It’s a Christmas miracle! Steve Vladeck joins us again! He helps us understand how the Contract with America and a thicket of federal law have resulted in people remaining in prison even though their sentences are based on laws that have been found unconstitutional. Happy Holidays!

This show’s links:


Steve Vladeck’s faculty profile and writing
Steve Vladeck, How an Obscure SCOTUS Procedure Can Solve AEDPA's Retroactivity Catch-22 (and a Growing Circuit Split)
Teague v. Lane
About the AEDPA
Brown v. Allen (Justice Jackson in concurrence: “There is no doubt that if there were a super-Supreme Court, a substantial proportion of our reversals of state courts would also be reversed. We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.”)
It was 100,000 cops on the beat, not 1 million. We regret the error. (1 million? Really?)
About the Contract with America
Tyler v. Cain
Felker v. Turpin
Johnson v. United States
Steve Vladeck, The Johnson Retroactivity Circuit Split Plot Thickens…
Steve Vladeck, Is the Solicitor General Playing a Shell Game With the Supreme Court Over Johnson Retroactivity?
Steve’s (and others’) amicus brief in In re Butler on behalf of law professors
Special Guest: Steve Vladeck.