Finally, something that sounds like reliable information about the COVID-19 pandemic and the courts in Connecticut.
A client of mine faces federal narcotics charges. His case was set for trial in early December in Hartford. At a pre-trial conference with a federal judge moments ago, his case was continued until July 2021.(An earlier version of this article mistakenly said 2022; thanks to Chris Latronica for calling me out on the error.) His trial was continued in the interest of justice.
Why so long?
It turns out the federal courts have...
October 23, 2020
I’ve been tempted from time to time to become a judge. Being relieved from the grind of eking a living from the raw suffering of others is the principal draw: imagine never having to ask another human being whose life hangs in the balance for a fee? And think of the ability to do good, to use my discretion to benefit folks in ways large and small.
But it is not to be.
Instead, I sit on the sidelines of justice, railing at seeming abuses of judicial discretion, and, thereby, continuing to hustle for fees. ...
October 23, 2020
Does the State of Connecticut have a coherent statewide plan for the resumption of jury trials? If so, it is one of the best-kept secrets in the state. I talk each week to prosecutors in the various courthouses. One would think they would know what’s going on. They don’t.
Sooner or later there will be a crisis of constitutional dimension brought about by the seeming inability of the Judicial Branch to cope with the pandemic. What was forgivable in the early months of the crisis as we all braced ourselves for the apocalypse becomes intolerable as a new normal settles...
October 22, 2020
The republic falters and we’re all agog and atwitter about Jeffrey Toobin’s masturbation on Zoom? We’ve managed to transform the old Chinese curse about living in interesting times to something far worse: we live in an age of cheap pathos -- we’re bathed in trivial resentment and, bereft of hope, we seek refuge in rage. It’s exhausting.
Don’t get me wrong. The allegations against Toobin are disturbing, deeply so, and they are profoundly depressing. The 60-year-old author and legal analyst for The New Yorker and CNN was seen...
October 21, 2020
October 20, 2020
Last week’s censorship of the New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s business dealings in the Ukraine has renewed calls to take...
August 28, 2020
I remain hopeful that come Wednesday, November 4, 2020, the republic will still exist, and that the winner of this year’s...
September 24, 2020
I recall the Watergate hearings in 1973. It was hard to ignore them. They were chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina. From time...
November 13, 2019
UNITED STATED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT
CAMERON L. ATKINSON, Plaintiff, :
v.
FACEBOOK, INC., : MARK...
October 16, 2020
Wow. Just wow. A shot, or make that a judicial ruling, was just fired that should be heard in every courtroom and courthouse in the nation....
October 19, 2020
Whatever the results of next month’s presidential election, odds are we will all soon be needing a crash course of Section Four of the...