It is not at all clear to me why the Founding Fathers matter. I understand the significance of the colonies’ break with Britain. And the creation of a new secular order, a federal government of limited powers binding together independent states, endures today. But resorting to the founders, their intentions, their ideas, and their ideals, is a pernicious form of question-begging. I say we ought on Independence Day to consider seriously our own commitment to liberty. We sell it cheaply when we defer to those long dead, as though they had decided fundamental truths for all...
July 4, 2011
Now that the dust is settling in the Casey Anthony case, trial watchers are going to feel all dressed up with no place to go. I say head to Mangum, Oklahoma, and grab a seat in the Bobbi Parker trial. You will see one of the nation’s best trial lawyers, Garvin Isaacs of Oklahoma City, defending a woman in a difficult case.
Oh, I know that the verdict is not yet in regarding Anthony. But those watching the trial with the grim sort of obsession of those staring at a highway traffic accident have made up their minds. The closing arguments will be anticlimactic. Yes, the...
July 3, 2011
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was all smiles yesterday as he strolled out of a Manhattan courtroom, the conditions of his pre-trial confinement reduced to the vanishing point. Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney, all but conceded that there are reasons to doubt the complaining witness’ tale of rape. “Our office’s commitment is to the truth and the facts,” he said.
This is a garden variety sort of sexual assault case pitting claims of a plutocrat’s lust against the allegations of a gold-digging immigrant. Strauss-Kahn claims there was...
July 2, 2011
Tim Moynahan has been practicing law longer than many readers of this post have been alive. He's a hero of mine, and so I asked him to read my new book, Taking Back the Courts. Here is his take. I hope it inspires you to read the book, which available at Amazon.com.
"One of Norm Pattis’ heroes, Clarence Darrow remarked, “Inside every lawyer is a wreck of a poet.”Read this book! It possesses the lyricism of a sensitive and learned intellect, the unembellished integrity of a seeker of fundamental fairness and equality before the bar of justice and it heartily...
July 1, 2011
June 30, 2011
James “Whitey” Bulger a hero? Not really. Not ever. He stands accused of murdering 19 people, and has a list of charges longer than...
June 29, 2011
I learned many years ago never to reject a gift given by a prosecutor. So yesterday, after a jury was selected and we were about to begin evidence...
June 28, 2011
The federal government might have James “Whitey” Bulger, 81, in custody, but Bulger, an alleged former crime boss accused of...
June 28, 2011
Among the many rules of thumb a criminal defense lawyer consults in the day-to-day practice of law is the following: Delay always favors the defense....
June 26, 2011
In the glory days, when Clarence Darrow argued from morning ‘til night, and crowds fought for a seat in the gallery, a criminal trial was both...
June 23, 2011
Paul Gilding doesn’t mince any words. Things are going to get bad. Very bad. What will be required is a mobilization of social resources, a...