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Seizing Defeat, The Competition
diGenova’s Foul Mouth: Taken Out And Shot
An effort to parse the various assertions and statements, both legal and extra-legal, of Trump’s “Elite Strike Force Legal Team,” is not merely a fool’s errand, but one that grows by the day. Add in Trump-adjacent insanity, like Lin Wood’s call for martial law, and the task becomes nearly impossible. Yet, one of Trump’s lawyers, Joe diGenova, has stood out for saying something monumentally reprehensible.
Anybody who thinks the election went well, like…
Short Take: Who Begs Your Pardon?
Bad Judge, Good Judge, Wait And See
Tuesday Talk*: Trial Or Not
Turk sent me over a warm and fuzzy note from New York State’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore, reminding lawyers that as bad as things are due to COVID, the courts still love us. Aww. Buried in Judge DiFiore’s message was a very curious tale about the first jury trial in Queens since the pandemic struck.
And if anyone had any doubt as to the critical importance of restoring functioning grand juries or petit juries, I…
Cite?
The obvious problem with a great many studies is that they’re cited for a proposition by people who never read them. They become part of a myth of a study, such as the Lisak study persistently used to show that only 2-10% of rapes are false. It’s not remotely what the study says, and yet it’s become an article of faith, repeated constantly, believed without question. But that’s just one issue.
For people who…
In France, Blame Le Système
Thousands took to the streets of Paris in protests that were “mostly peaceful” until they weren’t.
Although the protests across France were mostly peaceful, some violent clashes erupted later in the day between demonstrators and security forces. Some protesters smashed shop windows and set cars and a cafe on fire in Paris, while the police responded by firing tear gas and using water cannons.
The putative justification was a new law that prohibited taking…
A Minefield Not Your Own
A conservative law prof raised the common complaint about the lack of diverse political views in academia, which I figured was a complaint that has played out too many times for anything new to be said. I was wrong. A black prawf chimed in with a series of twits that included this:
My own practice has always been to let students know I have views, where they can find them but that I will always…
God v. Science, Constitutionally Speaking
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the free exercise of religion, which makes it a pretty big deal, even if a lot of us aren’t particularly religious, don’t look to a deity to tell us how to live our lives and, frankly, think people who do are kinda bonkers and dumb, believing in some dead sky zombie.
On the other hand, there’s science, and it tells us that COVID-19 can kill. We’re…