On January 11, 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan - a Republican on record as saying that "some crimes are so horrendous ...that society has a right to demand the ultimate penalty" - commuted the capital sentences of all 167 prisoners on his state's death row. Critics demonized Ryan. For opponents [...]

This book explores the tension between law's need for and dependence on merciful judgments and suspicions that regularly accompany them.[...]

It is widely recognized that times of national emergency put legality to its greatest test. In such times we rely on sovereign power to rescue us, to hold the danger at bay. Yet that power can and often does threaten the values of legality itself. Sovereignty, Emergency, Legality examines law's comp[...]