Blog Posts


License Restored, for Now

On the ninth day of jury selection in the case of United States of America v. Joseph Biggs, et al, otherwise known as the Proud Boys insurrection case, my law license was suspended for six months by the same Connecticut judge who presided over the judicial train wreck involving Alex Jones and Sandy...

Dean Strang's Sobering View of Clarence Darrow

Some books are so good, you can read them twice, each time with profit. I don't often reread non-fiction, but in the case of Dean Strang's wonderful book about the trial of a group of Milwaukee anarchists in 1917, I did so. Wow, I say. If you care about the law, read this book.
A bomb erupted...

Let's Deconstruct Critical Race Theory

Rhetorical choices define our options in life. What you see conceptually is, in a sense, what you can aim at in terms of strategic behavioral choices. And so, in this era of so-called “Critical Race Theory,” I say we lay bare the choices the theorists are making. It’s...

How Much Will Pennsylvania Pay Mr. Cosby?

The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s decision to vacate the conviction of Bill Cosby and discharge him is a stunning rebuke of the prosecution. Not only is his conviction reversed; the Commonwealth cannot try him again for the sexual assault of Andrea...

Consent, Parental Power and Childhood Vaccination

Among the world’s mysteries is the transformation of naked power into authority. Yes, from time immemorial, there have been those with the means to impose their will on others. But we say, or at least we used to say, that when the state acts, its agents possess not mere power, but...

Can It Be True? Baseball Is Back!

I’ve been strung out and ornery for the past eighteen months. It started with pandemic and a shutdown of the economy, and the shuttering of the courts. All at once, a thriving law practice and all the controversy a contrarian could want came to a grinding standstill.
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Amend the Constitution to Bar Race-Based Transfer Payments

I wrote this almost a year ago. Friends thought I was howling at the moon. Now they think I was prophetic. Spread the word. We need to amend the federal Constitution to prevent race-based transfer payments and distribution of public goods. It was written as I watched the hullabaloo arising...

Reparations in Evanston -- Even Vonnegut Couldn't Sell This Plot

Evanston, Illinois is a university town, so I expect a certain amount of irresponsible silliness to emerge from its town hall. But using a sales tax on marijuana to fund reparations payments to black town residents is something even Kurt Vonnegut would have a hard time selling as fiction.
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Suggestions for a Commission on the January 6 Riot/Insurrection

The acquittal of Donald Trump was a foregone conclusion in his first and second impeachment trials. Now Senators are suggesting that a bipartisan commission study the riot/insurrection of January 6, 2021. Such a commission would produce a report similar to that produced after the 9/11...

© Norm Pattis is represented by Elite Lawyer Management, managing agents for Exceptional American Lawyers
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