One leading Senate Republican called the state’s voter-approved medical purpose cannabis law akin to a “magician’s hat” filled with surprises, as the South Dakota Senate voted 25-10 to strip an affirmative defense for residents who possess medical cannabis but don’t yet have a card.
Continue reading “SD removes ‘medical purpose’ defense from cannabis law”
South Dakota gun law allows residents like to pack heat. More than 11% of the state’s adult population has a concealed carry permit, according to data from the Crime Prevention Research Center. Continue reading “Here’s what you need to know about SD gun laws”
The South Dakota Legislature is looking to take on human trafficking by advancing four separate bills, one of which will soon seek the signature of Gov. Kristi Noem.
Continue reading “SD looks to tackle human trafficking through four bills”
Federal prosecutors around the country are increasingly using racketeering statutes to go after a broader array of criminal activity, applying them in ways that deviate from the law’s original goal of dismantling organized crime. Continue reading “Prosecutors Are Using a Law Intended for the Mob in Unexpected Cases”
South Dakota voters shouldn’t have high hopes on recreational marijuana going into law during the 2022 legislative session. Continue reading “Senate leader says ‘highly unlikely’ recreational marijuana passes”
How many criminal laws has Congress created? Ronald Gainer, a retired Justice Department (DOJ) official who in 1982 led the first major effort to answer that question, said, “You will have died and resurrected three times” before you figure it out. Continue reading “The Increase Of Criminal Laws”
A new year means another year of sobriety checkpoints held in South Dakota as a way to discourage people from drinking and then driving. Continue reading “15 sobriety checkpoints in South Dakota this month”
This year the Top Ten Remarkable South Dakota Supreme Court Decisions are listed in ranked order, with top decision listed first as No. 1, the second most remarkable listed as no. 2, etc. The analysis and compilation of these decision belongs to the authors. In that regard, preparation for this article was assisted and facilitated through by an informal survey circulated among the members of USDLAW, an electronic list serve which serves the legal community in South Dakota.
Continue reading “Ten remarkable decisions by the South Dakota Supreme Court in 2021”