The feds didn’t recognize his tribe. The court said that’s not the point. Walter Caswell was spear fishing in a Mackinac County stream in October 2018 when a conservation officer handed him a citation. Fishing out of season. Illegal method. Two violations. Caswell had a state fishing license. It didn’t cover spear fishing. He also…
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Crim law 101: search warrant affidavit must connect the sought items with any criminal activity justifying the search
In a one-page order this week, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and the Wayne County Circuit Court for failing to suppress a search warrant that violated the Fourth Amendment because (1) the search-warrant affidavit failed to connect the firearms and firearm-related items listed in the search warrant with the suspected criminal…
UPDATED—The 2025-26 MSC argument slate: consumer protection, tort revamp (?), Line 5, and a wave of criminal-law recalibrations
In a docket that feels both tightly focused and wide-ranging, the Michigan Supreme Court will hear argument in 56 cases based on its orders issued through September 26, 2025. (More, of course, will be later added in the coming months to fill out the court’s 2025-26 term.) The big picture (by the numbers) Premises liability:…
The 2025-26 MSC argument slate: consumer protection, tort revamp (?), Line 5, and a wave of criminal-law recalibrations
In a docket that feels both tightly focused and wide-ranging, the Michigan Supreme Court will hear argument in 50 cases based on its orders issued through September 19, 2025. (More, of course, will be later added in the coming months to fill out the court’s 2025-26 term.) The big picture (by the numbers) Consumer protection,…
When a focus order becomes the case
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently offered a case study in judicial triage: with a short “focus order” issued less than two weeks before argument, the panel redirected People v Plomb from two garden-variety issues to a third—judicial interference—that would dominate both the oral argument and the published opinion. What a “focus order” is—and what…
AI-generated alt-text can be an image-captioning start. The legal writer will do more.
This colorful image was included in the State Appellate Defender Office’s brief recently filed with the Michigan Supreme Court in People v Soriano (Docket No. 167373). Disclaimer: I don’t know whether SADO used any AI tools as a resource when deciding how to caption this image in its brief. Even so, the image and SADO’s…
Three solid ChatGPT 5 prompts for final review in legal editing
Imagine finishing up an important brief on a late Friday night—so late that it’s now Saturday morning (12:08 a.m.). Mental exhaustion has set in. No way that brief is getting one more “fresh read” before filing. The legal writer’s brain might be fried. But ChatGPT isn’t. ChatGPT 5 in “thinking” mode, to be more specific….
Over 20 years of wrong law? The Michigan Supreme Court might be ready to fix Carpenter and restore the diminished-capacity defense.
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear argument on October 9 to revisit whether the 2001 Carpenter court correctly determined that the Michigan Legislature abolished the diminished capacity (failure of proof) defense for specific-intent crimes when MCL 768.21a was adopted in 1975. People v Carpenter, 464 Mich 223, 241 (2001). Two defense options before Carpenter For…
Will they stay or will they go? The Michigan Supreme Court will revisit status-based duty classifications for premises liability actions
On October 8, 2025, the Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral argument as it considers whether it should keep Michigan’s status-based duty classifications for premises liability actions (licensee, invitee, or trespasser) or adopt an across-the-board reasonableness standard of care in line with the Third Restatement of Torts. Michigan 2 Restatement Torts, 3d, § 51 Invitee…
Coming into focus: the Michigan Supreme Court considers whether (and how) parole length affects the constitutional analysis when reviewing lifetime electronic monitoring cases
The Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments on the application in two cases during its 2024–25 term involving sentences that included lifetime electronic monitoring and/or required registration as a sex offender under the Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA). Dozens of other pending applications to the Michigan Supreme Court are held in abeyance until these cases are…