Mostly Plants

From Second Circuit Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs:
Pro bono work primarily is an “antisocial” and self-serving activity lawyers use to develop their skills, firms use to recruit and “give solace” to associates, and nonprofits use to further a political agenda, Judge Jacobs argued.
In particular, litigation against the government and government officials and impact litigation are attempts [...]

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In case you were wondering: the Florida 4th District Court of Appeal announced yesterday that a newspaper cannot be barred from covering its own trial.
The Orange County Register is being sued by 6,000 current and former newspaper carriers on some labor law issues that are not all that interesting.  What is interesting is the two [...]

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Overheard in court today:
["Victim" testifies that she was out riding her bike during an ice storm in December when she suddenly saw headlights, heading straight for her.  She blacked out, and the next thing she remembers, she's on the ground with her bicycle on top of her. She has trouble getting up, due to "all [...]

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Following the acquittal of Shawn Bell’s killers, one of the lawyers pointed out an interesting discrepancy between the New York and Federal criminal procedure systems: in New York, a criminal defendant has a right to a jury trial, and can waive that right.  In the Federal system, however, the United States also has a right [...]

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This Editorial in the Washington Times begins:
There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it’s perfectly reasonable to strip search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible
The first group includes officials [...]

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Yesterday, in an epic split decision reminiscent of Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Baze v. Reese, the lethal injection challenge case. A copy of the opinion is at http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=Baze_v._Rees.

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In an article published this morning on Findlaw, Sherry Colb argues that comparisons of death penalty methods against animal euthanasia are fundamentally inapt. She responds to those of us who have cited the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) euthanasia standards in the death penalty debate by saying that nobody should be surprised that the [...]

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