Illinois has one of the strictest laws in the country when it comes to people audio recording police officers in public. But then again, Illinois is also known for a long history of police corruption, and maybe the State thought it could prevent a few civil rights settlements by banning people from recording their interactions with police. Whatever the motivation behind the law, it doesn't [...]
The California Bar Association is considering a proposal that would require bar applicants to have taken a practical skills course during law school in order to be admitted to the bar. The Bar Association, however, has received some pushback from two prominent law school deans. Stanford Law Dean Larry Kramer urged caution. And UC Irvine Dean [...]
If you are concerned about the number of citizens we as a society simply give up on by locking them up for decades, then you might want to think about not banking with Wells Fargo. Charles Davis at Salon writes that the Wells Fargo used bailout funds to invest in the GEO Group, the second largest private prison [...]
Steve Cooksey is a former diabetic, who decided to start the popular “Paleo” diet. Not only did he lose weight, he became insulin free on the low carb, caveman diet. So he decided to share his success on his blog. But Steve ran into a problem in the form of the North Carolina Board of Dietetics and Nutrition, [...]
On Wednesday, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement will take the lecturn at the Supreme Court to once again argue a vexing issue of the day. This time around he will be defending Arizona's immigration policy. By now, people are probably wondering how Mr. Clement ends up arguing so many cases before the Court. Well, [...]
I have noticed a trend in the media, on Facebook, and during face-to-face confrontations. When people have genuine discourse about the issues of the day, the argument inevitably turns into what I call the argument by lowest common denominator: where people attack others rather than their ideas. I have seen more of this of late, usually between media bloggers, [...]
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood dismissed jury tampering charges against retired chemistry professor Julian P. Heicklen after he stood outside a courthouse and distributed pamphlets containing information about jury nullification. Reason and the New York Times have coverage. If there was ever a time to reprimand an Assistant U.S. Attorney for bringing frivolous [...]
This week the Supreme Court considered, in Dorsey v. United States and Hill v. United States, whether the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 applies retroactively to those prisoners sentenced before the act took effect. A number of media outlets reported on the oral arguments, including Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog; Adam Liptak at the New York Times; Mike [...]
The Law School Admission Council recently released a report explaining that 167 law schools have seen a decline in applicants in 2012. That comes as no surprise given the legal job market and the New York Times' reporting last year on some of the worst aspects of they system. Law Professor Brian Tamanaha over at Balkninzation [...]
Last night, the only female Supreme Court Justices gathered at the Newseum in Washington DC to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of Justice O'Connor's appointment to the Court. Both Mike Sacks at Huffington Post and Tony Mauro at the National Law Journal have coverage. UPDATE: Adam Liptak at the New York Times also has coverage. While the [...]