Kyle Barry
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kylecbarry.bsky.social
Kyle Barry
@kylecbarry.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.3K following 500 posts
Director, State Law Research Initiative (SLRI) http://state-law-research.org; Formerly @theappeal.bsky.social, NAACP LDF, @afjustice.bsky.social. I write about state courts & dismantling mass incarceration. https://open.substack.com/pub/slri
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November 5, 2025 at 3:23 AM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
1/ Louisiana's AG is pushing for SCOTUS to overrule its bar on executing youth so she can reinstate a child's death sentence.

Why now?

Because "the conservative vs. liberal justices" balance has shifted, prosecutors told a state district court. state-law-research.org/wp-content/u...
THE STATE WANTS TO BE FULLY CANDID, WE WANTTO TAKE THIS UP TO THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. WEWANT THE COURT -- THAT COURT -- TO RECONSIDER ROPER.WE THINK THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS THAT IT SHOULDDO SO, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS ROPER, AT THE TIME WASON FAIRLY SHAKY FOOTING AS A -- I BELIEVE -- PARTY LINEFIVE-FOUR DECISION. THE COURT: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, PARTY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN? MR. GRAY: AN IDEOLOGICAL LINE, SORRY TO SAY, CONSERVATIVEVERSUS LIBERAL JUSTICES. THE COURT: YOU BELIEVE THAT OUR JUSTICES ARE CONSERVATIVE ANDLIBERAL? THE APPLICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION? MR. GRAY: I DON'T WANT TO MAKE WAVES, YOUR HONOR, BUT THEREIS -- THERE IS SOME ELEMENTS OF THE COURT'S HISTORYTHAT MAY LEAD ONE TO BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE IDEOLOGIESAT PLAY. The State fully acknowledges that Roper bars this Court from granting the motion to reinstate Craig’s death sentence. Nonetheless, for preservation purposes, the State asks the Court to grant the writ, reverse the jurisdictional judgment below, and deny the motion as foreclosed by Roper, providing a final, jurisdictionally clean vehicle for the United States Supreme Court to reconsider that precedent.
November 4, 2025 at 5:56 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
you'll never guess who fired the shots www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
Shots fired at site of protest outside Coast Guard base near Oakland By Jessica Flores, Reporter Updated Oct 24, 2025 7:42 a.m.
October 24, 2025 at 3:00 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
In truth the real causal variable here is that I rode through the week before … www.bikeradar.com/news/tour-de...
bikeradar Home › News > The Tour De France Slows Rise Of Far Right: ... The Tour de France slows rise of far right: "It looked like our town was actually important" Voting in towns and villages on the route of the Tour found to shift less to the right than nearby areas, according to new research
October 24, 2025 at 12:45 AM
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October 23, 2025 at 1:25 AM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
2/ For more on what Illinois courts have (not much) and should (much more) be doing with what has been given the misnomer "proportionate-penalties" clause, see this deep-dive in the Northwestern Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol114/...
From that convention emerged a revolutionary idea: that Illinois should adopt in its constitution the strongest known language in the nation limiting a government’s ability to mete out extreme punishments to those citizens who have transgressed the criminal law—and clearly identifying the purpose of those criminal sentences as rehabilitation. Thus was born what appears in Illinois’s constitution today: the so-called proportionate-penalties clause. That clause, codified in 1970 as Article 1, Section 11 of the Illinois Constitution, proclaims that “all penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship. No conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate. No person shall be transported out of the State for an offense committed within the State.” This Article traces the origins of the proportionate-penalties clause back to the 1970 constitutional convention, using floor debate transcripts and other contemporaneous sources to establish that its authors did, indeed, intend Illinois sentences to serve rehabilitative purposes. To interrogate the context of those documents, this Article also examines the surrounding historical events of late 1960s-era Chicago, as well the lives and identities of the delegates who propelled this clause forward. This Article uses the authors’ words as prescient calls for a new interpretation of the proportionate-penalties clause that hews to their vision —and that can serve as a model for rethinking the guardrails around criminal punishments nationwide. Indeed, a constitutional scheme that insists that criminal penalties be directed at rehabilitative ends can and must carry implications for many of the statutes and rules that sustain our current system of mass incarceration.
October 20, 2025 at 6:05 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
1/ This piece is also a reminder that when states *do* ratify heightened protections, state courts should actually, you know, apply them.

