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Many state bar associations post former bar exam essay questions and sample answers on their websites. These model answers are useful for studying for the bar and final exams.

Search online for state bar exam questions and answers, or use the list provided at the bottom of this page. Access is free.

  • Try writing a response to a practice question, then comparing your response to the model answer.
  • Some bar exam questions require the application of state law (e.g., California civil procedure), and may not be helpful if you are studying federal law. Read the question carefully. 
  • Subject coverage will vary by exam and by state.

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Sample Exam Questions & Answers By State

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  • UBE  (Many of the states on this list administer the UBE, but the states offer more recent model essay answers than the UBE)
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Hypos and Practice Exams

Taking practice exams is a proven way to improve performance on exams. Applying legal rules to a new set of facts will help you learn those rules, even if you have not yet had time to review them. This exercise also helps to identify complexities and nuances that you might not catch when passively reading through your notes or outline. And, finally, writing out answers to practice questions forces you to practice the other skill that is being tested: legal analysis. Below are some resources for finding hypos and practice questions.

The practice question does not need to be from your current professor; any exam in the same format will work just fine. Write out answers to hypos and practice exam questions early and often–even if you have not yet finished (or started!) reviewing and outlining. If you need help getting started, check out this short guide: Practice Questions: Why, When, and How . 

Law Library Exam Database

The law library maintains a database of past exams for you to use for practice. You can ask your professors if they plan to release old exams or hypos, but know that many reuse questions and so do not release them. If you have a sample answer (or a friend’s answer), you can use a worksheet to assess your performance and drill down on your analysis.

Commercial Study Aids

Full-length exam questions.  Use full-length exam questions later in the semester to practice issue-spotting and time management as well as legal analysis. In addition to the Law Library’s exam database, you also  can  use the Siegel’s and the Emanuel  study aids. Siegel’s is not available online, but there are hard copies on reserve in the Library or you can buy it. It has sample exam questions (issue-spotter and multiple-choice) along with sample answers.  Emmanuel CrunchTime and Emanuel’s First Year Questions and Answers similarly have sample essay questions and answers. They are both available for free online. Search for Emanuel  (there’s one for each first-year subject). Quimbee  and  CALI  (Computer Assisted Legal Instruction) also offer sample exam questions and answers. If you have trouble registering for Quimbee or CALI, please contact the Law Library. As always, if the sample answer explains the law in a different way than your professor, it is a helpful exercise to think about how you would rewrite the answer using the framework you learned in class.

Multiple-choice questions

Quimbee  and  CALI  both offer a tutorial in addition to practice multiple-choice questions. The Siegel’s and Emanuel CrunchTime study aids include multiple-choice questions and answers. Siegel’s is not available online, but we have it on reserve in the Library and you can also buy it in the bookstore or online. Emanuel CrunchTime is available for free online. Search for Emanuel  (there’s one for each first-year subject). As always, if the sample answer explains the law in a different way than your professor, defer to your professor. 

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Whodunit solving the mystery of writing a first-rate criminal law essay exam.

I was leaving the post office one day and I saw a license plate that was an acronym for Nancy Drew. I stopped to admire the plate because it immediately took me back to when I was young and would voraciously read Nancy Drew mystery novels. It reminded me that reading the books taught me how to solve mysteries. As a civil litigation attorney, I regularly apply that skill in my practice because, as I go from one case to the next, I solve one mystery at a time.  

Normally, the mystery is the extent of the wrongdoing by the opposing party. However, sometimes it is discovering the relevant facts that my client conveniently failed to share with me. Tapping into your inner sleuth will assist you with learning to write first-rate Criminal Law exam answers as well as answers in any other type of law school exam you may encounter.

Prepare to Solve Your Mystery

Preparation is essential to solving the mystery of writing a Criminal Law exam. As a law student, your preparation commences with reading and briefing all the assigned cases. This teaches you the law and how to reason. Further, it assists with preparing your study outline for the class. It also teaches you the discipline of IRAC, which is fundamental to law exam writing. 

Fleming’s is in a powerful position to assist with your law school exam preparation - as demonstrated by one of our law students receiving the only known perfect score on a Criminal Law Bar exam. The student who wrote the answer implemented what Fleming’s teaches when answering a Criminal Law exam, and the Bar Examiners rewarded him with a perfect 100 score for his presentation.  

So that you can see Fleming’s law exam methods and techniques at work for yourself, I recommend reading our recent article about this student’s impressive accomplishment: 

Bar Examiners Give Fleming’s Law Student a Perfect Score on His Essay Exam Answer  

The question, along with the student’s perfectly scored answer, is appended at the end of the article. You, too, can achieve this result with Fleming’s at your side.

