Blog Posts

I’m thinking we’re on the cusp of what I will call our “Concord Moment.” That’s when a shot fired in anger will be heard coast to coast, if not around the world, as were the shots fired in Concord, Massachusetts in 1775. The 1775 shots galvanized the...

"If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking ... figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It's a matter of interpretation.”
That’s Hawk Newsome talking on Fox News the...

We finally learned what all the fuss has been about for the past month. It’s not about police reform. It’s not about systemic racism. It’s about race-based transfer payments, or reparations. At least it is according to the ideologues calling the shots at The New York Times.
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I had planned to have this read for me on Saturday at the rally to preserve the Columbus statue on Wooster Square in New Haven. But it turns out New Haven may tear the statue down over night, or early tomorrow morning, to make the rally moot. Event organizers have given me permission to publish it...

“What happened to you?” a good friend wrote the other day. “I remember when you used to be liberal and progressive.”
Here’s the answer.
I got woke. I don’t think I’ve changed at all. The world has, however....

It wasn’t too long ago that I displayed an anarchist flag in my office, oblivious to the contradiction between the flag and my commitment, as a lawyer, to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States. It took representation of a group of folks walking on the wild side of...

If I were forced to take but one book with me on that proverbial trip to a desert island, what would it be? It might just be Augustine’s City of God. I’ve only read it cover to cover once, and that was as a graduate student years ago, but the book, and its simple lesson, is...

It will take work to assure that Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane receive fair trials. The four Minneapolis police officers are accused of crimes in the death of George Floyd. It will be a rare juror who has not formed an opinion of some sort before the...

I have a confession to make: The moment I hear the words “white male privilege” I tune out. Being told that my views need readjustment on account of my race makes about as much sense as kneeling to ask forgiveness of a person of color for the history of American...

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...