The USA Today and a host of other media outlets report that Representatives Ron Paul and Barney Frank introduced a bill to legalize marijuana. According to Politico, the bill was: Modeled on the 21st Amendment to the Constitution that repealed the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, the legislation is being cast by the Marijuana Policy Project [...]
Sometimes the Supreme Court reaches out to decide issues not raised in the petition for certiorari. It is a rare occurrence. But it happened in Turner v. Rogers, No. 10-10. If you weren’t following the case, here are the facts: Michael D. Turner racked up large debts owed to his child’s mother [...]
Here is the how the story begins at the Gaston Gazette. James Richard Verone woke up June 9 with a sense of anticipation. He took a shower. Ironed his shirt. Hailed a cab. Then robbed a bank. And why did this guy decide one morning to just up and rob a bank? [...]
The U.S. Supreme Court largely ducked the most outlandish parts of the Second Circuit’s decision in American Electric. Instead, the Court reversed the lower court on the easiest of the several grounds for reversal: displacement of federal common law. But how would the political question doctrine have fared had the Court [...]
Although there were several interesting SCOTUS decisions handed down yesterday, I instead decided to cover some local issues with national implications. Creighton University School of Law announced that they are reducing the number of seats for incoming law school students. Tthe Omaha World Herald’s story leads with this: Too many lawyers. Too few [...]
CockleBur contributor and UVA Law Professor Dan Ortiz earned a big SCOTUS win yesterday in Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri, No. 09-1476. This is how SCOTUS Blog's Lyle Denniston described the Court's opinion: Solemnly fretting that lawsuits by government employees challenging their bosses might disrupt official activity by, among other ploys, an emotional appeal to a jury [...]
I visited the University of Washington School of Law back in April. What I found at UW was a strong commitment to freeing the innocent. In 1997, Jacqueline McMurtrie founded the Innocence Project Northwest (IPNW) at UW. Overall, the IPNW has helped overturn 15 convictions for prisoners in Washington State. In addition to assisting [...]
Yes, even after watching David Kazzie’s video about the fun and joy of law school, even after weighing the investment risk versus reward of attending law school, and even after heading Elie Mystal’s repeated warnings, I am still determined to follow through with my dream. In August, my wife, son and I will be moving to [...]
I just read a very interesting article from the NY Times on a bill that might be reintroduced in the Texas legislature. The bill would ban "intrusive" airport searches, such as pat-downs that touch "the anus, sexual organ, buttocks or breast of another person including through the clothing, or touches the other person in a manner [...]
Yesterday, Adam Liptak at the NY Times covered a Supreme Court trend: the Justices’ use of dictionary definitions in their opinions. He writes that: In May alone, the justices cited dictionaries in eight cases to determine what legislators had meant when they used words like “prevent,” “delay” and “report.” Over the years, justices have looked [...]