From my own encounters with the French legal system and the cause of freedom of speech in France, I ought not to be the least bit surprised at the news that Brigette Bardot faces charges of inciting racial hatred against … Continue reading →
[NOTE: I’ve received a recent communication that indicates the court proceedings yesterday in Paris may not have gone as negatively as my initial impressions from the information on the subject I had read and/or listened to far. If so, I … Continue reading →
[Part I here.] Marriage is an institution that is virtually universal across all cultures and throughout recorded history, but for most of that time it was an institution far different than it is today. One constant in Western (and many … Continue reading →
I like to think I have a lot of experience on the subject of marriage, including divorce and child custody. I’ve studied it academically, both the legal issues and the psychological ones. I’ve worked in the field, approaching it from … Continue reading →
..and they don’t grind all that fine, either. But grind they do. Regular readers of this blog may remember that about a year ago I had the exciting opportunity of traveling to Paris to cover one of the France2 defamation … Continue reading →
The rather Byzantine story of Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, who was arrested for lewd behavior in a Minnesota airport restroom staked out by an undercover cop in a sting operation, and who copped a plea for disorderly conduct instead, … Continue reading →
It seems the gloves are off—not that they ever were really on. Senator Schumer has flung down the gauntlet (can’t resist those glove metaphors) and said that the Democrats need to oppose all of President Bush’s future Supreme Court nominations, … Continue reading →
Today the Supreme Court has handed down this decision blocking attempts by the public school administrations of Seattle and Louisville to reassign students solely on the basis of race in an attempt at greater diversity. Here’s the NY Times’ summary … Continue reading →
Disagreements on how to deal with suspected or actual terrorists who are in our custody rest on some basic assumptions, legal and otherwise. The first of these is whether or not we are at war or the equivalent of war, … Continue reading →
In the al-Marri case a Virginia federal appeals court ruled 2-1 that an alien who entered this country legally cannot be seized in the US, declared an “enemy combatant” without having been caught under battlefield conditions, and held indefinitely in … Continue reading →
Our legal system is remarkably flexible. No law, or set of laws, can foresee the future; the best the law can do is adapt to changing circumstances. How that adaptation occurs can vary; sometimes it’s through legislation and/or acts of … Continue reading →
An arrest has been made in the Kelsey Smith case, another almost unspeakably tragic murder in which an attractive young woman was abducted in a mall parking area and the incident was recorded by surveillance cameras. The facts of the … Continue reading →