Blog Posts

Viktor Frankenstein had a vision, a dream, really. Could he create life? He left his hometown of Geneva, Switzerland for a local university. The world learned of his exploits in 1818. Mary Shelley tells his tale in Frankenstein.
I reread the book every so often, and...

I am a practicing lawyer focused on criminal defense and first amendment law. When I awoke this morning, I did so without any apprehension whatsoever that there had been a coup in the United States Supreme Court. Yes, the timing of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination and...

There is magic in bookstores of all types, but the magic is especially profound in a used bookstore. A discerning reader will find not only invitations to new worlds and intoxicating ideas, but the books themselves have a history. I’ve often marveled at the marginalia left by...

Finally, something that sounds like reliable information about the COVID-19 pandemic and the courts in Connecticut.
A client of mine faces federal narcotics charges. His case was set for trial in early December in Hartford. At a pre-trial conference with a federal judge moments...

I’ve been tempted from time to time to become a judge. Being relieved from the grind of eking a living from the raw suffering of others is the principal draw: imagine never having to ask another human being whose life hangs in the balance for a fee? And think of the ability to do...

Does the State of Connecticut have a coherent statewide plan for the resumption of jury trials? If so, it is one of the best-kept secrets in the state. I talk each week to prosecutors in the various courthouses. One would think they would know what’s going on. They don’t.
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The republic falters and we’re all agog and atwitter about Jeffrey Toobin’s masturbation on Zoom? We’ve managed to transform the old Chinese curse about living in interesting times to something far worse: we live in an age of cheap pathos -- we’re bathed in...

Last week’s censorship of the New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the Ukraine has renewed calls to take another look at the immunity from suit for libel and defamation provided to social media giants, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Should Internet hosts...

Whatever the results of next month’s presidential election, odds are we will all soon be needing a crash course of Section Four of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Thankfully, Professor Brian Kalt at the Michigan State University College of Law has written a brief,...

Wow. Just wow. A shot, or make that a judicial ruling, was just fired that should be heard in every courtroom and courthouse in the nation. United States District Judge Cormac Carney did the right, but unthinkable – he dismissed a prosecution brought by the United States Government...