A public defender at a criminal arraignment spends, on average, six minutes per case. Imagine that the remainder of your life as a free citizen were hanging in the balance. Would six minutes be adequate time for your attorney to hear your side of the argument and enter an appropriate plea? As troublesome as that lack of attention is, it is a marked improvement over the plight of the accused a mere fifty years ago…
Read More»
Constitutional
More than four months after the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, the gun debate shows no signs of slowing down. This past month, the issue ramped up even more when mandatory gun possession ordinances were thrown into the discussion, and— before you start thinking that you read that wrong— yes, the idea of mandatory gun possession is apparently making a comeback…
Read More»
Mandatory Gun Ownership Makes Absolutely No Sense At All
Read More»
Gideon v. Wainwright Turns 50: A History of Your Right to Counsel
How Dogs Will Determine the Limits of Our Privacy
This term, the Supreme Court has issued a unanimous ruling in the case of Florida v. Harris, reversing the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to suppress evidence uncovered by a police narcotics dog named Aldo. That ruling, coupled with another case involving drug-sniffing-dogs, should give police and law enforcement entities a better idea of how to use man’s best friend in smelling out man’s least legal drugs…
Read More»
Can We Wipe Out Cyberbullying Without Restricting First Amendment Rights?
As more cases of cyberbullying come to light, parents, school officials, and legislators, are looking for ways to deal with the problem. But, since freedom of speech is one of our most universally valued founding principles, regulating it in any way always faces serious opposition. In attempts to limit the effects of cyberbullying, First Amendment cases are finding their ways into the courts…
Read More»
The Income Tax Amendment Turns 100 and It’s Worth Celebrating
Some self-professed patriots have convinced themselves that the Sixteenth Amendment was never properly ratified, and Republicans are launching new assaults on state income taxes. “America's founders rejected the income tax entirely,” they say, and we should follow their lead. These people misread history…
Read More»
