History, it is often observed, is written by the winners. Losers die, are marginalized, are forgotten. History, then, is often a partial truth. It is the thief ignoring the cries of the dispossessed, and finding solace in various themes of necessity, such as Manifest Destiny, the White Man’s burden, God’s will, civilization -- pick your trope.
History, our story, is less the triumphal conquest of the inevitable, whatever that may be, than it is the result of raw struggle. We forget that at our peril, becoming blind, even numb, to the prospect for change in our time.
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July 7, 2013
Lawyers and judges mean well, at least most of the time. At least I think we do. But although courtrooms are theaters at which life-defining dramas are conducted, the law is blind to life's larger purposes. To explain things, we turn often to experts. To explain the twists and turns that lead some folks to ruin, we call upon psychiatrists. What if it turns out the shrinks don't know much more than we do?
I read Joel Paris's, The Intelligent Clinician's Guide to the DSM 5, with a sense of desperation. A new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Good, I thought. Surely, I can turn there to get...
July 6, 2013
Each year, the Supreme Court ends its term with the crash and bang of major new decisions. By tradition, the court seems to save its most controversial rulings for last. This year, we waited until the very end to learn that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. Now the court takes its summer break, and will not reconvene until October.But that doesn’t mean that Supreme Court politics are also at rest. Lawyers are busily at work even now scouring the nation for just the right plaintiffs to advance their vision of the law. There’s something creepy about that....
July 5, 2013
“You are confusing me,” he said. “You’re telling me I should really consider the state’s offer, and that you are ready to go to trial. Which is it?”
We were standing on the courthouse steps. Jury selection was set to begin in less than an hour. The client had been made an offer of several years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea. If we tried the case to a verdict, and lost, he could serve a decade or more. The evidence against him was overwhelming.
“Both,” I replied. “My job is to advise, yours is to decide.”
Plea...
June 27, 2013
June 23, 2013
“[T]he great emancipatory gains for human freedom have not been the result of orderly, institutional procedures but of...
June 22, 2013
I’ve a serious case of cross-examination envy as I read about the trial of United States v. James “Whitey” Bulger, now pending...
June 19, 2013
No good deed goes unpunished. Ask Charla Nash. When she helped her friend and employer, Sandra Herold, try to recapture Herold’s pet, Travis,...
June 16, 2013
There is so much to like about Chris Hedges's and Joe Sacco's, Days of Destruction Days of Revolt (Nation Books, New York, 2012), I hardly know where...
June 13, 2013
It’s been along time since I first saw in open court the power of the surveillance state. A client of mine was accused of rape. When the victim...
June 13, 2013
Edward Snowden will soon be prosecuted by federal authorities for disclosing top secret Government surveillance programs. While he styles himself a...