Constitutional Law - Blogs
- Ken Burns’ ‘Gospel Of Americanism’: Make The Church-State Wall Bigger AndWider
Many people view filmmaker Ken Burns as the poet laureate of American life. In documentaries such as The War, Baseball, Jazz and The Civil War, he has woven together words, music and pictures into incredibly moving accounts of the people and events that have framed our national life. In an interview in the July 15 Christian [...]
(July 3, 2008) - Patriotism and LibertyMike Rappaport
Today is July 4, and so I thought I would say something about patriotism. Recently, Cato Unbound from the Cato Institute posted a series of essays on patriotism, and the libertarians seemed to have a consistent view: they were against it. This attitude troubled me. The libertarian point was that patriotism -- the love of one's country and the willingness to fight for it -- was a bad thing, because it allowed countries to engage in unjustified wars. Fair enough. But patriotism need not be...
(July 3, 2008) - GA: No standing in a motel room defendant was merely present in in the past when he left ...
Murder defendant was arrested for a murder and a search of a motel room produced evidence against him. He was not the registered guest in the room, and there was no showing connecting him to the room other than mere presence at some time, not that he was a guest of the registered guest. So, he lacked standing. Evidence of the murder was found in the room. [In any event, there appeared to have been consent.] Smith v. State, 2008 Ga. LEXIS 542 (June 30 2008). Defendant was on probation and he was...
(July 3, 2008) - Happy Independence Day!
Enjoy, and stay safe....
(July 3, 2008) - JULY 4th 2008
Happy Birthday America! In honoring and celebrating the American attempt to begin the world anew, we might spend time considering how we can renew this attempt in the 21st century. Let's first reacquaint ourselves with the founding document: Happy Birthday America!
(July 3, 2008) - You Don't Mess with the Gura:
Odd factoid that I didn't know until today -- Alan Gura, the winning lawyer in the Heller v. D.C. Second Amendment case, was born in Israel....
(July 3, 2008) - Have you left your bag of firearms unattended?
Happy July 4th!! Are you flying over the holiday? If you're passing through Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l Airport, you'll need to leave your "arms" at home. For now at least. Sound ridiculous? To GeorgiaCarry.Org, Inc. and Georgia Representative Timothy Bearden (R - Villa Rica) it does. So the organization and Mr. Bearden have sued the airport, the City of Atlanta, the mayor, and the city's general aviation manager (Benjamin DeCosta). The allegations? According to the complaint: Until July...
(July 3, 2008) - Officer putting foot in door and grabbing plaintiff's arm to keep door from shutting violated ...
Officer put foot in door and grabbed plaintiff's arm to keep door from shutting. This violated the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights in the security of his home, but the officer was entitled to qualified immunity because of a conflict in the circuits. Hameline v. Wright, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49643 (W.D. Mich. June 30, 2008).* Stop for a cracked windshield led to a warning ticket, and the officer's suspicions were aroused. The officer told defendant he was free to leave and returned all the...
(July 3, 2008) - Is the Second Amendment a Rule or a Principle?
In my previous discussion of the Second Amendment I've assumed that the right to bear arms is a principle: that is, a norm that does not determine the scope of its extension and that can be balanced against other considerations, like public safety. It seems to me to be similar in this respect to the First Amendment's "freedom of speech," or the Fourth Amendment's "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." In a...
(July 3, 2008) - Belgian Court Says Patka Ban Violates Human Rights Convention
On Tuesday, according to Punjab Newsline, a Belgian court ruled that a uniform rule imposed by a public school, KTA Domein Speelhof, infringed the rights of Sikh students in violation of Art. 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Hasselt Civil Court overturned the school's ban on Sikh boys wearing the Patka, finding that the school's ban on any head wear infringed on the Sikh students' right to practice their religion.
(July 2, 2008) - "America was neither founded, nor freed, by the well-behaved."
