Blog Posts

Connecticut takes pride in creation of the nation’s first public defender system. Representation of the indigent accused of crimes is important work. Why, then, does the state seem content to let this proud legacy collapse amid the ugliest sort of squabbling?
In recent...

The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s decision to vacate the conviction of Bill Cosby and discharge him is a stunning rebuke of the prosecution. Not only is his conviction reversed; the Commonwealth cannot try him again for the sexual assault of Andrea...

Social media censorship is a red-hot topic now. Conservatives are outraged by a perceived bias against their content by the likes of Facebook and Twitter; liberals want to avoid hate speech and misinformation by adopting standards; and techies have all but resigned themselves to some...

Last week’s censorship of the New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the Ukraine has renewed calls to take another look at the immunity from suit for libel and defamation provided to social media giants, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Should Internet hosts...

Connecticut lawmakers undoubtedly thought they did something significant the other day, when, after pulling an all-nighter, they rushed through an “emergency” piece of legislation on police accountability. When it comes to making it possible to sue police officers who engage...

I spent more than a decade suing poiice officers in federal courts under the tutelage of one of the nation’s best civil rights lawyers, John Williams of New Haven. I like to joke that I educated my children on the proceeds of those suits. Federal judges weren’t happy with all...

Oh, to be a digital overlord, a master of the social media universe, occupying an office at Twitter, or Facebook, or Google. The money just keeps rolling in. You get to decide what to publish or not with impunity. You’re the owner of a monopoly so big even governments cower at the...

Mark Zuckerberg can afford to be as irrational as he wants to be. The billions he’s made gives him what the magnificently rich call “f@#k you money.” That’s the sort of wealth that permits them to laugh at we lesser mortals, including the government.
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I pre-ordered Edward Snowden’s Permanent Record, his autobiographical memoir of how he came to be – well, what did he become? Is he a traitor? Or a hero? Such is the confusing character of our times that I could see, prior to diving into the book, a case for both...

This is the pre-prepared portion of the talk I gave to the Hartford County Bar Association for Law Day this year:
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LAW DAY 2019
HARTFORD COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH HATE SPEECH?
We’re here today to celebrate Law Day under the...