News

DSO is excited to announce the selection of the twelve host offices for the 2024-2026 Non-Capital Diversity Fellowship Program.  You may learn more about these offices and the program on our website at https://diversityfellowship.…

The Prison Litigation Reform Act requires inmates to exhaust an internal grievance process before filing a federal lawsuit against prison officials, but per the Fourth Circuit, that doesn't mean inmates can be forced to "walk … a nonsensical and perplexing path" to achieve said exhaustion. No…

Doctor is convicted of running pill mill based on 13 counts of unlawfully dispensing schedule II controlled substances (one count for each unlawful prescription). At trial, the government put on evidence of many prescriptions beyond the ones in the indictment. That evidence came from the…

Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit reminded us once again that “extraordinary and compelling reasons” sufficient to justify compassionate release under the First Step Act are not limited to COVID-19 and medical issues.  In United…

Detainee at Polk County, Fla. jail sues officials for, among other things, scanning his legal mail into a computer system. Eleventh Circuit: The First Amendment requires opening legal mail in the detainee's presence and checking only for contraband. That doesn't include scanning it and saving it…

Title 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) bans gun possession by anyone "who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance." Man is pulled over for driving without a license plate. Officers, one of whom is DEA, find guns and marihuana cigarette butts. He's sentenced to nearly four years in…

With the federal legal support system potentially millions of dollars short due to budget cuts, Kansas’ federal public defender pleaded with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran to intervene before vulnerable Kansans needing representation begin to suffer (…

Tou Thao is one of four now-former Minneapolis police officers involved in killing George Floyd. Thao suggested that they bind Floyd's feet to his waist instead of kneeling on his neck, told EMS to arrive more quickly than another officer previously requested, and held back bystanders calling on…

As part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the government sought a search warrant in January 2023 that directed the social media company Twitter, now renamed X, to produce records related to the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account. Along…

The U.S. Parole Commission has been alerted of a phone scam that is impacting members of the public where callers are identifying themselves as U.S. Parole Commission employees in an attempt to secure personal information or money for the release of people in federal custody (…