Every Sleuth Needs a Partner

As Nancy Drew had her Bess Marvin, every sleuth needs a partner. For law students, legal study supplements are your Bess Marvin sidekick. Fleming’s has a wide array of supplements that can assist law students with course substantive law outlines as well as fail-safe methods and techniques for law exam writing .  

I highly recommend Fleming’s Sail Through Law School with The Exam Solution® for Criminal Law because it provides a four-hour substantive law lecture, a substantive law outline, and three essay exams with sample California Bar exam answers. This is all you need to tie together everything about the subject that you are learning in the classroom. Reviewing Bar exam answers is invaluable because they assist with how to format, weigh issues, and write persuasive analysis. One of my former students conveyed that the resources from this series really helped her prepare for her recent midterms.  

Identify the Suspects

Now that you are ready to commence your law exam writing, you must start with identifying your suspects. Therefore, the first thing you do is read the call of the question. Read it at least twice because it is imperative to understand the scope of your investigation. You must headnote and write on each call of the question separately because failure to do so will result in a failing grade. 

Examine the Crime Scene

The next step of your investigation is to examine the crime scene, which is the fact pattern for the exam. Read it twice – concentrate solely on the facts. Read it again to prepare your issue outline as outlining is imperative to your success on the exam. It tells you how many issues you have to write on, which ones are major and minor, and how to allocate your writing time so you do not run short in finishing before time is called.

Map Out the Scope of Your Investigation

When writing law school or California Bar exam answers, you must write on the issues in the order that they are spotted in the fact pattern. You strategize this when outlining the exam, which is why outlining is so crucial to your success. 

When drafting your outline make four columns, one for each part of IRAC, to ensure that you write your answer in an orderly manner - including all the required crimes and defenses. 

The first column is for the issue, the next for the rule, then the facts for your analysis/application, and the last column for the conclusion. You should abbreviate whenever possible to keep your outline time between 15 – 20 minutes.  

The example below for outlining the issue of robbery is taken from Fleming’s Writing Workbook p. 43. 

Now that you have examined the crime scene and created your outline, you are ready to write your essay answer. Think about what you want to say before beginning to write. This will help you formulate your thoughts and prevent you from rambling once you get started.

Write Your Investigation Report

A successful answer applies the relevant facts to each element of the rule to persuade the reader as to why the crime or defense succeeds or fails. What you are trying to do is answer the “why” or “why not” regarding each element of the rule, using the facts from the exam. 

As an initial matter, you must weigh the issues to ensure you have enough time for major issues such as homicide. A classic Criminal Law California Bar exam will contain a number of crimes and a homicide at the end. Generally, when there is a homicide, you will need 15 – 20 minutes to write on it because you must write on each required issue/subpart. If you run out of time to write a full homicide analysis, you will likely fail the exam because it is a heavily weighted issue. 

A superior answer will analyze the arguments of each party. You want to argue on behalf of the State first because it is prosecuting the case. Then you write the counterarguments for the defendant. 

Writing both sides will set you apart and increase your score because the majority of students only write on behalf of the prosecution. Developing this skill is essential as an attorney because you must always anticipate the arguments of the opposing party. 

There are certain issues that require writing on the common law rule as well as the modern rule or Model Penal Code. Burglary is a classic example. You must analyze common law burglary as well as the modern law distinctions because the burden of proof is lower. When writing on the insanity issue, you must always write on all four insanity excuses.  

You must write a one-sentence conclusion regarding each issue on the exam as well as an overall conclusion if required by the call of the question.

Justice Is Served

Writing a first-rate Criminal Law exam takes hard work and discipline. This can be achieved by stepping into the exam to spot and solve each mystery of whether or not the crime or defense succeeds or fails. 

Justice will be served when you write a first-class answer and receive your desired passing score. This will put you one step closer to going from law student to lawyer. 

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law school practice exams and model answers

Law School Practice Exams and Model Answers | Free Resource

Here, we list multiple  free  resources where you can find law school practice exams and model answers. We highly recommend that you complete several law school practice exams and review the model answers prior to exam day. It is truly what makes the difference between getting a B in law school and getting an A (or even an A+!)

Which exams should I start with? 

Some students start with the exams below, but  before you start reviewing these exams, first see if your professor has any past exams .

The absolute best source of law school practice exams will be the ones written  by your professor  for the  class you are currently in . Why is this the best source?

