One recurring comment I’ve heard on the Zimmerman case is that Zimmerman was in the wrong for following Martin in the first place, and therefore couldn’t use deadly force when Martin reacted violently in response (perhaps in what Martin perceived was self-defense). This is an interesting and complicated question, which Prof. Alafair Burke (Huffington Post) […]
Archive | July, 2013
Why George Zimmerman Didn’t Have a Public Defender
Matthew Yglesias speculates about what would have happened if George Zimmerman had been represented by a public defender. As somebody who knows quite a few public defenders (and — full disclosure — is married to one), I was surprised to see Yglesias describe most public defenders as having “little emotional … investment in winning the […]
“A Reckless Fool” Not a “Murderer”
William Saletan has a thoughtful and informative piece sorting through the half-truths and misperceptions about the trial George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin. UPDATE: FWIW, here’s a link to the jury instructions. They make for interesting reading.
Successes in Colorado Sheriffs’ Second Amendment case
By David Kopel on July 15, 2013 6:20 pm in Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Guns, Legal Terms, Self-Defense
This post provides an update on last week’s developments in Cooke et al. v. Hickenlooper. This is a lawsuit filed May 17 in federal District Court in Denver, challenging two gun laws enacted by the state legislature in March. In the case, I represent 55 of Colorado’s 62 elected Sheriffs, plus one retired police officer. Other […]
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Hints That It Might Rethink Plain View Exception For Computer Searches
As regular readers know, I’m very interested in the scope of the plain view exception for computer searches. Given that interest, I thought I would point out a passage from today’s decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Preventive Medicine Associates v. Commonwealth hinting that the Court might be open to curtailing the plain […]
[NOTE CORRECTION] New York Times Editorial vs. News Analysis
[NOTE: Having read the post-trial Anderson Cooper 360 interview of one of the jurors, I now think I’ve erred in one of the criticisms of the editorial (the one labeled 1 below); my apologies on this to the editorialists and to our readers. For more on the details, please see this follow-up post. For more […]
Are the NSA Blanket Data Seizures and the FISA Court’s Approval Unprecedented?
In challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in our Heritage Foundation paper, we adopted the Congressional Research Service’s conclusion that such a purchase mandate was literally “unprecedented.” This claim assumed some significance for three reasons. If accurate, it might make a constitutional challenge a case of first impression not governed directly by previous […]
Unions Seek Changes to PPACA
The WSJ reports that the heads of three large labor unions are pushing Democrats in Congress to make changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Since last year, union leaders have complained that many of the law’s requirements will drive up costs for union-sponsored health-care plans that are managed jointly by unions and mostly […]
A Child’s Instinct for Positivism
A recurring question in the philosophy of law is the relationship between law and morals. The Hart/Fuller debate famously illustrated this: Hart thought that law and morals were conceptually separate, and that a “bad” law was just as much of a law as a good one. Fuller disagreed, and thought truly bad law could not […]
Could Zimmerman Be Subject to Federal Charges?
The Hill reports “Attorney General Eric Holder faces a crucial decision on whether to press federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman,” after Zimmerman’s acquittal in the trayvon Martin murder trial. Some activists are pushing hard for the Justice Department to take action. The Rev. Al Sharpton, for instance, made the case for federal prosecution […]
America’s Water and Wastewater Crisis
I have a review of America’s Water and Wastewater Crisis: The Role of Private Enterprise by Lewis Solomon now up on the Liberty Law Blog. Here’s how my review begins: Many environmental problems are exaggerated. Water scarcity is not. If anything, water supply problems are ignored. Inefficient water allocations and deteriorating urban infrastructure cannot compete […]
So Much For the Narrative of Edward Snowden as Whistle-Blower
Reuters reports on an interview that Glenn Greenwald recently gave about about Edward Snowden to La Nación, a newspaper based in Argentina: “Snowden has enough information to cause more damage to the US government in a minute alone than anyone else has ever had in the history of the United States,” Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian […]
Baude on Shelby County
For those who are not familiar with Will Baude’s blogging, here are two recent posts on Shelby County from PrawfsBlawg. Congressional Power and the Reconstruction Amendments Problems with Shelby County These posts might be of particular interest to those who found my post on the decision inadequate.
Radley Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop
By Ilya Somin on July 14, 2013 2:35 pm in Criminal Law, Federalism, Political Ignorance, War on Drugs
Radley Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop describes the increasing militarization of America’s police forces over the last several decades, and the immense harm it inflicts. It is the best new book on a law-related topic I have read so far this year. I. The Growth of Militarized Policing. Balko describes the growing use of […]
Burden and Quantum of Proof as to Self-Defense
A commenter writes: It’s very troubling that someone can be acquitted on the basis of a self-defense claim without the defense having the burden of proof to claim self-defense. I agree that a 12-person jury would be a good change of the law, but another would be to bring Florida’s self-defense laws in line with […]