Upcoming Events

I have been on vacation since July 13th, but of course I have not stopped thinking about the law.  I will be posting later in the week on (at least) two topics: Donald Trump's Twitter account and the First Amendment challenge to his blocking people, and the ongoing emoluments litigation.

Thanks for staying tuned!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stare Decisis: What It Is, Why It Is Important, And More Controversial Than You Might Think (Oh, And Spider-Man)

Image
Stare decisis might be the first Latin legal term you learn in law school.  It was for me.  But like all Latin terms, you quickly find an English equivalent: judicial precedent. The concept is both simple and complex, straightforward and convoluted.  It will be the subject of this post; it's also the subject of the book pictured above, all 910 pages of it.  I will attempt to make stare decisis--judicial precedent--a concept you can understand and maybe even apply.  And Spider-Man will help. First, the simple.  "Stare decisis" is Latin for "stand by things decided".*  In the simplest of terms, it is the doctrine of precedent, which is when an issue is brought to the court that has already been decided and there is a precedent--a case decided by the court that answers the issue before it--to that effect, and that is how the case should be decided.  If I am bringing a case about X and the court can point to a case that has already decided X (a precedent) I
Read more

Cakes and BBQ: Masterpiece Cake Shop, Ollie McClung and Piggy Park Enterprises

This post has taken an inordinately long time to write.  Thank you to all my loyal followers for your patience! Aside from the holidays and being sick (which coincided) there is also trying to figure out how to write something about a case that has received so much media attention. And as I stated in a previous post, I claim an exemption from my usual "not taking sides" approach; I just feel too strongly about this case. So here goes.  (If you need a refresher on what this case is about, see my post of 11/9/2017 on Masterpiece Cake Shop). By now you most likely know that the argument split along what is usually called ideological lines, with the conservatives (Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas) being on the side of the baker and the liberal wing (Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor) being on the side of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, with Justice Kennedy playing the role of the swing vote. You may also have heard that some commentators believe that Kennedy wil
Read more

Oral Argument: Carpenter v. United States: Audio, Transcript, Thoughts

Image
On November 29 the Supreme Court held oral argument in Carpenter v. United States , a major Fourth Amendment and cell phone/digital data case and the subject of my October 18th post. Two days later, audio of the entire argument was posted on the Oyez site, along with all the arguments of the week.  Like me, you can hear the argument here .  Aside from the audio being first-rate, which even picks up the laughter (and yes, there is laughter) in the courtroom, as each justice asks a question, their picture lights up, as if you were facing the bench from the counsel table. In addition, there is a running transcript that lets you follow along, identifying the speakers.  And you can stop and rewind.  Having been present for Supreme Court arguments, it's the next best thing to being there.  I can't recommend it highly enough: there is nothing like hearing a live appellate argument, especially at that level.  Total time is 1:22:01.  If you want a transcript of the argument, you can
Read more