Blog Posts

The Patriot Act and its sickly progeny have been used for all sorts of decidedly unpatriotic things in the past few weeks. The Government is, for example, seeking account information about Twitter users. It flashed a subpoena at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco ten days before Christmas: Turn...

Yes, I live in Connecticut. But my heart belongs to the University of Michigan's football program. It all started with a trip to the Big House in Ann Arbor when I was in junior high school. I've been a fan of the Wolverines for decades, even though I never attended Michigan. My blood runs maize and...

Let's set the record straight: Robert Chatigny's nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, one of the most prestigious federal judgeships in the nation, did not fail because of excessive partisanship. It failed because Chatigny was temperamentally unsuited for the...

The California Supreme Court doesn't think there is any real difference between a crumpled up cigarette package, the clothing on your back or your cell phone: All three are intimately associated with you. Hence, should you be arrested, police officers can search all three items under an exception...

Reading Chief Justice John G. Roberts call for an end to partisanship in the selection of federal judges felt alot like watching professional football players sing the national anthem before a game: For a brief moment, it's all peace and unity. Once the whisle blows, expect the hitting to be hard,...

The new year has scarcely begun, but already battle lines are drawn in what will be one of the most significant struggles of 2011: Welcome to the border wars. The New York Times reports that a handful of states have proposed legisation to address immigration issues the federal government cannot...

In recent weeks, I've noticed an accelerating trend: Increasing numbers of folks looking for a lawyer are boldly asking me if I will accept their case on a pro bono basis. I view it as a sign that despite claims to the contrrary, the economy is still a long way from healthy. The mass of those...

"Why the defense of those accused of crimes?" It is a natural enough question. I stop to ponder it today after being accused of a species of immorality for my chosen profession. Defending those accused of rape, murder, robbery, theft, the abuse of children: Who but a monster would chose to walk...

There is a great line dividing Americans: On the one side, and tipping the scales of justice, are those who have never been accused of a crime; on other are those accused, and their family and friends. The rule of law is supposed to serve as a sort of Charon, navigating souls across the river of...

At year's end news organizations like to mark time by doing such things as selecting, and commenting upon, the year's top stories. Some, like Time magazine, vote for a person of the year, as it did in selecting Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, as ther 2010 Person of the Year. The New Haven...