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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Dolo v. State

Docket: A19-0063

Opinion Date: April 29, 2020

Judge: Chutich

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals reversing Defendant's request for postconviction relief and remanding the case for a new trial, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion under Minn. R. Evid. 106 by overruling Defendant's objection and allowing the jury to hear only an excerpt of a recorded police interview. Defendant was charged with second-degree sexual conduct. At trial, the State offered as evidence an eight-minute excerpt of an hour-long, videotaped, voluntary interview of Defendant by a police detective. Defendant objected and argued that the entire recording should be admitted into evidence and played for the jury under Rule 106. The trial court overruled the objection and played only the requested excerpt for the jury. The jury found Defendant guilty. Defendant filed a petition for postconviction relief, challenging the trial court's decision to play only the excerpt of the police interview for the jury. The district court denied postconviction relief. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the entire interview should have been played for the jury. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it properly overruled Defendant's objection under Rule 106.

State v. Thompson

Docket: A19-0717

Opinion Date: April 29, 2020

Judge: McKeig

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the state district court that revised Appellant's sentence from two consecutive terms of life without the possibility of release to two consecutive terms of life with the possibility of release after thirty years, holding that the court did not abuse its discretion when it strictly followed the terms of the federal district court's remand order. Appellant was convicted of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced to two life without parole sentences consecutively. After Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), was decided Appellant filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Ultimately, the federal district court vacated the "without possibility of release" provision of Appellant's sentences and remanded for resentencing. On remand, the state district court, without a resentencing hearing, revised Appellant's sentence to two consecutive terms of life with the possibility of release after thirty years. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court (1) did not err in concluding that the language of the federal district court order reflected a limited remand; and (2) did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the issue of whether Appellant's sentences should be served consecutively was beyond the scope of the remand order.