C7. The Rights of Criminal Defendants: The Warren Course and Beyond (Ross) (Tue)

Under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court in the 1960s issued a number of landmark decisions that broadened the rights of criminal defendants under various provisions of the Bill of Rights, ranging from the establishment of the exclusionary rule for improperly obtained evidence, search warrant requirements, the right of indigent defendants to attorneys, the right to counsel and the right to remain silent during police interrogations, and stop and frisk tactics.  This course will focus on a number of the decisions of the Warren Court as well as decisions of the Court under later chief justices that have grappled with problems of applying constitutional principles to new technology and in some cases, have narrowed the protections established by the Warren Court.  Time permitting the course might also examine constitutional restrictions on the use of the death penalty.

Group Leader:  John S. Ross, III holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law, and practiced law for 20 years in Washington, D.C. He was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Washington & Lee University School of Law and taught a class on separation of church and state in the WISE program. He is a court coordinator with Family Services of Central Massachusetts Mediation.