Blog Posts

Let me see if I get this right: Clowns are now a potential sign of a terroristic threat. Have we lost our minds? Or is it mere nerve that we are lacking?
Halloween is upon us. And that means costumes. For as long as I can remember, clown costumes have been a staple of the season.
Comes...

Odds are you did not know that the United States government can be sued only with its consent. That’s because a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity, a doctrine nowhere found in the Constitution of this great land, prohibits anyone from suing the government for money damages.
I...

Experienced litigators learn the hard way that some institutions regard themselves as too big to comply with the humdrum requirements of the law. I've seen large institutions simply ignore a subpoena, not even bothering to show up as directed. Yale University is notorious for doing this; so are...

The Federal Reserve Board holds the key to why Donald Trump could easily become the next president of the United States, and it has nothing to do with monetary policy. This key is something street lawyers have been talking about for the past few years: People are broke, frightened, and therefore...

I was in court the other day when I erupted in a tone loud enough to be overheard by others: "You know, Aristotle once said that it is hard to be angry to the right degree, at the right person, at the right time. He preached moderation and wisdom. You're not being moderate or...

At year's end, it is sometimes customary to name a person of the year, so let me add my nominee: Aylan Al-Kurdi. Odds are, you never learned his name, but it's also true that you will never forget the sight of him. He's the tiny body laying face down on a beach, dead, near Bodrum, Turkey, his face...

I have a confession to make. It’s not pretty. Indeed, given the argot of the day, it’s pretty terrifying. You see, I’ve been ”radicalized.”
Why, I am even going to take a course to qualify for a pistol permit, this coming from a guy who once wrote, and still...

If the recently argued case of Foster v. Chatman teaches anything, it is that there probably is no fail-safe way to police the conduct of lawyers during jury selection. In the end, the criminal justice system, and the civil justice system, will rise or fall based on the integrity of those who...

Causation, as trial lawyers know, is a notoriously difficult subject. We're taught, for example, what scientists know: two events apparently related in time may not be related as a matter of fact. Thus the old maxim: post hoc ergo propter hoc, loosely translated as "after this, therefore because of...

Some time in or about 2040, Caucasians will become a minority in North America, according to projections from the U.S. Census Bureau. This change in demographics will alter the political landscape; indeed, things are already changing. Consider the concept of "white male privilege."
What is...