Hard to reconcile this remarkable (and mandatory!) 1970 Illinois clause w/ the state's nearly 4,000 people serving life in prison: bsky.app/profile/year...
The Illinois constitution provides that "all penalties shall be determined ... with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship"
October 20, 2025 at 6:00 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
SF Summer ☀️
American flag and the main stage at the No King’s rally in San Francisco
October 18, 2025 at 10:48 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
A recurring theme of Trump litigation is that trial court judges recognize the real world in which they are operating, but then appellate courts ignore them and rule as though the make-believe fantasyland conjured by Trump and far-right Twitter trolls reflects reality www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...
Judge Perry expressed concern about what it would mean to send in National Guard troops who are unfamiliar with Chicago’s long history of strained police-community relations. “Chicago’s history of strained police-community relations is extremely well documented but also fairly nuanced,” she said. “It’s something that I think the state and local authorities understand extremely well, and it can be hard for federal authorities, and certainly those from Texas, to appreciate.”
October 10, 2025 at 12:42 AM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
2/ I've covered how Justices Goodwin Liu & Kelli Evans have been steadfastly pushing the court to enforce rights that would limit excessive punishments and roll back over-incarceration, doing so w/o Jenkins's (a former prosecutor) support: slri.substack.com/p/issue-27-t...
When Will The California Supreme Court Protect Young People From Extreme Punishments? Two Justices Urge Action A divided California Supreme Court recently upheld life without parole sentences for young adults, despite evidence that such punishments “perpetuate[] extreme racial disparities in [the state’s] criminal and juvenile justice systems.” But that was an equal protection case, and Justice Kelli Evans, clearly frustrated by that result, used a recent dissent to suggest a different approach: using the state constitution’s separate ban on “cruel or unusual” punishment.
October 9, 2025 at 4:32 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
And gender affirming care bsky.app/profile/sky....
October 7, 2025 at 6:18 PM
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Of course, were the Court considering whether to uphold a bigoted, far-right ban on medical care, it would say that state legislatures, not courts, must assess treatment "safety" & "efficacy."

In fact it did exactly that as recently as [checks notes] June. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is often seen as a crucial swing vote in cases, pointedly asks the lawyer for Colorado about the harms of conversion therapy. The lawyer says that the harm “comes from telling someone there’s something innate about yourself you can change – and then you spend all kinds of time and effort trying to do that, and you fail.” Video This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field. The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. Nor does it afford us license to decide them as we see best. Our role is not “to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic” of the law before us, Beach Communications, 508 U. S., at 313, but only to ensure that it does not violate the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is affirmed. It is so ordered.
October 7, 2025 at 6:04 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Before SCOTUS decides that Trump can order National Guard troops to invade another state for any made-up reason, recall that John Roberts gutted the Voting Rights Act b/c it intruded on states' rights w/o sufficiently accounting for actual "current conditions." supreme.justia.com/cases/federa...
Congress may draft another formula based on current conditions. Such a formula is an initial prerequisite to a determination that exceptional conditions still exist justifying such an “extraordinary departure from the traditional course of relations between the States and the Federal Government.” Presley, 502 U. S., at 500–501. Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed. It is so ordered.
October 6, 2025 at 5:40 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
The Republican Party wants:

