When a lawyer does the dirty, there are places to go. If it’s a crime, go to the prosecutor. If there’s a dispute over money or competence, there’s a civil suit. If there’s an ethical failing, go to the entity that governs lawyer discipline. The first could put the lawyer in prison. The second could cost the lawyer big money. But the third? The worst it can do is pull the lawyer’s ticket and deny the individual the right to practice law.

But what about a judge? One would expect Elizabeth Warren, who came out of Harvard Law School, to have some appreciation of how the system works and why it works that way. But these are passionate times, and she wants to run for president so very badly, so she’s come up with a plan.

When Kavanaugh rose to the Supreme Court, sexual assault and perjury complaints against him were dismissed. Continue reading →

Mark Bennett, the Texas Tornado, let me know that the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Scott Ogle suit against Texas. It was unfortunate, but unsurprising. Exceptionally few cases get to the big show, regardless of wrongfulness on the law or the “injustice” of the outcome. This makes little sense to non-lawyers, as they see SCOTUS as the court of last resort, the last chance to correct a grave wrong. Perhaps it should be, but it’s not.

The same day, the same order list, included another case for which cert was denied, Herrick v Grindr. Herrick was the victim of an ex-boyfriend who weaponized the dating app Grindr to make Herrick’s life a misery. But Herrick wasn’t suing the guy wielding the bludgeon, but the bludgeon, for the harm done him. Eric Goldman explains. Continue reading →

Who else but their peers would serve as their peer group? This is true of the rich and poor alike, even though their peer groups are very different. But that’s what pushes people forward, to try harder, to do more. It’s not necessarily a good thing, and can easily spin out of control. But that’s as true for the street kid attracted by the gold fenders in some dealer’s mouth as the wealthy matron attracted by some diamond tiara on her opera pal’s carefully colored and coiffed hair.

When people from one peer group explain the absurdity of the things that matter to other peer groups, the characterizations turn goofy, and while occasionally amusing, usually insulting. It’s reminiscent in some way of Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual of the Nacirema,” but for the deliberate denigration of motives.

The idea of meritocracy has long been used by the rich for self-justification. Now it is becoming fuel for their self-pity.

Continue reading →

His testimony was given a mere ten days before his death on behalf of the state and against the defendant. The defendant was former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. It wasn’t critical testimony, but more color commentary, the sort of additional testimony that provides flavor and context to the crime and the victim. Some media are calling his testimony “key,” as he was an “ear witness” to the killing, but while his testimony was certainly helpful to the prosecution, it’s unlikely the conviction hinged on his testimony.

Yet, two days after the verdict, there he was. Dead.

Officers were called Friday night to the Atera apartments in the 4600 block of Cedar Springs Road, where witnesses reported hearing gunshots and seeing a silver four-door sedan speed out of the parking lot.

Continue reading →

Peter Edward “Ginger” Baker
Born 19 August 1939
Died 6 October, 2019

The rock drummer. Rest in peace.

As happens these days, I wrote a post this morning that, upon completion, I decided not to publish. The reason is that it will resonate with those who already get it, and will enrage those who don’t. It was about law students. It was about mentoring law students. It was about narcissistic children who believe their opinions, particularly of the quality of “lol no,” are entitled to either validity or, at worst, lengthy discussion using words of explanation that leave them with feelings of support and empowerment rather than feeling called out as morons.

The problem is that they are too often morons. The problem is that some of them are ignorant and fragile children who not only feel entitled to spew whatever nonsense is in their head, but demand that it be taken seriously and treated as valid. Except for the fact that they’re morons.

It’s no longer a situation I’m willing to suffer, and so I unceremoniously end any engagement and leave them to whatever they need to do to salvage their lost dignity. I don’t like to think of myself as a quitter, but I quit. Continue reading →

The joke about Batson is that the decision was grounded in a person’s “right” to be a juror, as if nine out of ten people who receive a jury notice leap for joy at the prospect. From the peculiar perspective of certain activists, this is a goal, to bring maginalized people into the venire who have been denied access, stricken from juries and precluded from their “right” as a citizen to sit in judgment.

Many people would pay to avoid this “right.” Many don’t care. It’s not that jurors don’t take their job seriously once they’re in the box. Indeed, they take it very seriously, and do their level best to be good and fair jurors. But they would rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Deandre Somerville was selected to sit as a juror. He was the only black person on the jury, which shouldn’t matter but does. It matters to the lawyers who picked him, or more likely, didn’t strike him from the panel. It matters to the litigants, as he may bring a difference perspective to the panel, for it he didn’t, there would be no real point to the concept underlying Batson at all. It should have mattered to Somerville. Continue reading →

After giving his victim impact statement at Amber Guyger’s sentencing, Botham Jean’s younger brother, Brandt, did one of the most spectacular things imaginable.

Grace. https://t.co/ToRkNbMv7W

— Scott Greenfield (@ScottGreenfield) October 2, 2019

At least, that’s how it appeared to me. It never occurred to me that anyone would, could, see it otherwise. I was wrong. Continue reading →

My buddy Elie Mystal ridicules the imaginary conversation, and it’s certainly open to ridicule for being imaginary. But it’s merely a rhetorical device used by David Brooks to make a point. Of course it’s not real, but then, neither are the vast majority of stories told these days, relying on the dishonest retelling of anecdotes that include what serves the cause and omits what doesn’t. At least Brooks admits that it’s merely a fantasy chat.

U.G.: We can’t have a productive conversation with Trump around. He lies with abandon. He slanders and insults. He pollutes the water near and far.

F.M.: We can’t have productive conversations if every time I open my mouth you call me a bigot. You may not realize this, but you have Trump supporters around you all the time. It’s just that we’ve learned to keep our mouths shut in your presence. The crushing climate of blue cultural privilege is too strangulating. Continue reading →

Years ago, I wrote of the creation of a permanent underclass. No, not the one woke people are willing to fight for. Rather, the one we’ve created because as much as we can forgive a murder, especially if it was committed by a black man because they’re in fashion at hipster cocktail parties, there is no forgiveness of a sex crime.

Not when they get caught. Not when they get prosecuted. Not when they get convicted or sentenced. Not even when they get out. There are plenty of arguments, some sound and some idiotic, but pressed with a level of insipid passion that convinces no one of modest intelligence but so bores the rest of us that we walk away, leaving the interlocutor to believe they’ve won by attrition.

None of these arguments change anything. When a sex offender completes his sentence, pays his debt to society, and walks out of prison, what does his future look like? The “motion” below was forwarded to me. Even though it’s a public record, I’ve redacted the names and identifiers because there’s no good reason to contribute any more harm to its maker. His crime was bad, and so he was sentenced to imprisonment. But he served his sentence. This is what he faced coming out. Continue reading →