  • You will get a good idea of the format of the exam
  • You will see what kinds of issues the professor is looking for (assuming they provide model or sample answers)
  • You will understand the professor’s testing style
  • You will feel more comfortable on test day

When should I consult the law school practice exams listed below? 

Consult these:

  • if your professor does not have any exams on file or
  • if your professor does, but you have simply run out of practice exams,  or 
  • if your professor includes exams on file but they do not have any sample answers or model answers

If, for example, you have a Constitutional Law professor with 20 years of Constitutional Law exams and sample answers on file, you don’t need to use these resources at all! But if your professor only has a handful of exams on file and you run out, it is a good idea to use these resources.

There are a large collection of resources here. If you find additional resources, please comment below!

We’ve listed several resources below

  • Capital University Law School
  • Empire College School of Law has  exams  and  model answers
  • George Washington University Law School (Contracts, Constitutional Law, others)
  • Gonzaga Law School (Torts exams)
  • University of Kentucky College of Law  (multiple exams)
  • University of Missouri School of Law  has exams but only some have model answers
  • St. Mary’s University School of Law  (multiple exams)
  • University of Pittsburgh School of Law  (Criminal Law exams)
  • University of San Diego School of Law  (multiple exams)
  • Contracts exams  with model answers
  • 21 questions  provided by the National Conference of Bar Examiners
  • 100 free questions  on the free trial of our MBE app

It’s best if you collect a lot of practice exams at once. Ideally, print them or save them by class so that when you are ready to practice exams, you can get started.

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The Russian Criminal Jury: Recent Developments, Practice, and Current Problems

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Gennady Esakov, The Russian Criminal Jury: Recent Developments, Practice, and Current Problems, The American Journal of Comparative Law , Volume 60, Issue 3, 1 July 2012, Pages 665–702, https://doi.org/10.5131/AJCL.2011.0031

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The existence of jury trials in modern Russia is perhaps surprising for foreign observers. Sometimes seen as a withering flower in a snowy country with bears, the jury is nonetheless a real, working institution in Russia. Its legislative and practical mechanisms will be presented in this Article, which is divided into three parts: Part I will analyze the history of the Russian jury before 1917, the subsequent Soviet development of the idea of lay participation in criminal justice, and the reintroduction of the jury in 1989–2002. The current legislation, case law, and statistical data will be the subject of Part II. Part III will discuss the problems and perspectives of jury trials in Russia. A short conclusion will present an assessment of the present and the future.

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In the aftermath of the Moscow concert hall attack, is a harsher era under Putin in the works?

FILE - Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shootings, is escorted by police and FSB officers in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the Moscow concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shootings, is escorted by police and FSB officers in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the Moscow concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shootings, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the Moscow concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shootings, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the Moscow concert hall, the bloodiest assault on the Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Mukhammadsobir Faizov, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shootings, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Rosguardia (Russian National Guard) servicemen secure an area at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (Alexander Avilov/Moscow News Agency via AP, File)

FILE - A couple stand at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on March 26, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin lights a candle on March 24, 2024, to commemorate victims of a deadly attack two days earlier at the Crocus City Hall. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, speaks at a lecture at the 2024 World Youth Festival in Sochi, Russia, Monday, March 4, 2024. Medvedev later declared that if investigators prove Ukraine’s involvement in the March 22 concert hall attack in Moscow, Russia should respond by deploying hit men to kill Ukrainian leaders. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shooting, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shooting, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

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Video and photos of suspects in a mass shooting show them apparently being brutalized by Russian security forces — without any rebuke from authorities. A top Kremlin official urges that hit squads be sent to assassinate Ukrainian officials. Senior lawmakers call for restoring capital punishment, abolished decades ago.

The aftermath of the Moscow concert hall attack that killed 145 people in the bloodiest assault in Russia in two decades seems to be setting the stage for even harsher rule by President Vladimir Putin following his highly orchestrated electoral landslide last month.

FILE - Rosguardia (Russian National Guard) servicemen secure an area at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (Alexander Avilov/Moscow News Agency via AP, File)

FILE - Rosguardia (Russian National Guard) servicemen secure an area at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2024. (Alexander Avilov/Moscow News Agency via AP, File)

Putin vowed to hunt down the masterminds of the March 22 attack that he linked to Ukraine despite Kyiv’s vehement denials and a claim of responsibility by an offshoot of the Islamic State group. He warned ominously that terrorism is a “double-edged weapon.”