❌ Cancer for everyone
❌ Widespread disease & death
❌ The military bombing Americans
❌ Destroy planet earth
❌ Racial segregation
❌ Protect Trump & other rich people in the Epstein files
The WHITE HOUSE The White House v The Democrat Party wants: @WhiteHouse • 8h XXXXX rs 'Transgender' for everybody Men competing in women's sports Crime and lawlessness in our streets Cashless bail policies over the safety and security of our nation It's never America First. 1.2K 12 2.7K 14K 1hl 433K 贝
October 1, 2025 at 9:58 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Because of this I also learned that HUD’s homepage now features a cul-de-sac ringed by McMansions bsky.app/profile/josh...
The sun sets behind a cul de sac of McMansions, with the text: “田 "God blessed us with this great nation, and together, we can increase self-sufficiency and empower Americans to climb the economic ladder toward a brighter future." - Secretary Scott Turner”
September 30, 2025 at 10:16 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Judge William Young, a Reagan-appointee, frames this remarkable opinion as a response to anonymous threats (or at least taunts) that he received in chambers: bsky.app/profile/ryan...
Case caption/cover page along with image of hand written note saying, 'Trump has pardons and tanks ....what do you have?" And the typed response: "Dear Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, Alone, I have nothing but my sense of duty. Together, We the People of the United States –- you and me -- have our magnificent Constitution. Here’s how that works out in a specific case –- " Signature block on opinion plus Judge Young's typed postscript: "I hope you found this helpful. Thanks for writing. It shows you care. You should. Sincerely & respectfully, Bill Young P.S. The next time you’re in Boston [the postmark on the card is from the Philadelphia area] stop in at the Courthouse and watch your fellow citizens, sitting as jurors, reach out for justice. It is here, and in courthouses just like this one, both state and federal, spread throughout our land that our Constitution is most vibrantly alive, for it is well said that “Where a jury sits, there burns the lamp of liberty.” "
September 30, 2025 at 7:34 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Kavanaugh: it’s just a “brief encounter”

The brief encounter: bsky.app/profile/thet...
6 NOEM v. VASQUEZ PERDOMO KAVANAUGH, J., concurring "relevant factor" when considered along with other salient factors. Id., at 887. Under this Court's precedents, not to mention common sense, those circumstances taken together can constitute at least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United States. Importantly, reasonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly p the individual and inquire about immigration status. If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter. Only if the person is illegally in the United States may t. stop lead to further immigration proceedings.
September 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Just more of the well-worn Seattle Mariners-to-sports-photography pipeline rj51photos.com
Former Mariners pitcher Randy "Big Unit" Johnson takes photos at an NFL game
September 27, 2025 at 8:26 PM
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Full opinion: www.pacourts.us/assets/opini...

bsky.app/profile/marc...
This case presents an issue not addressed in Genser: What happens if an elector fails to follow a mandatory requirement for voting by mail — such as correctly signing and dating the declaration envelope or sealing the ballot inside the secrecy envelope — and election officials, after becoming aware of the nullifying error, mislead the elector into believing she is prohibited from voting provisionally? The lower courts held a county board of elections violated electors' procedural due process rights by knowingly setting aside facially defective mail-in ballots without notifying those electors their ballots would be disqualified. The courts directed the board to provide such notice so the electors could challenge the decision to set aside these ballots or, instead, vote with a provisional ballot on Election Day. We largely affirm.
September 26, 2025 at 10:47 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Never grow numb to how this administration is affirmatively trying to kill as many Americans as possible www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
The Trump administration canceled grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes in communities around the country this month, each time offering a simple rationale for yanking back federal aid: the projects aren’t designed for cars. Still, local officials and transit advocates said they were surprised by the language DOT used in rescinding previously awarded grants, and alarmed that the department seemed to be taking particular aim at programs that were designed to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists in a period of elevated traffic injuries and deaths.
September 23, 2025 at 9:20 PM
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Today’s state con law newsletter has a short tribute to WA Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu, who will retire this year.

