West and Boston
The dead and injured in West, Texas surely count for the same as the dead and injured in Boston, Massachusetts, and indeed are more numerous. Boston seems more emotionally-charged; no one considers other than...
Author: Burt Likko
Real States
One way we define a “state” here in the USA is as a unit of regional government. But states are also ways that we define ourselves as local communities and from which we take...
The Second SCOTUS Standing Scandal
The courts conduct the nation’s business. The public’s business. The courts stand apart from the rest of the government so that they can pass judgment over the government when need be. And the public...
Boston Marathon Disaster
An explosion has apparently struck very near the finish line of the Boston Marathon today. Someone has found video, and while it’s not gory, it’s also not for the squeamish. Our best wishes to...
There Has Got To Be A Better Way (Law School, Part 5)
Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on Higher Education in the 21st Century. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in...
Living The Dream (Law School, Part 4)
Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on Higher Education in the 21st Century. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in...
Malice Aforethought: Getting Through (Law School, Part 3)
Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on Higher Education in the 21st Century. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in...
More Unusual Than Cruel: Getting In (Law School, Part 2)
Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on Higher Education in the 21st Century. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in...
Why Are You Even Thinking About This? (Law School, Part 1)
Note: This post is part of our League Symposium on Higher Education in the 21st Century. You can read the introductory post for the Symposium here. To see a list of all posts in the...
Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013
Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, has died. It’s difficult to even imagine what the UK would be today had someone grayer than her and less forceful...
Mocking The Pagan
I learned a long time ago that part of what makes people of different faiths about to get along together is to not mock one anothers’ beliefs. If I wish tolerance for my own world...
Amirite?
Let’s say a man is working with a woman in a professional capacity. Let’s further say that, without necessarily wanting to pursue a romantic, sexual or any other sort of personal relationship with her, the...
Playing With Constitutional Fire
A few days ago I broke down a case from the Ninth Circuit permitting sectarian prayers at the opening of city council meetings for a city in California. In 2011, the Fourth Circuit reached...
Marriage Isn’t For Everyone…
…And apparently, David Brooks isn’t a suitable candidate since he seems to think it is somehow an ironic thing for gays and lesbians to request:
6 Beauty Secrets Your Lawyer Is Withholding From You!
If you’ve been around lawyers as much as me — or even if you’ve seen a lot of lawyers on TV — then you’ve noticed that these are really attractive people. They got that way...
A Poor Investment, Poorly-Executed
As part of my continuing intermittent series of posts publicly worrying about California lighting its money on fire with a high-speed rail construction project, I offer yet another post publicly worrying about California lighting its money...
Prayers Pass Panel
Let’s put to rest the trope that the Ninth Circuit is a court where out-of-control liberal activist judges run amok on all that is legal, just, and true. That notion is simply false. A...
Be Proud Of The Double Jeopardy Clause
Having been acquitted on the merits, an accused defendant ought not to have to stand trial twice for the same crime. This is as true in the United States as it is anywhere else...
What Aaron Swartz Was Really Up Against
Prosecutorial overreach (whether you think the underlying conduct was a crime or not), the nuts and bolts of what really happens in a court, tribalism and its effects on popular culture, and most importantly,...
Real-Life Heroes, Imperfect
A front-page guest post by Kevin Blackwell from a few days ago, reflecting on his disappointment with his hero Dr. Ben Carson’s slip into Obama Derangement Syndrome, got me wondering. What real-life people are...