Putin lieutenant Dmitry Medvedev declared that if Ukrainian involvement is proven, Moscow should respond by deploying hit men to kill the country’s leaders “in Kyiv or any other convenient place.”

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy, center, with other ambassadors of foreign diplomatic missions, attends a laying ceremony at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 30, 2024. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)

The attack dealt a heavy blow to Putin less than a week after the vote that extended his rule for another six-years. It marked a major failure by his security agencies that were given an advance warning by the U.S. that extremists were planning an imminent attack.

Critics of the Kremlin argue that security forces are so focused on conducting the harshest crackdown on dissent since Soviet times that they are distracted from tackling real threats.

FILE - A couple stand at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on March 26, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - A couple stand at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on March 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

In an apparent attempt to divert attention from the security lapse and rally support for the war in Ukraine, Putin and his lieutenants alleged — without evidence — that the arrest of the four suspects near Ukraine indicated Kyiv’s likely involvement.

The four, all citizens of Tajikistan, were detained by security forces in a forest about 140 kilometers (86 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Video confessions of their involvement in the attack were released by Russian news outlets, but the veracity of those statements has been called into question because the men seemed to have been severely beaten and bore other signs of brutality when they appeared in court.

FILE - Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shootings, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the Moscow concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

One had a heavily bandaged ear -– reportedly cut off during interrogation. Another had pieces of a plastic bag on his neck, a possible sign of attempts at suffocation. A third was in a wheelchair, barely conscious, accompanied by medical personnel.

Russian police and other security agencies have long been accused of torture, but many incidents also brought official condemnation, dismissals of those involved and criminal prosecutions.

In stark contrast, authorities refused to comment on the grisly video that emerged or the signs of maltreatment seen in court.

FILE - Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shooting, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

One video showed a man in combat fatigues cutting off part of one of the suspects’ ear and forcing it into his mouth while threatening to do the same with his genitals. Another suspect was seen with his trousers pulled down and wires attached to his genitals.

The Associated Press was unable to verify the authenticity of the images, but Human Rights Watch said it determined the men in the photos and videos were the same as those in court for their pretrial hearings.

“The rapid and widespread sharing of these videos appears to be no accident but rather some kind of appalling boast by the Putin government of its brazen disregard for basic rights, fundamental humanity, and the rule of law,” said Tanya Lokshina, HRW’s associate director for Europe and Central Asia.

Kremlin propagandists sought to cast their treatment as a proper response to the massacre.

Margarita Simonyan, head of state-funded broadcaster RT, dismissed criticism and said the law enforcement personnel involved shouldn’t face any punishment.

“Imagine yourself in place of our guys who were chasing those ghouls who just mowed down many, many of our fellow citizens,” Simonyan said. “What were they supposed to do? Serve them some warm porridge and yogurt?”

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin lights a candle on March 24, 2024, to commemorate victims of a deadly attack two days earlier at the Crocus City Hall. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin lights a candle on March 24, 2024, to commemorate victims of a deadly attack two days earlier at the Crocus City Hall. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Many observers saw the tacit endorsement of such brutality as an ominous sign of more to come.

“All that serves a double function -– a show of terror as a mechanism of intimidation and rallying hatred,” political analyst Kirill Rogov said in a commentary. “It normalizes hatred as a response, including to those who have questions and disagreements.”

Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, who served as liberal-minded placeholder president in 2008-12, when term limits forced Putin to shift to the premier’s seat, has turned recently into one of the harsher voices from the Kremlin.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, speaks at a lecture at the 2024 World Youth Festival in Sochi, Russia, Monday, March 4, 2024. Medvedev later declared that if investigators prove Ukraine's involvement in the March 22 concert hall attack in Moscow, Russia should respond by deploying hit men to kill Ukrainian leaders. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, speaks at a lecture at the 2024 World Youth Festival in Sochi, Russia, Monday, March 4, 2024. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)

In a commentary on his messaging app channel this week, he called for the extrajudicial killings of Ukrainian officials, arguing Russia should follow in the Soviet practice in the last century of assassinations, like those of Ukrainian nationalists Yevhen Konovalets and Stepan Bandera.

“What should we do? Simply crush the Banderite swine as the Soviet MGB did after the war,” Medvedev wrote, referring to a forerunner of the KGB, “and liquidate their leaders on convenient occasions -- like Konovalets and Bandera -– in Kyiv or any other convenient places.”

The concert hall attack also brought demands from hawks and some senior lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty, which has been suspended since 1996 when Russia joined the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights organization.

