Aug 3, 2026
1 min
Professor James Sample of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law has published a guest essay in The New York Times examining a U.S. Supreme Court case that could reshape how courts interpret the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.
In the essay, Sample analyzes Jouppi v. Alaska, a case involving an Alaska pilot whose $95,000 airplane was ordered forfeited after a passenger transported a six-pack of beer to a dry village. He argues that the case gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to clarify when government-imposed financial penalties become so disproportionate that they violate the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive fines, reinforcing an important constitutional safeguard against excessive government power.
The essay is the latest example of Sample’s national thought leadership on constitutional law, the Supreme Court, and the rule of law. Throughout the month, he has been a frequent legal analyst for leading national and regional media outlets, offering insight on major Supreme Court decisions, executive power, freedom of the press, immigration, election law, judicial ethics, and other pressing constitutional issues.
Professor Sample regularly comments on voting rights and constitutional issues in leading media outlets.
1 min
Alan Singer, professor emeritus of learning, teaching, and technology, appears in a Newsday article about how teachers are approaching the 25th anniversary of 9/11 in their classrooms. “For the generation that lived through 9/11, it was a day that will live in infamy,” he said. “But for [younger] people, it may not. So the question then becomes, what do we want kids to learn about 9/11?”
1 min
After an EF1 tornado touched down in Atlantic Beach on August 20, Dr. Jase Bernhardt, associate professor of geology, environment, and sustainability, talked to Newsday about this rare occurrence. Some parts of the country – particularly in the central United States – are more likely to have the atmospheric conditions required to form a tornado. One key condition these cyclones require is “a clashing of contrasting air masses,” said Bernhardt. “We just don’t have the ingredients that are necessary. The water around the island tends to moderate the climate a bit.”
1 min
Lawrence Levy, associate vice president and executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies, was interviewed by Newsday about the decline in ICE arrests on Long Island. This stands in contrast to the rest of the country where nearly 50,000 people were arrested in July, the highest number since President Donald Trump’s second term. Levy said the trend, if the data is accurate, suggests that organized opposition to aggressive immigration enforcement by Latino and non-Latino residents and organizations may be having an impact.
Check out some other posts from Hofstra University
1 min
Alan Singer, professor emeritus of learning, teaching, and technology, appears in a Newsday article about how teachers are approaching the 25th anniversary of 9/11 in their classrooms. “For the generation that lived through 9/11, it was a day that will live in infamy,” he said. “But for [younger] people, it may not. So the question then becomes, what do we want kids to learn about 9/11?”
1 min
After an EF1 tornado touched down in Atlantic Beach on August 20, Dr. Jase Bernhardt, associate professor of geology, environment, and sustainability, talked to Newsday about this rare occurrence. Some parts of the country – particularly in the central United States – are more likely to have the atmospheric conditions required to form a tornado. One key condition these cyclones require is “a clashing of contrasting air masses,” said Bernhardt. “We just don’t have the ingredients that are necessary. The water around the island tends to moderate the climate a bit.”
1 min
Lawrence Levy, associate vice president and executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies, was interviewed by Newsday about the decline in ICE arrests on Long Island. This stands in contrast to the rest of the country where nearly 50,000 people were arrested in July, the highest number since President Donald Trump’s second term. Levy said the trend, if the data is accurate, suggests that organized opposition to aggressive immigration enforcement by Latino and non-Latino residents and organizations may be having an impact.
