News Roundup

Published for NC Criminal Law on January 08, 2016.

[Editor’s note: We’re trying a new system for the news roundup. Rather than having a faculty member, usually Jeff, compile the roundup, we’ve asked a staff attorney to take the lead most weeks.] In the fortnight since the final news roundup of 2015, a group of armed protesters seized a building in a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, President Obama announced new executive actions intended to reduce gun violence, Durham posted the job description for the city’s Chief of Police, and the new Star Wars film became the highest-grossing film in North America.  The news has wandered many a weary foot since auld lang syne, and it’s time to round it up: Occupy Oregon.  Over the weekend, a “peaceful rally” involving a few hundred “militia and local citizens” parading through Burns Oregon to protest the prosecution and sentencing of two ranchers convicted of arson on federal land escalated into a major national story when a small group of protesters seized the headquarters of the federal Malheur Wildlife Refuge following the parade.  An early report of the events culminating in the occupation is provided by The Oregonian newspaper here.  After seizing the building, the protesters dubbed themselves “Citizens for Constitutional Freedom” and announced various grievances with the federal government mostly involving land policies in certain western states. The occupation has prompted a media coverage bonanza but, as NPR reports here, has motivated little observable response from federal law enforcement agencies.  While some attribute the lack of law enforcement response to the fact [...]