Russell Gold
@profrgold.bsky.social
Bainbridge-Mims Professor of Law, University of Alabama. I write about Criminal Law and Procedure, sometimes by drawing comparisons to Civil Procedure. I also write about prosecutors.
https://law.ua.edu/faculty_staff/russell-gold/
https://law.ua.edu/faculty_staff/russell-gold/
Definitely wish our law school offered state con law.
RESOURCE ALERT📌 Wish your law school offered a course in state constitutional law? State Court Report's @skess108.bsky.social put together this must-read compilation of our top explainers on how state courts and constitutions work. Consider it your “State Constitutions 101.”
Law Student Cheat Sheet: Understanding State Courts and Constitutions
As the school year kicks off, we’ve rounded up some of our top explainer essays on how state courts and state constitutions work, protect rights, and influence major U.S. legal issues. Consider it you...
statecourtreport.org
September 17, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Definitely wish our law school offered state con law.
Reposted by Russell Gold
Hot off the presses! In conjunction with @nacdl.org, I’ve written a report that examines criminal restitution in the federal system. The report debunks prevailing myths about restitution & presents recommendations for reform. www.nacdl.org/Document/Emp... 1/2
NACDL - Empty Pockets and Empty Promises: How Federal Restitution Law Fails Everyone
Criminal restitution is intended to have dual goals: victim compensation and offender punishment. The way criminal restitution operates in practice gives short shrift to compensating the average victi...
www.nacdl.org
September 17, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Hot off the presses! In conjunction with @nacdl.org, I’ve written a report that examines criminal restitution in the federal system. The report debunks prevailing myths about restitution & presents recommendations for reform. www.nacdl.org/Document/Emp... 1/2
Reposted by Russell Gold
Even *if* you accept Stephen Miller’s (textually, historically, and morally indefensible) claim that undocumented immigrants are not entitled to due process, you’d *still* need due process to ensure that the individuals at issue are, in fact, undocumented.
His argument fails even on its own terms.
His argument fails even on its own terms.
May 5, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Even *if* you accept Stephen Miller’s (textually, historically, and morally indefensible) claim that undocumented immigrants are not entitled to due process, you’d *still* need due process to ensure that the individuals at issue are, in fact, undocumented.
His argument fails even on its own terms.
His argument fails even on its own terms.
I posted a draft of Look What You Made Me Do to SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers..... I argue that criminal procedure coerces defendants into embracing the narrative that their crime was solely their bad choice. That narrative obscures important systemic factors like trauma, addiction, and poverty.
May 5, 2025 at 4:46 PM
I posted a draft of Look What You Made Me Do to SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers..... I argue that criminal procedure coerces defendants into embracing the narrative that their crime was solely their bad choice. That narrative obscures important systemic factors like trauma, addiction, and poverty.
I’m excited to report that Look What You Made Me Do is now forthcoming in Washington & Lee Law Review.
March 27, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I’m excited to report that Look What You Made Me Do is now forthcoming in Washington & Lee Law Review.
Reposted by Russell Gold
Via @annabjournalist.bsky.social: The Alabama House of Representatives Thursday gave final approval to a bill extending paid parental leave to all state and education employees staring July 1, sending the bill to Gov. Kay Ivey.
Gov. Kay Ivey says she will sign parental leave bill for state employees, educators • Alabama Reflector
The bill would give eight weeks of paid leave to a woman who gives birth or suffers a miscarriage, and two weeks to a father.
alabamareflector.com
March 21, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Via @annabjournalist.bsky.social: The Alabama House of Representatives Thursday gave final approval to a bill extending paid parental leave to all state and education employees staring July 1, sending the bill to Gov. Kay Ivey.
A really interesting project that’s currently under submission, for the journal editors out there.
Feels ridiculous to share this given its tangential relation to everything happening in the world, but my latest article, Standing in the Dark, is up on SSRN. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Standing in the Dark
<p><i>Demonstrating standing for injunctive relief in Section 1983 police misconduct cases is undisputedly difficult for civil rights plaintiffs. Under </i>City
papers.ssrn.com
March 4, 2025 at 11:39 PM
A really interesting project that’s currently under submission, for the journal editors out there.
BTW, feel free to highlight this submission for your favorite law review editors. Or even your least favorite. It has been 2.5 weeks and no offers yet. Is this cycle moving slowly for others too?
Look What You Made Me Do is currently under submission to law journals. Here’s the abstract.
March 3, 2025 at 1:30 PM
BTW, feel free to highlight this submission for your favorite law review editors. Or even your least favorite. It has been 2.5 weeks and no offers yet. Is this cycle moving slowly for others too?
Look What You Made Me Do is currently under submission to law journals. Here’s the abstract.
March 2, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Look What You Made Me Do is currently under submission to law journals. Here’s the abstract.
Building a large langauge model trained on the Alabama Code is a great resource, but we ought to be careful to understand that it still won’t tell us everything about Alabama law. news.ua.edu/2024/11/arti...
Positioning UA for an AI Future
The University of Alabama is taking steps to ensure The University and its students are positioned at the forefront of the AI wave.
news.ua.edu
December 24, 2024 at 5:28 PM
Building a large langauge model trained on the Alabama Code is a great resource, but we ought to be careful to understand that it still won’t tell us everything about Alabama law. news.ua.edu/2024/11/arti...
Reposted by Russell Gold
Re-reading Bostock on the eve of tomorrow's big trans healthcare case at SCOTUS, I think the law's defenders have their work cut out to explain why Gorsuch's reasoning there doesn't apply to TN's ban on puberty blockers & cross-sex hormones for trans youth. Three points...
