Blog Posts


2015's Person of the Year Is ...

At year's end, it is sometimes customary to name a person of the year, so let me add my nominee: Aylan Al-Kurdi. Odds are, you never learned his name, but it's also true that you will never forget the sight of him. He's the tiny body laying face down on a beach, dead, near Bodrum, Turkey, his face...

Confessions Of A New Gun User

I felt much as a secret agent, or a confidential informant must feel, settling in among strangers, listening to them talk, wary of my surroundings. But I was one of them, wasn’t I? No one forced me to attend. I chose to be present, and for no apparent ulterior motive.
Yet I had...

The Real "Crisis" Behind Gun Violence

Is gun violence in the United States a public health crisis? There are plenty of people who seem to think so. And these folks are quick to call for improved mental health services as a way of addressing what they regard as an epidemic.
I’ve news for the public healthniks: gun violence...

Getting Radicalized in an Era of Jihad

I have a confession to make. It’s not pretty. Indeed, given the argot of the day, it’s pretty terrifying. You see, I’ve been ”radicalized.”
Why, I am even going to take a course to qualify for a pistol permit, this coming from a guy who once wrote, and still...

Allahu Akbar? No, Thanks.

“So, will you be voting for Donald Trump?”
The question came from a public defender in a quiet voice, scarcely audible above the sound of the judge advising a defendant of something. We were sitting in the well of the court, misbehaving.

...

Public Trials for Public Killings

At least two people a day are shot to death by police officers in the United States each and every day. As of Tuesday, the total for the year is 895, according to a website updated daily by The Washington Post — 66 folks have been killed in the past 30 days. Two of this year’s deaths...

An Invitation To John Grisham

I imagine John Grisham, the best-selling author of plot-driven legal thrillers, channel surfing late one night on his 100-plus-acre farm in Oxford, Mississippi, and settling on an episode of "Better Call Saul." The author of books selling 275 million worldwide must have felt a pang of regret on...

Now Is Not The Time To Welcome Syrian Migrants

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy thinks Connecticut ought to open its arms to Syrian migrants. Of course, he wants assurances the migrants are appropriately vetted, the better to weed out suicide bombers and extremists. Why take the risk? There are times that xenophobia is adaptive. This is such a...

White Male Privilege? Hooey

Much has been made, and will continue to be made, of the past week’s events at the University of Missouri and, closer to home, at Yale. These flashes in the pan do signal something important, but not what most folks think. What is at stake is the death of pluralism.
In Missouri, a...

Integrity, Color Blindness and Juries

If the recently argued case of Foster v. Chatman teaches anything, it is that there probably is no fail-safe way to police the conduct of lawyers during jury selection. In the end, the criminal justice system, and the civil justice system, will rise or fall based on the integrity of those who...

© Norm Pattis is represented by Elite Lawyer Management, managing agents for Exceptional American Lawyers
Media & Speaker booking [hidden email]