Yu’s record isn’t perfect, but she at least began to grapple w/ the reality that ALL life w/o parole sentences are constitutionally suspect: open.substack.com/pub/slri/p/i...
But she wrote in a concurrence of her “growing discomfort with the routine practice of sentencing individuals to life without the possibility of parole, regardless of the offense or the age of the offender.” She went on: We should not be satisfied with the status quo; permanent incarceration has neither reduced crime nor increased confidence in our criminal justice system. The principles set forth in Gregory compel us to ask the same questions about a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Is it fairly applied? Is there a disproportionate impact on minority populations? Are there state constitutional limitations to such a sentence? I dare say that these questions are not just academic. They also reflect our values and beliefs about punishment and our criminal justice system. We should join the national movement favoring release upon a showing of rehabilitation and inject into our sentencing practices the exercise of mercy, compassion, and the fact that we know not a person’s capacity to change.”
September 22, 2025 at 9:32 PM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Not as fun as his Shelby County takedown, but Justice Eddins' opinion is also a tour de force on how state constitutions can and often do provide stronger civil rights than SCOTUS precedent -- looking to distinct text, history, clauses, local values, & interpretive methods bsky.app/profile/mjsd...
A state high court interprets a state constitution its own way. State v. Wilson, 154 Hawaiʻi 8, 14, 543 P.3d 440, 446 (2024). This court has long understood federalism principles and operated with a no lock-stepping approach. William J. Brennan, Jr., State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights, 90 Harv. L. Rev. 489, 499-500 (1977) (shout out to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court). Our state constitutional provisions offer greater rights protection than federal *** counterparts. See, e.g., State v. Texeira, 50 Haw. 138, 142 n.2, 433 P.2d 593, 597 n.2 (1967). This court may interpret Hawaiʻi’s Establishment Clause broader than the federal Establishment Clause. The Hawaiʻi Constitution’s Preamble reflects Hawaiʻi’s multi-cultural and multi-religious character. “We, the people of Hawaii, grateful for Divine Guidance, and mindful of our Hawaiian heritage and uniqueness as an island State, dedicate our efforts to fulfill the philosophy decreed by the Hawaii State motto, ‘Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono [The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness].’” Haw. Const. pmbl. (The first known expression of our state motto came from King Kamehameha III’s address on Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, or Restoration Day, after political power was restored to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi following an unlawful British occupation. See 2022 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 82, § 1 at 188-89.). The Hawaiʻi Constitution is respectful to all faiths and philosophies. Our state’s religious diversity and inclusivity, the delegates appreciated, differed from the Christian-dominated context in other parts of the country. To avoid governmental endorsement and support of any faith, the Preamble reads “Divine Guidance” – not a specific deity. First, “[n]o grant shall be made in violation of Section 4 of Article I of this constitution.” Haw. Const. art. VII, § 4. Second, the public school system shall be “free from sectarian control” and public funds shall not be appropriated to support or benefit “any sectarian or nonsectarian private educational institution.” Haw. Const. art. X, § 1. Reinforced by generations of jurisprudence, the wall stands for the principle that government neither advances nor inhibits religion. Besides Everson and McCollum, other mid-20th century opinions shared the 18th century vision that government involvement in religion undermines the secular character of civil society.
September 21, 2025 at 1:53 AM
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September 21, 2025 at 1:43 AM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
Ohhh . . . my god
As it often does, the Court repackaged and whitewashed facts to achieve a desired outcome. See, e.g., Shelby Cnty., Ala. v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529, 557 (2013) (scorning the record, history, legislative branch, and a great American law, to daydream a textually-unsupported rule that Alabama’s equal sovereignty prevents the federal government from enforcing federal law – a law the Chief Justice had a hunch worked too well); Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 U.S. 684, 721 (2019) (Kagan, J., dissenting) (burying wide-ranging factual findings and its head in the sand to endorse partisan gerrymandering and “[f]or the first time ever[] . . . refus[ing] to remedy a constitutional violation because it thinks the task beyond judicial capabilities”).
September 21, 2025 at 1:42 AM
kylecbarry.bsky.social
If more policing was truly the best way to keep people safe, then it wouldn’t be so out of the ordinary to “see police in a nice, quiet neighborhood like Walnut Creek.”

It’s almost like there’s something else—certain resources, perhaps?—keeping crime down. sfist.com/2025/09/19/d...
"I wanted to share for our residents, there is no threat," Walnut Creek Police Lieutenant Scott Moorhouse told KGO. "I know it's concerning to see a police presence in a nice, quiet neighborhood like in Walnut Creek, but please be assured to my friends in the community, you're safe, your Walnut Creek Police Department is thoroughly investigating this matter and we'll work diligently to resolve this case."
September 20, 2025 at 5:14 PM