December 3, 2024 at 11:51 PM
Re-reading Bostock on the eve of tomorrow's big trans healthcare case at SCOTUS, I think the law's defenders have their work cut out to explain why Gorsuch's reasoning there doesn't apply to TN's ban on puberty blockers & cross-sex hormones for trans youth. Three points...
Reposted by Russell Gold
I hope President Biden also uses his clemency power to aid those who also faced a criminal justice system unfairly stacked against them - but do not have the name recognition, connections or privilege of his son (or even of those two turkeys). theappeal.org/biden-commut...
U.S. Reps Urge Biden to Use Clemency to Correct “Extreme Use of Incarceration”
U.S. Congressmembers, including Ayanna Pressley, say Joe Biden should grand pardons and commutations before Donald Trump takes office.
theappeal.org
December 2, 2024 at 12:45 PM
I hope President Biden also uses his clemency power to aid those who also faced a criminal justice system unfairly stacked against them - but do not have the name recognition, connections or privilege of his son (or even of those two turkeys). theappeal.org/biden-commut...
Reposted by Russell Gold
Thrilled to share that our client, Manuel Cucuta, was released yesterday after serving nearly three decades in prison. Just in time for his first Thanksgiving with family in 27 years.
law.wisc.edu/newsletter/F...
law.wisc.edu/newsletter/F...
Wisconsin Innocence Project Client Manuel Cucuta Released After 27 Years in Prison | University of Wisconsin Law SchoolSite iconsUniversity logo that links to main university websitefacebooktwitteryo...
law.wisc.edu
November 27, 2024 at 1:08 PM
Thrilled to share that our client, Manuel Cucuta, was released yesterday after serving nearly three decades in prison. Just in time for his first Thanksgiving with family in 27 years.
law.wisc.edu/newsletter/F...
law.wisc.edu/newsletter/F...
Reposted by Russell Gold
Do you know about social science that you think criminal defense attorneys should be incorporating into their arguments? Have you written a criminal defense motion incorporating social science? If so, please help us create a national network. Upload your studies and motions to datafordefenders.org
November 27, 2024 at 1:31 PM
Do you know about social science that you think criminal defense attorneys should be incorporating into their arguments? Have you written a criminal defense motion incorporating social science? If so, please help us create a national network. Upload your studies and motions to datafordefenders.org
I’m growing a bit tired of hearing about the Republican “trifecta.” It overlooks Republican control of the federal courts and the Supreme Court in particular. “Quadfecta” seems clumsier but more apt.
November 15, 2024 at 2:05 PM
I’m growing a bit tired of hearing about the Republican “trifecta.” It overlooks Republican control of the federal courts and the Supreme Court in particular. “Quadfecta” seems clumsier but more apt.
Coverage of the really important law reform work my fantastic colleague Fred Vars has been doing. www.thetrace.org/2024/11/donn...
To Prevent Suicide, States Want to Let People Ban Themselves From Buying Guns
The suicide prevention measure is one of the few areas of gun policy where Republicans and Democrats can agree.
www.thetrace.org
November 14, 2024 at 1:35 PM
Coverage of the really important law reform work my fantastic colleague Fred Vars has been doing. www.thetrace.org/2024/11/donn...
I feel very fortunate that I got to work with Ted O. on a couple of very high-profile cases. This is also where I admit that I was quite junior and we had many layers of lawyers between us on those teams.
Sad news. Ted Olson dies at 84. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...
Theodore Olson, conservative lawyer who backed marriage equality, dies at 84
A longtime Republican who helped George W. Bush secure the presidency, he shocked many when he worked to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 13, 2024 at 3:27 PM
I feel very fortunate that I got to work with Ted O. on a couple of very high-profile cases. This is also where I admit that I was quite junior and we had many layers of lawyers between us on those teams.
As crazy as it sounds to create a new agency to rein in agencies, if you had to pick one guy to destroy an organization, Musk was a sensible choice.
November 13, 2024 at 3:11 PM
As crazy as it sounds to create a new agency to rein in agencies, if you had to pick one guy to destroy an organization, Musk was a sensible choice.
Reposted by Russell Gold
This is a disaster.
It is very disappointing that Biden apparently will leave 10 district court vacancies in the Fifth Circuit unfilled, and that doesn’t even include another vacancy about to be created by Judge Rosenthal’s imminent taking of senior status.
November 13, 2024 at 1:44 PM
This is a disaster.
The Price of Criminal Law is my latest full-length article: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers..... I argue that budget discipline provides a critically important constraint on criminal law and consider what democratically accountable budgeting would look like in criminal law.
The Price of Criminal Law
<div>
Should tax dollars pay for more criminal law, better public schools, or a <span>new community center? Different counties will answer the question&nb
papers.ssrn.com
November 13, 2024 at 1:55 PM
The Price of Criminal Law is my latest full-length article: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers..... I argue that budget discipline provides a critically important constraint on criminal law and consider what democratically accountable budgeting would look like in criminal law.
The essay that Kay Levine and I wrote, Exoneration Finance, is now published: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… in NYU Law Review Online. We explain how litigation finance can improve access to counsel for wrongful conviction proceedings.
Exoneration Finance
The path to financial compensation for the wrongfully convicted can be complex and time-consuming. Exonerees often struggle to make ends meet and function in fr
papers.ssrn.com
November 13, 2024 at 1:40 PM
The essay that Kay Levine and I wrote, Exoneration Finance, is now published: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… in NYU Law Review Online. We explain how litigation finance can improve access to counsel for wrongful conviction proceedings.