Calls for its restoration have circulated often, particularly after attacks blamed on insurgents from the region of Chechnya and other militant extremists. They increased after Moscow left the Council of Europe after its invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Vasilyev, head of the parliamentary faction of United Russia, the main Kremlin party, said the lower house would review restoring the death penalty, taking into account “society’s mood and expectations.”

Some Kremlin-connected lawmakers and others oppose the move, in an apparent sign of Putin’s hesitation.

Andrei Klishas, the influential head of the constitutional affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, argued its restoration is impossible unless Russia approves a new constitution.

Andrei Medvedev, the deputy speaker of the Moscow City Council, said Russia should never bring back capital punishment because of its troubled history in the Soviet era.

“Regrettably, our judicial system isn’t ideal and isn’t immune from mistakes,” he wrote in a commentary. “The country that saw repressions, Red Terror ... and executions of those who believed in God must forget about the death penalty once and for all.”

Lidiya Mikheyeva, the secretary of the Public Chamber, a Kremlin-controlled advisory board, also spoke against reinstatement and reverting “to the times of savagery and barbarity.”

“The abolition of the death penalty is one of our country’s major historic achievements,” she added.

Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian state TV commentator, also hinted that Putin doesn’t support its reinstatement. “It’s good that Russia is led by Putin, for whom the life of each of our citizens is priceless,” he said.

Despite those apparent doubts, many observers say the official tolerance of the harsh treatment of the suspects and calls for killing Russia’s enemies herald an even more ruthless era.

FILE - Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shooting, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. The attack on the concert hall, the bloodiest assault on Russian soil in two decades, appears to be setting the stage for an increasingly harsh response by President Vladimir Putin. Four suspects in the attack appeared in court showing signs of brutal treatment while in custody. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shooting, sits in a defendants’ cage in Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, on March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Net Freedoms, a Russian group focusing on freedom of speech, noted that harsh statements from Putin and Medvedev coming amid “the backdrop of demonstrative torture effectively sanction extrajudicial executions and give law enforcement agencies a directive on how to treat the enemies.”

“We are seeing the possible beginning of the new Great Terror,” the group said, referring to the purges by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin of the 1930s. “There must be no illusions — the developments follow a very bad scenario and the slide is rapidly accelerating.”

criminal law practice essay

criminal law practice essay

SEC Freezes Climate Rules After Challengers Pushed for Pause (1)

By Andrew Ramonas

Andrew Ramonas

The SEC put its climate reporting rules for public companies on hold Thursday in the face of multiple lawsuits challenging the regulations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to pause the March 6 regulations on its own came after business interests and right-leaning challengers asked the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to freeze the rules as their litigation there continues. The SEC’s latest move was another early victory for climate disclosure regulation opponents, which have said the agency exceeded its authority with requirements for companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and disclose climate-related risks to their business.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit previously paused the rules from March 15 to 22, over opposition from the SEC. The litigation then moved to the Eighth Circuit, which was randomly selected in a lottery to hear lawsuits over the regulations. The SEC initially fought against a pause in the Eighth Circuit, as well.

The SEC “will continue vigorously defending” the rules despite issuing the hold, formally called a stay, the agency said in a three-page order . The pause will remain in place as the Eighth Circuit reviews the challenges, avoiding “potential regulatory uncertainty,” the SEC said. The hold also will help the Eighth Circuit focus its review on the merits of the challenges, according to the agency.

“In issuing a stay, the Commission is not departing from its view that the Final Rules are consistent with applicable law and within the Commission’s long-standing authority to require the disclosure of information important to investors in making investment and voting decisions,” the SEC said.

Fracking company Liberty Energy Inc. , the US Chamber of Commerce , Iowa , Texas Alliance of Energy Producers and conservative advocacy group National Legal & Policy Center had stay requests pending in the Eighth Circuit. A hold was necessary due to imminent harm companies face from compliance with the rules, they said.

“The Commission knows that it has way overstepped its bounds,” Luke Wake, a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney representing the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said in a statement.

Representatives of the other challengers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The SEC is fighting eight legal challenges in the Eighth Circuit from business and conservative interests, as well as 25 Republican attorneys general. Environmental groups also have two lawsuits pending in the court, after they said the regulations were too weak. Democratic attorneys general from 18 states and the District of Columbia are looking to join the litigation in support of the rules, as well.

Liberty Energy is fighting the rules in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, in addition to its ongoing case in the Eighth Circuit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Ramonas in Washington at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeff Harrington at [email protected] ; Amelia Gruber Cohn at [email protected]

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