Priscah Oluoch For years in North Carolina, the suspected odor of marijuana alone provided probable cause for law enforcement officers to search vehicles and obtain search warrants for homes. The decriminalization of marijuana in many states and the legalization of hemp across the country has caused many state courts to reassess whether odor alone provides probable cause that criminal activity…
Connor Aberle Historically, many state courts have held that the odor of marijuana alone is sufficient probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of an automobile, because marijuana has such a unique and recognizable odor and has been illegal in the United States for decades. As marijuana laws have seen significant reform across the country however, many state courts are…
Community Success Initiative v. Moore: A Guide to the Latest Court Ruling Affecting North Carolina’s Felon Disenfranchisement Law Cynthia Hernandez If you are convicted of a felony in North Carolina, you can temporarily lose many of your rights as a citizen, including the founding principle of our democracy: your right to vote. Known as disenfranchisement, restricting the right to vote…
Anna Marquardt Elon University School of Law, J.D. Candidate 2021 On June 18, 2020, Chief Justice John Roberts delivered a 5-4 decision in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California (consolidated with Trump v. NAACP) in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s actions to rescind DACA were “arbitrary and capricious” and…
Cate A. Caperton Elon University School of Law, J.D. Candidate 2021 In an important 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court held that employers could not discriminate, fire, or refuse to hire an employee for being gay or transgender and held that to do so would be a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bostock…
In a unanimous opinion filed on May 1st, 2020, the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals decision in State v. Shawn Patrick Ellis 832 S.E.2d 750 (N.C. Ct. App. 2019), and held that there was no reasonable suspicion to pull over a passing vehicle where a passenger “flipped off” a police officer. The opinion is available here.…