-Semmes Luckett, a Clarksdale, Mississippi lawyer Today, read Thomas Paine's Common Sense, February 14, 1776, and then the Declaration of Independence. This is my July 4th ritual.
(July 2, 2008) - July 4 is meaningless without an ongoing struggle for civil liberties.
blank">Bill of Rights. (From the blank">public domain.) NOTE: While you enjoy the long weekend, here is a reprint of what I wrote last year on July 4. Whenever I look around on July 4, the scene is long on fireworks, beer, and merrymaking, and too short on discussion of what Independence Day is all about. The Declaration of Independence was hardly signed by a bunch of pacifists. The signers must have realized the bloodshed among the warring sides would lengthen and intensify with the...
(July 2, 2008) - Social Conservatives Adopt Declaration of American Values
A group of prominent social conservatives meeting in Denver this week adopted a "Declaration of American Values", whose introductory and concluding language use phrases from the Declaration of Independence. Its ten paragraphs focus on the right to life, marriage and family, parental rights, free exercise of religion, opposition to pornography, rights of private property (while acknowledging stewardship of the environment), right to own firearms, checks and balances so that the judiciary does...
(July 2, 2008) - The VC's First Emmy Nomination:
Colorado Inside Out is weekly public affairs roundtable program, on KBDI channel 12, one of the two PBS stations in Denver. Twice a year, the program tapes a Time Machine...
(July 2, 2008) - Press Groups Support En Banc Reivew In Eagle Case
Defendant Winslow Friday is asking the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for en banc review of a decision that upheld his prosecution under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act for killing of an eagle to use in a tribal sun dance. (See prior posting.) In his review request, Friday has found unusual allies. The Wyoming Press Association and the Colorado Press Association have both filed motions to intervene to support the call for en banc review. The press groups object to the extensive...
(July 2, 2008) - Town Tries To Stop Catholic Radio Station After It Ends Ecumenical Programs
In Burlington, Connecticut, the town's planning and zoning commission has voted to issue a cease-and-desist order to prevent the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford from continuing to use a radio tower on Johnnycake Mountain to transmit programming on its radio station, WJMJ-FM. Yesterday's Hartford Courant reports that the city contends the archdiocese is violating a 1987 agreement that ended lengthy zoning litigation. Under that arrangement, the archdiocese could operate the tower so long as the...
(July 2, 2008) - British Court Says Jewish School Can Admit Students On Basis of Religion
In Britain yesterday, a High Court judge upheld the policy of a leading government-funded Jewish school to give preference in admissions to "children who are recognised as being Jewish by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation of the Commonwealth (OCR)." In R(E) v. Governing Body of JFS, (High Ct. QB Adm. Ct., July 3, 2008), three families were challenging the refusal of the Jewish Free School (JFS) to admit their children because they were not considered to be Jewish...
(July 2, 2008) - State Petitions To Get Medical Treatment For Amish Child
In Watertown, New York, the Department of Social Services has filed a petition in St. Lawrence County Family Court seeking to have a one-year old boy removed from his Amish parents and placed in foster care so he can receive medical treatment for his potentially fatal heart condition. WNYF TV News reported yesterday that Eli Hershberger needs open-heart surgery, but that his parents, Barbara and Gideon Hershberger, on religious grounds object to use of medical treatment and hospitals. The court...
(July 2, 2008) - British Judge Says Sharia As Part of Arbitration Is OK
England's senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips, delivered a controversial speech on Thursday at a mosque in east London. The Mail reports that Phillips supported the possibility of using principles of Islamic Sharia law as part of an alternative dispute mechanism in family, marriage and financial disputes. He said in part: "'Those who are in dispute are free to subject it to mediation or to agree that it shall be resolved by a chosen arbitrator. There is no reason why principles of...
(July 2, 2008) - More on Reducing the Pain of Taking the Bar Exam:
My post on reducing the pain of taking the bar exam has attracted eminent critics such as Jim Chen and Nancy Rapoport....
(July 2, 2008)