What if there were a bunch of people sitting in a cell unaware of a court ruling that the law under which they were convicted had been held unconstitutional? What if they were sitting at home, having served their sentence, believing themselves to be branded as convicted criminals in perpetuity for a crime that was no longer a crime?

The system isn’t really built to address its own failings. That’s left to the players.

When the Texas Tornado, Mark Bennett, prevailed in Ex Parte Lo, holding part of Texas’ online solicitation of a minor statute, Texas Penal Code Section 33.021(b), unconstitutional, his client  was obviously thrilled. Yet, Lo wasn’t the only person involved. What of others convicted for the same offense, now not an offense? Continue reading →

At Prawfsblawg, Megan La Belle raises an interesting question with regard to Burger King’s net neutrality commercial.

In short, BK used a Whopper analogy to try to explain the debate surrounding the FCC’s recent repeal of the net neutrality rules.  This is interesting, first, because it adds a new and unexpected voice to the net neutrality discussion.  Tech companies, of course, are going to weigh in on the net neutrality debate, although the major players will apparently be less affected by the change than some might expect.  But the fast food industry’s interest in net neutrality is not as clear.

That brings me to the second reason why BK’s video caught my attention.  When I first watched it I wondered, is this commercial speech?

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The murder of 17-year-old Jorge Collazo was a big deal at the time, and cops wanted to close it. And they did, convicting Richard Rosario. The only problem was that Rosario wasn’t the killer. After 20 years, he was freed due to the efforts of the Innocence Project, after the TV show Dateline made Rosario a 12-episode cause. After the system failed him on every level.

Now he’s suing* the city and its cops. But there was a conspicuous hole in the narrative of how the conviction of an innocent man went so very wrong.

Police officers were “under pressure to close the case quickly,” the complaint continues, and “deliberately manipulated witnesses and prosecuted Rosario for the murder despite lacking any reliable evidence of his guilt.” Continue reading →

If I applaud all the good things and condemn all the bad things, you know what that says about me?

To my astonishment and delight, the phrase ‘virtue signalling’ has become part of the English language. I coined the phrase in an article here in The Spectator (18 April) in which I described the way in which many people say or write things to indicate that they are virtuous.

Sometimes it is quite subtle. By saying that they hate the Daily Mail or Ukip, they are really telling you that they are admirably non-racist, left-wing or open-minded. One of the crucial aspects of virtue signalling is that it does not require actually doing anything virtuous. It does not involve delivering lunches to elderly neighbours or staying together with a spouse for the sake of the children. It takes no effort or sacrifice at all.

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Somebody may be in trouble with Middlebury College for what she posted on Facebook.

On December 12, the senior went on Facebook to post a short list of “men to avoid” at Vermont’s most prestigious college and solicited input from others. She added the crowdsourced names to her list until she had called out 36 male students and recent graduates for sexual misbehavior, ranging from serial rape to harassment.

The “senior” was Elizabeth Dunn, who felt she was a “survivor.”

And, like many new college students, Dunn found herself navigating social situations for which she was unprepared. One night during her first year, she attended a party, met a guy and went to his room. According to Dunn, the student, a senior, plied her with alcohol to the point where she was “very drunk.” They had a sexual encounter even though Dunn now says she “didn’t really know what was happening” and “didn’t really consent to a lot of what was happening.” Continue reading →

The trial of eight members of the scandalous Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force is, to a large extent, a repeat of the Dirty 30 Scandal in New York City a generation ago. It’s a fairly obvious, and easy, gig for cops to use their authority, and the trust they’re afforded, to become the criminals.

The Baltimore Police Department is currently in court over one of the biggest scandals in the history of American law enforcement. The corruption case is replete with intrigue as police reveal secrets that sound like something out of an urban-fiction novel or a lost season of The Wire. It has revealed how one of America’s largest cities just happened to be filled with crooked cops, but no one seems to be talking about it outside of Baltimore.

This is what comes of being unaware of where The Wire came from. Or perhaps using pop references under the assumption that your audience knows no history. Continue reading →

It’s live, the first episode of Make No Law. Lend Ken your ear and learn about the First Amendment. The first podcast is on Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, the “fighting words” exception that has confused so many and caused so much harm of late. What does it really say? What does it mean today?

And because he knows lots of stuff, Episode Two is already live as well.

Learn at the knee of the master. I will.

By all accounts, Judge Steve Leben is a highly respected state appellate judge in Kansas who also appears from his writings to be a kind and gentle person. The good judge wrote a January 24, 2018, post entitled Michigan judge provides clinic on showing compassion to crime victims at sentencing for a blog ironically labelled Procedural Fairness for Judges and Courts.

In his post, Leben asks judges to “[s]et the neutrality issue aside . . . .”[i] He wants judges to concentrate upon and emulate Judge Aquilina’s “demonstration clinic on how to show compassion to crime victims” during the sentencing of Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar.[ii]

Before I explain why Judge Leben is wrong and manifestly so, let’s get some basics out of the way: Continue reading →

It’s hardly acceptable, but at least the targets of accusations of sexual offense in the workplace are adults. Sure, they may be punished, lose jobs, have careers ruined, be the subject of hatred and scorn, despite the absence of anything more than an allegation, even an anonymous accusation, of vague impropriety. It could range from something serious and real to something trivial and fabricated.

But they’re grown-ups. They have learned to take a punch. The victims at Middlebury are kids.

Last year [meaning a month ago], the rise of #MeToo spawned a crowdsourced document known as the Shitty Media Men list. This was a Google spreadsheet, shared by women working in media, in which anyone could name powerful male industry figures whose offenses ranged from alleged rape to creepy comments.

Yes, even those “creepy comments” which are so traumatizing to the self-proclaimed fierce women. Continue reading →

Back in 2011, a cute post appeared at SJ about the Centers for Disease Control issuing a preparedness warning for the Zombie Apocalypse. It was a throwaway, fun for the moment but not the sort of post one would remember, so it never occurred to me that I would think of it again. I was wrong.

Hi Scott,

I saw that you included “natural disaster” in a post on Simple Justice’s website here:

http://blog.simplejustice.us/2011/05/20/psa-prepare-for-the-zombie-apocalypse-now-via-the-cdc/

Thanks for this – I’ve been looking for some content about emergency preparation online. It’s nice to see that your website has info that could be useful to people looking to prepare for emergencies and disasters. We at Coupon Chief have just created a massive guide titled “How to Save on Emergency Supplies – Disaster Prep on a Budget.” It includes up-to-date information and special tips to help prepare families for emergencies. Continue reading →