Constitutional Accountability Center Constitutional Accountability Center

Criminal Law

Ensuring that our criminal justice system treats all in America with fairness, dignity, and equality
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Alcatraz Prison | miss_millions, Flickr

Summary

CAC works to ensure that all who interact with the criminal justice system enjoy the rights to which they are entitled and are treated with the dignity and equality promised to them by the Constitution.

Criminal Justice in Brief

Courtroom | Clyde Robinson, Flickr

On issues from policing and qualified immunity to cash bail, CAC works to redeem the promises of our Constitution — amended in the wake of the Civil War and the scourge of chattel slavery — that the law will be enforced equally for all in America.

Featured Case

Criminal Law June 30, 2025

Ellingburg v. United States

In 1996, a jury convicted Holsey Ellingburg of robbing a bank. In addition to sentencing Mr. Ellingburg to nearly 27 years in prison, the judge ordered him to pay $7,567.25 in restitution. Even though Mr. Ellingburg made multiple payments on his restitution while in prison, by the time he was released, he owed $13,476.01—almost double the original restitution amount, due to the accumulation of interest. Under the terms of the law in effect at the time of the bank robbery, the restitution order should have expired 20 years after his sentencing. But the government is still attempting to collect payments...

Case Timeline

Current
  • CAC files amicus brief in the Supreme Court

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