Things are going full tilt at the General Assembly. One new bill of interest this week would reduce the per se impairment blood alcohol content from .08 to .05. If the bill passes, this 50-state comparison chart suggests that North Carolina would be the second state, after Utah, to adopt the lower limit. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that Utah’s adoption of the .05 standard has saved lives and recommends that other states follow suit. Keep reading for more news. Post-Bruen disarray. The Associated Press reports here that the lower courts are struggling to apply New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, 597 U.S. __, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022). The story contends that the “decision . . . is upending gun laws across the country, dividing judges and sowing confusion over what firearm restrictions can remain on the books.” It points out that “[c]ourts in recent months have declared unconstitutional federal laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, felony defendants and people who use marijuana. Judges have shot down a federal ban on possessing guns with serial numbers removed and gun restrictions for young adults in Texas and have blocked the enforcement of Delaware’s ban on the possession of homemade ‘ghost guns.’” I wrote a bit about the interpretation of Bruen here and may have more to say about it in the near future. New ABA report on plea bargaining. The American Bar Association has taken a close look at plea [...]
Faculty Coordinators
