Civil Commitment Laws News Today

Unconstitutional. do you still agree with the sentiments you expressed in your law school note? >> respectfully, senator, those are not the sentiments that i impressed in my law school note. my law school note was about sex offender registration laws, which at the time were relatively new. as you know from our time in law school, one of the things that law school students do, they look for new developments in the law and they try to analyze them. thats something that makes for good fodder for a ...

That has been close at the supreme court. i would note beyond that in terms of the prevalence of these statutes, all 50 states have registry requirements. 47 states have communication requirements. all 50 states have dna or blood banks for sex offender requirements and 20 of the states the federal government in dc have laws that allow for the detention of sex offenders. i would note in the state of texas, a state court of appeals relying on the same sort of reasoning that you advocated for in yo...

T terms of the prevaprevalence, a have requirements. all 50 states have dna or blood banks for sex offenders requirements and 20 of the state, the federal government in d.c. have laws that law for the indefinite retention of sex offenders. at the time i was the solicitor general of texas. i argued that appeal in the texas supreme court and the texas supreme court unanimously reversed the court of appeals and upheld our statute. civil commitment laws would be struck down leasing sexual predators ...

6,300 would be released to the public is. that an outcome that should be concerning? >> senator, in law school when i was writing a note, i was looking at a brand new set of laws that had not previously been enacted in any jurisdiction. they were new. i was assessing at the time as law school students do what criteria i thought might be used by courts to make a determination in the future as to whether or not they should be treated as punitive and not unconstitutional and as therefore ones that ...

Under the argument community notification and dna bank laws could well be struck down as well. is that an outcome that should concern people? >> senator, my note wasnt advocating for the striking down of those laws. my note was trying to identify criteria that i thought could be applied consistently to determine whether the laws were punitive or preventative. >> with respect -- you argued that they were punitive and you further say in the note, if theyre punitive, theyre on unconstitutional. >> ...

Laws. i didnt say that they were unconstitutional one way or the other. what i was trying to assess is how they are character sized. that has a certain set of consequences. some courts would call them punitive. that has a certain set of cons sequences. i was trying to figure out how to make the determination whether they were punitive or preventative. >> well, your note argued that they were punitive. i would note that that view, theres been some on the bench that have advocated that. the suprem...

Could well be struck down as well. is that -- is that an outcome that should concern people? >> senator, my note wasnt advocating for the striking down of those laws. my note was trying to identify criteria that i thought could be applied consistently to determine whether the laws were punitive or preventative. >> but with respect -- >> either -- >> you argued that they were punitive and you further say in the note and you further say if theyre punitive theyre unconstitutional. >> i was looking ...

With republicans pretty much unanimously willing to defend it. so it was a policy matter with some sharp divisions and some political consequences. you ruled in favor of the construction of the wall and against an attemptpy environmental groups to halt its construction through legal cases. can you discuss what you recall of the claims presented and how you came to a decision in favor of the trump administration? >> senator, the claims in that case, which as you say were brought by an environment...

And dna bank laws could well be struck down as well. is that an outcome that should concern people? >> senator, my note wucasnt advocating for the striking down of those laws. my note was trying to identify criteria that i thought would be applied consistently to determine whether the laws were punitive or preventative. either -- >> you argue they were pun tifr and you further say if they are punitive, they are unconstitutional. >> i was looking at four different kinds of laws and not all of the...

0 stems back decades and that is concerning. you wrote your note on the harvard law review on sex crimes. your note is your major academic work on the law review and yours is entitled "prevention versus punishment: towards a principled distinction in the restraint of released sex offenders." and in it you argue, and i quote, "a recent spate of legislation purports to regulate released sex offenders by requiring them to register with local law enforcement officials, notify community members of th...