Just wrapped up the 17th Criminal Justice Roundtable hosted by Chris Slobogin at Vanderbilt Law School w/ @rachelbarkow.bsky.social @richardre.bsky.social @erinmurphyslaw.bsky.social
@joeljohnson13.bsky.social @profrgold.bsky.social @meganstevenson.bsky.social and others not on Bsky

The inaugural Evidence Roundtable at Vanderbilt Law School. We theorized "simplified evidence rules" for disputes that don't require the complexity of the federal rules with a group of wonderful scholars (pictured) and judges (not pictured). Stay tuned evidence world for future roundtables...

Perhaps of interest.... While legal ethics codes and the U.S. Constitution require a prosecutor to have "probable cause" to support a charge, there is broad agreement that prosecutors should apply a stricter charging standard, although exactly what is less clear. I offer my take in a 2020 article:

if you teach Evidence, the casebook landscape is shifting...

A legitimate - I think - retailer selling used copies of my $35 casebook for $250. (I guess they just assume the retail price is $300 since it is a law school casebook.)

A slice of Amazon's best selling evidence books. What do you notice?

👀 In separate statements today, Justices Gorsuch and Alito argue that the Confrontation Clause doctrine introduced by Justice Scalia in 2004 is flawed and needs to change. Alito suggests narrower protections for defendants and Gorsuch hints at broader ones. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

Just received my copy of David Sklansky's timely new book, "Criminal Justice in Divided America," can't wait to dig in. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

The essays from Rich Friedman's Confrontation Clause symposium "Crawford at 20" are out in the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. My contribution warns SCOTUS about a flaw in its new doctrine-casual references to a founding-era "hearsay" definition that doesn't exist. repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/

Great to see the "Mass Incarceration Nation"-themed W&M Law Review symposium issue in print. Thanks to everyone who spoke at the symposium, those who contributed written pieces, and *most of all* the many student editors who turned the idea into reality. Available at wmlawreview.org

Thanks Wake Forest Law School for hosting my talk on "Murder on the Hearsay Trail" -- got great feedback on my murder-mystery-law-review-article from a wonderful faculty.

Spread the word to folks teaching Evidence in the Spring: my new $15 Evidence Rules Supplement, including Dec 2023 and 2024 amendments, is now available via Amazon www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLHPSR5X

My essay for Vanderbilt Law Review's evidence symposium on the federal rules of evidence at 50 is now available on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....