Blog Posts

Butner, North Carolina -- President Barack Obama stood before a federal prison today and announced that he was nominating an unknown 42-year-old lawyer as the next justice of the Supreme Court, replacing retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.
"I promised hope when I asked for your trust during the...

A woman called yesterday. She was a stay-at-home mother with two small children. Her husband had a good job. Then he touched a woman on the leg in an airplane. Federal prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation moved in. The man is a sex offender, they concluded. So he goes to prison next...

Animal lovers throughout the United States may be distressed by today's ruling in United States v. Stevens. But they should not be. The laws against animal cruelty pending in every state remain intact. All that changed today is the Government's freedom to apply vague laws in whatsoever manner...

Today's decision in United States v. Stevens was correct as a matter of law, even if its application makes me wince. You see, I am a dog lover, and regard my two border collies, Odysseus and Penelope, as integral parts of my family. So it pains me to applaud a decision striking down a law making it...

I'm a battle-hardened criminal defense lawyer, so it always surprises me how weak in the knees I get when a policeman pulls me over. The urge to confess runs rampant, even if I haven't done anything. I assume the authorities must have a reason for wanting to talk to me. What have I done?
Police...

I'm a battle-hardened criminal defense lawyer, so it always surprises me how weak in the knees I get when a policeman pulls me over. The urge to confess runs rampant, even if I haven't done anything. I assume the authorities must have a reason for wanting to talk to me. What have I done?
Police...

Steven Hayes is no Hannibal Lechter. There's no stirring of genius animating his brow. His eyes don't fire with secret commune with evil. Mr. Hayes' crimes shock and inspire terror. But for all that, he looks different in degree, not in kind, from many who have committed horrible crimes. He stands...

My midnight readings have taken a dark turn for the past few weeks. Books about the apocalypse and social upheaval intrigue me. This past weekend, I finished another, Nevil Shute's On The Beach, written in 1957. Call this a kinder and gentler version of the end.
Nuclear war incinerates the...

If you or a loved one are charged with a sex offense you are undoubtedly concerned about the prospect of imprisonment. But that is only one of the four discrete harms faced by any accused sex offender. There are three other harms that are as significant, and each should be discussed with your...

For better or worse, I signed up for Twitter today. Of course, now I have to figure out how to use it. Help!
As near as I can tell, my username is: Norm_Pattis.