By Kimberly Tuttle (CMC’19) Corpus delicti, meaning “body of the crime” in Latin, is a principle adopted by the American legal system requiring that the requisite elements of a crime be proven before an individual can be tried for a crime. This rule provides that a confession, standing alone, is not enough evidence for a conviction. Despite the design of this rule to prevent wrongful...
By Musa Kamara (PO’22) Not even two full months into 2019, Virginia’s political sphere has seen its most prominent Democratic leaders plunged into the national spotlight, receiving scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats alike. In recent history, Virginia has been classified as a swing state as a result of the relatively small margins of victory for the Democratic party in each of the last...
By Aden Siebel (PO ’21) The gun control debate in America has pivoted to a focus on mental health. Prominent politicians, especially Republicans, have framed the increasingly common mass shootings as an issue of mental health, not gun control.[1] President Donald Trump in particular has used such rhetoric after school shootings, issuing statements after the Florida attack that “[w]e are committed...
By Savannah Green (CMC ’20) One of the more prominent topics in the news recently has been the current standing of the Brexit negotiations. Theresa May, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative (Tory) Party, has been the front woman for the negotiations on the British side. Unfortunately, she is quickly losing her credibility, as she nearly missed a vote of no...
By Melia Wong (CMC ’19) On the evening of August 30th, 1945, reporters crowded the Overseas Bureau of the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and demanded to meet the infamous “Tokyo Rose.”[1] The few employees who remained at the station were bewildered to see the Americans—with automatic weapons at their sides—storming in to the small network office before the war had officially ended...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The Affordable Care Act (ACA)—President Obama’s foremost legislative accomplishment—has seen countless challenges in court. That continued last week, eight years after the law was first passed, when Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth ruled the ACA unconstitutional on the grounds that the individual mandate exceeds congressional powers...
By Kimberly Tuttle (CMC ’19) East Turkestan is an autonomous region of China, located in the heart of Asia. It is home to the indigenous group Uyghur, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority, and other Central Asian groups like Tatars, Tajiks, and Kazaks. According to a Chinese consensus, the present Muslim population in East Turkestan exceeds 11 million people, with Uyghur making up eight and a...
By Katya Pollock (PO ’21) The UN Committee on Torture published a report this Friday urging the Canadian government to launch an investigation into the involuntary sterilization of Indigenous women and girls. The report follows the filing of a class-action lawsuit representing 100 Indigenous Canadian women who allege that they were coerced or forced to undergo tubal litigation, a permanent...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) On November 30th, Sue McCarthy—Pomona College’s Title IX Coordinator—sent an email to the student body regarding the Trump Administration’s proposed regulations to govern investigation and adjudication of sexual misconduct on college campuses. The reversal of Obama-era guidelines have stirred controversy and stoked division for their new approach to long...
By Daisy Ni (PO ’21) In the summer of 2018, the United Nations finalized the text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, the first international agreement laying out a comprehensive framework addressing international migration. The Trump administration, however, withdrew from participation in December of 2017, citing the Compact’s incompatibility with national...
