime of violence. The district court sentenced Defendant to a term of eighty-seven months of imprisonment. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions; and (2) any constitutional shortcoming in the residual clause of 18 U.S.C. 924(c) does not undermine Defendant's section 924(c) conviction.