Professor of law @UALawSchool. Alumnus of @gwlaw (JD '08) and @ASU (BA '04, BS '04). My Tweets are my own.
Tuscaloosa, AL
Joined March 2017
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Fiscally Restraining Criminal Lawmaking by @leahanelson and me is forthcoming in @WashULRev and up on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…. We analyze how legislative tools to promote fiscal restraint could (and occasionally already do) work in criminal law.
Fiscally Restraining Criminal Lawmaking is out in the @WashULRev. @leahanelson and I argue that the tools of fiscal restraint that legislatures use in other contexts could also work in criminal law to encourage more weighing of costs and benefits: ssrn.com/abstract=6463744.
Alabama Law is hiring at any rank! It's a wonderful place to work with amazing students and colleagues. Here are the links for the two job postings:
careers.ua.edu/cw/en-us/job/…
careers.ua.edu/cw/en-us/job/…
We’re looking in a broad range of areas…
It has been interesting to watch Alabama, Texas, and Florida remove the bar admission requirement to graduate from an ABA-accredited law school. Did they realize that their war on wokeness was following California’s lead?
I’m honored to receive an award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Development from the University of Alabama Teaching Academy. I’m extraordinarily grateful for my time as a Faculty Fellow there over the past two years. I have learned a ton and met so many amazing teachers.
I’m humbled and honored to receive the Dean Thomas Christopher Award for service to @UALawSchool. It’s an incredible privilege to get to work with amazing students and colleagues.
Alabama's legislature passed a new felony for eluding law enforcement. Did they consider how much a new felony would cost our vastly underfunded and incredibly dangerous state prisons? What about for district attorneys or county jails? Not that I can tell.
I don't mean to pick on Alabama though. Legislatures do this kind of thing regularly in criminal law. Sometimes they ignore fiscal note requirements entirely. @leahanelson and I take up this issue in a forthcoming article in @WashULRev: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.….
Submissions and nominations of articles are being accepted for the seventeenth annual Fred C. Zacharias Memorial Prize for Scholarship in Professional Responsibility. To honor Fred's memory, the committee will select from among articles in the field of Professional Responsibility
I see a like here from @james_a_barkley, a fantastic editor at @WashULRev who has already improved the piece with his thoughtful feedback.
Russell Gold retweeted
👏
Congratulations to Professor Jocelyn Simonson on being ranked #4 on the Wiley &Knapp Top 100 Legal Scholars for 2025 list! The study highlights scholars whose recent work is shaping legal scholarship today,an extraordinary achievement.
View the full list: tinyurl.com/rz7mht7t
Russell Gold retweeted
Important decision from the 10th Circuit on computer searches, suggesting new limits on the scope of computer search and seizure—at least in the CA10. And not only new limits, but no QI, at least in the 2-1 majority's view. ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10… #N
There's a ton going on here, but brief recap:
Police get warrant to enter home & search for evidence (including computers) of protester who attempted to assault officer during protest, arguing that there was likely evidence of the assault in the home, including on the protester's phone—and that could have been transferred to other computers in the protester's home.
First warrant just allows seizure; second allows search; third allows obtaining contents Facebook account. No charges are ultimately filed, and the protester sues.
Tenth Circuit, 2-1, holds:
1) No QI for officer as to the first warrant, as even if there was arguable PC as to cell phone, there wasn't even arguable PC to seize the bulk of the computers seized.
(see tweet below for more, so I can add more screenshots)
I'm excited to report that the article that @leahanelson and I wrote, Fiscally Restraining Criminal Lawmaking, is forthcoming in the @WashULRev.
Kudos to this journalist for mentioning that this new law is obviously unconstitutional under existing Supreme Court precedent and situating it with similar efforts in other states. Reminds of me a great article Mridula Raman is writing on the topic. alabamareflector.com/2026/02…