Author: Burt Likko
Know Your Executioner
A condemned man in Tennessee wants his lawyers to depose the people who would be his executioners.
Comment Rescue: Cultural Merits of Abortion
I’ve never done this before — promoted my own comment, that is. But I think I got a pretty decent thought out there.
Still Better Than The Four-Level
It’s about the journey more than the destination: a glimpse into one summer day in DTLA.
A Prime Opportunity For Resolution Is At Hand
The wisdom of a sports movie and the insight of a litigator show that the best time is now — right now — for the nation to reconcile some of its deep social fissures.
Big Monday, 2015
The Supreme Court adjourns for the Term with decisions about redistricting, air pollution, and executions. Burt Likko summarizes each of them, and offers a sad observation about judicial comity losing one of its most prominent sentinels,
The Highest Profile Legal Writing Clinic Ever
The legal writing in Obergefell v. Hodges is both a model and a caution for future writers, especially those who, like lawyers, would write to persuade.
Marriage!
Obergefell was announced by SCOTUS this morning. 5-4 in favor of same-sex marriage rights. Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to both issues SSM licenses and to recognize licenses issued by other states. Opinion by...
Delivering Due Deference
Chief Justice Roberts was nearly silent during oral argument, and then wrote the 6-3 majority opinion in today’s Obamacare case. Burt Likko replies to Justice Antonin Scalia’s accusations of through-the-looking-glass judicial activism.
A Sore Test of a New Conviction
Strong is the desire for vengeance. Pretends to be “justice,” vengeance does.
But down that path, no benefit will you find.
Estragon v. Godot, or, Still Waiting For The Big Decisions
An underwhelming report from SCOTUS this morning.
Walker, Texas Lawsuit
What happens when a fraternal organization, dedicated to commemorating Confederate veterans of the U.S. Civil War, declares “all in” before the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case where there appear to be two directly controlling yet contradictory cases and the ideological alignments of the Justices are apparently inverted? Burt Likko breaks down today’s license plate case.
So, Can We Talk About This?
A FAQ about that last episode. Totally rot13’d. For the post is dark, and full of spoilers.
Weekend!
Movies, sports, food, relaxation, fun times. At least, hopefully that’s the sort of thing that your weekend promises!
The Presidential Power of Printing Passports
When a Supreme Court Justice calls an entire city a “delicate subject,” there’s pretty much only one city he could be talking about. Burt Likko breaks down today’s division-of-powers decision.
