Blog Posts

Evoking the right to remain silent by remaining silent is too ambiguous, the United States Supreme Court held yesterday. In yet another 5-4 decision chipping away at the right of the people to be other than supine playthings for the state, the Court held that silence, even protracted silence, is no...

If I were a drinking man, I'd know just what to do. I'd grab me a bottle of something strong, Dewars, maybe, or Tanqueray, and I'd start doing shots, one after another until the edges ran a little smoother. Today was one of those nerve jangling days trial lawyers dread.
It started easily...

A good friend and long-time blogger sent me the following message:
"I've noticed that your posts have changed markedly over the past couple of months. You wax more eloquently, but wax. You've become more self-indulgent. You have become increasingly "sensitive", almost to the point of whiny....

Death threats are part of the bargain. I accept that. Responding to them is always difficult. If you run, you are done. Fear will chase you away from every confrontation. I accept hatred and anger. I confront it with what courage I can muster.
But today, for the first time in my legal career, I...

One joy of an unexpected day off is catching up on reading. This morning, I read Mark Lilla's essay in the May 27, 2010, New York Review of Books, "The Tea Party Jacobins." Who, Lilla asks, are these ubiquitous tea partiers? More to the point, who are we?
"Survey after survey confirms hat...

For many years I took one month off each year. That month plus, I should add, Christmas day. I worked seven days a week, eleven months a year. The weekends were half days. I'd work nine to five, sleeping in and getting home early enough to play. Come July, I would hunker down with my family on the...

I have an apocalyptic frame of mind. I can't help myself. Stories must have beginnings, middles and ends, correct? At least the narrative impulse that serves as the thread I use to navigate through my days suggests so. Here I stand. From whence did I come? What does the future hold? I was born; I...

Want to see what the country looks like when law enforcement goes hog wild? Check out the CATO Institute's Raid Map.

Good books are like good movies: When they're done, you hope there will be a sequel. So here is a request to Jeff Shesol, please write next about the intellectual history of the current Supreme Court. Half the work is already done. You did it in your last volume, brilliantly executed, Supreme...

A funny thing happened this afternoon as I was driving home from court. I am in trial in an arson case. We adjourned early today, and will not resume evidence until Tuesday. It is likely that we will give closing arguments that very day.
It's hard at the end of a case, when the evidence is...