Blog Posts

I am not shedding any tears over the conviction of former House Republican Majority Leader Thomas DeLay's conviction on money laundering charges earlier this week. His brand of politics leaves me cold. But I nonethelss shudder every time I see a defendant toppled by a novel application of the law....

The law's senseless cruelty was on display again last week in a Bridgeport federal courtroom.  No matter how many times I see a person ground to dust by the impersonal imperatives of rules applied without reason, I still am outraged by each new life undone. Behold this new sorrow:
J.M. is a...

"Having recognized religious doctrines as illusions, we are at once faced by a further question: may not other cultural assets of which we hold a high opinion and by which we let our lives be ruled be of a similar nature? Must not the assumptions that determine our political regulations be called...

The dogs are a little subdued this morning. They get that way when my wife is not at home. We have our routines, and the dogs make sure we stick to them. Remove my wife and suddenly chaos beckons. But it is Thanksgiving, and if the dogs had longer memories, they would realize that she spends the...

Although I am not much of a fan of legal blogs, I make an exception for Defrosting Cold Cases. It celebrates its first anniversary today. I have actually spoken to the author once, although I cannot recall the occasion. The page is always well written and informative. Vidocq, the author, has a...

There is something wrong, seriously wrong, with a country that makes a watchdog into the national mascot. But we like sheep sat last night, watching 60 Minutes and the unseemly chest-thumping of Drug Enforcement Agents who had managed to capture Viktor Bout, the so-called "merchant of death," and...

Two pieces in this week's New York Times sent me scurrying to the New Testament. First, Adam Liptak's piece about the tendency of the Supreme Court to decide fewer decisions each year with increasingly long, and opaque, decisions. Then this morning's essay by Frank Rich about Sarah Palin's...

I am, truth be told, far more terrified of the United States Government than I am of the likes of Ahmed Ghailani. Sure, Mr. Ghailani and his ilk can bomb a building and cause mayhem. But only the Government has the power to suffocate daily, slowly and steadily depriving me of the freedom to...

A year or so ago, I actually flirted with the idea of becoming a judge. I was encouraged by someone with more power than sense. My ego warmed to the topic, and I spent a couple of months working the telephone seeing what would be involved and whether I would have the support necessary to make the...

Not enough gets written about the matter of legal fees, and what gets written generally scares me. Fictional lawyers practice law in a cocoon; readers rarely if ever get a glimpse of what it takes to keep the lights on and the copying machine operable. The press catches a whiff only of the most...