I suppose Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ought to just pack up their bags and head, respectively, to Kenya and Mexico. You see, that is where their fathers are from. In birther-world that deprives them of the status of "natural born citizens," and thus makes them ineligible to become president of the United States.
The fact that Obama’s father was a Kenyan and Romeny’s father was born in Mexico doesn’t matter to most of us. I doubt anyone seriously suspects that Obama is a sleeper cell for a secret Kenyan plot to take over the United States; as to Romney, well, I...
February 13, 2012
I’ve never fully understood what universities are seeking to accomplish with their various honor codes. Yes, it is important to teach students the values of citizenship in a community of scholars. But aren’t transparency and a sense of fair play also important?
Every so often, I am asked to represent a student facing discipline for misconduct of some sort at a private college or university. Invariably, the student and his or her parents present me with the university’s "honor code," a copy of the letter informing the student of the potential for expulsion, and an...
February 12, 2012
Against my better judgment, I have stumbled into yet another post-judgment divorce case, this time, on behalf of a former client, now friend, who is not seeing a couple of his children. There is a guardian ad litem, an attorney for the minor child, a therapist for the kids, a reunification therapist, lawyers for mom and dad., and, of course, mom and dad themselves. The kids have been evaluated, and re-evaluated by skilled professionals in child psychology and development.
All these adults are looking at this mess and wondering how the "best interests" of the children might be...
February 9, 2012
Friends and colleagues profess confusion: Why would I do it, why cross a line that seems to separate good from evil? Some are angered: How could I do it? One woman wrote publicly to tell me how disappointed she was in me: I did not take her case against members of the East Haven Police Department, but now I am representing one of the officers, a man accused by the federal government of abusing his power and now charged with a crime. Am I traitor?, these folks wonder.
This business of line drawing among criminal defense lawyers and civil rights activists is tricky business. Outsiders...
February 6, 2012
February 2, 2012
I am not sure what is going on in the Connecticut Office of Adult Probation lately, but my telephone has been ringing off the hook. Until recently,...
January 29, 2012
Here's the foreward to my new book, Taking Back the Courts, written by an idol of mine, F. Lee Bailey. To say I was thrilled to get this review is an...
January 28, 2012
Journalists and bloggers glory in the role of iconoclast. Nothing falls with quite such a crash as a hero toppled by disclosure of their failings....
January 27, 2012
I never got a chance to stop in to ask Judge Peter C. Dorsey what he thought of the new gym in the basement of the New Haven federal court....
January 24, 2012
The politics of federal law enforcement are now front and center in the courtroom of United States District Court Judge Alvin W. Thompson. That is...
January 22, 2012
I don’t know why the death of an old man takes me by surprise. But it always does. They pass into the night and suddenly a landmark is gone....