Blog Posts

I am not shedding any tears over the conviction of former House Republican Majority Leader Thomas DeLay's conviction on money laundering charges earlier this week. His brand of politics leaves me cold. But I nonethelss shudder every time I see a defendant toppled by a novel application of the law....

I have from time to time been invited to present at continuing education seminars. When the invitations arrive, I almost invariably regard them as a mistake. What I do is not rocket science. If you want to learn what to do when you go to court, then go to court and figure it out. I am typically...

Animal lovers throughout the United States may be distressed by today's ruling in United States v. Stevens. But they should not be. The laws against animal cruelty pending in every state remain intact. All that changed today is the Government's freedom to apply vague laws in whatsoever manner...

Robert Wilson was charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud and aiding and abetting another to make false statements on a tax return. When he was arrested, he claimed he was broke. A public defender was appointed, and, after a six-week trial, Wilson was acquitted. Only it turns out that Wilson...

Robert Wilson was charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud and aiding and abetting another to make false statements on a tax return. When he was arrested, he claimed he was broke. A public defender was appointed, and, after a six-week trial, Wilson was acquitted. Only it turns out that Wilson...

I want to applaud the initiative undertaken by the Department of Justice, but I can't. The agency prosecutes people accused of crime. That's its role. There is no comparable agency devoted to the defense of those accused of a crime.
But now the department is about to launch a program to assist...

I want to applaud the initiative undertaken by the Department of Justice, but I can't. The agency prosecutes people accused of crime. That's its role. There is no comparable agency devoted to the defense of those accused of a crime.
But now the department is about to launch a program to assist...

Are we prepared, as a society, to pay more than lip service to the presumption of innocence? If we are, then it's time to we offered to pay for the legal defense of anyone accused of a crime. Anything less amounts to the most regressive tax of all, a tax which devastates the middle class while...

Are we prepared, as a society, to pay more than lip service to the presumption of innocence? If we are, then it's time to we offered to pay for the legal defense of anyone accused of a crime. Anything less amounts to the most regressive tax of all, a tax which devastates the middle class while...

Term limits are a way of circulating elites in a political system. We fear that should folks serve in positions of power too long they'll lose touch with the broader currents pulsating in a society. Yet term limits impose a cost: experience matters. If we impose term limits do we deprive ourselves...