It may be hard for some SJ readers to believe, but there are good cops out there. While we often hear of those officers who process every encounter into a beating, shooting or tasing, there are many who actually take into account the considerations of the community and act accordingly.

One of my favorites was Deputy Dennis,* a Sheriff’s deputy I interacted with almost daily in my hometown during my first few years of practice.

Small town law is a strange bird. You’re expected to follow the “adversarial system” that pits the State against the individual, but there’s often times when you’re waiting on the DA to hear out your case or plea deal and you have nothing else to do but jaw with the cops or other lawyers in the room. Deputy Dennis was one of the fun ones to shoot the breeze with. If you wanted a good story, he was the first person to ask. Continue reading →

Every once in a while, someone who sees herself as a radical reveals more than they intend. This twit is one such time.

I can't imagine wanting to go to work at @citi this badly. Get a coffee dude. Listen to the scientists. #summerofheat pic.twitter.com/muUNJJYytD

— Valerie Costa (@valeriecosta) June 12, 2024

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Cold cases are cold, and the failure to close old, cold cases is often used to condemn law enforcement with good reason. After all, cops are brilliant on TV shows, capable of using a combination of intuition and magic to figure out whodunnit. But that’s not working in Florida, so the attorney general, Ashley Moody, has come up with an alternative plan when CSI fails her.

Attorney General Ashley Moody, with the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers, Florida Sheriffs Association and Florida Department of Corrections, at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office today announced the launch of Cold Case Cards. Each playing card features a photograph and information about an unsolved homicide or missing-person case. More than 5,000 decks will be distributed to Florida jails and prisons to generate new leads and insights from inmates to help solve longstanding criminal investigations.

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In contrast to the kerfuffle over Justice Sam Alito’s answers to Lauren Windsor, Chief Justice John Roberts said all the right things.

Ms. Windsor pressed the chief justice about religion, saying, “I believe that the founders were godly, like were Christians, and I think that we live in a Christian nation and that our Supreme Court should be guiding us in that path.”

Chief Justice Roberts quickly answered, “I don’t know if that’s true.”

He added: “I don’t know that we live in a Christian nation. I know a lot of Jewish and Muslim friends who would say maybe not, and it’s not our job to do that.”

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It’s normal for a justice or two to show up at a black tie affair of the Supreme Court Historical Society, so Justice Sam Alito’s presence, along with C,J. Roberts, was nothing out of the ordinary. But a progressive activist, Lauren Windsor, seized upon the opportunity to engage the justice by pretending to be a religious conservative. She recorded the discussion.

“One side or the other is going to win,” Justice Alito told the woman, Lauren Windsor, at an exclusive gala at the Supreme Court. “There can be a way of working, a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised.” Continue reading →

My old pal, Roger Stavis, with whom I’ve tried cases and prosecuted appeals, knows what he’s talking about. In a New York Times op-ed, he explains with the same fair and neutral perspective the mechanics of an appeal in Trump’s conviction in the New York County “hush money” case. Forget all the academics and pundits, if you want to know how it really works. Roger has spent decades in the trenches and knows what he’s talking about.

Mr. Trump’s legal team can approach his appeal on several fronts, but only one, concerning the legal theory behind the falsifying business records charge, is likely to hold out anything more than the slimmest of hopes for the former president. Continue reading →

Pamela Paul wrote about the disconnect between what the college students today were taught as being virtuous and why these pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protesters won’t find their activism embraced by their future employers.

Activism has played a big part in many of these young people’s lives and academic success. From the children’s books they read (“The Hate U Give,” “I Am Malala”) to the young role models who were honored (Greta Thunberg, David Hogg) to the social justice movements that were praised (Black Lives Matter, MeToo, climate justice), Gen Z-ers have been told it’s on them to clean up the boomers’ mess. Resist!

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Following Trump’s photo op on June 1, 2020 at St. John’s Church in Lafayette Square, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley reaiized the error of his participating in the venture.

Soon enough, Milley recognized the error of his decision and apologized, saying, “I should not have been there. My presence in that moment, and in that environment, created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”

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This week, thousands of Americans who previously held strong beliefs that the criminal justice system is rigged against the accused celebrated in droves as the one person they all agreed was a No Good Rat Bastard Who Totally Did it was found guilty by a jury of his peers.

Social media trended with the terms “Guilty,” “There is a God” and “Rule of Law” for days following the verdict. Strangely, these were the same accounts posting things like “ACAB,” “No Justice, No Peace” and “Free [insert name of local felon]” only days earlier. Continue reading →

One of the most basic thought experiments is to replace the target of an action against a disfavored group with a favored group, and see if you still approve. The problem with this experiment is that under the progressive ideal, where achieving the goal of standing up for whomever they’ve deemed oppressed is the only thing that matters and should be accomplished by any means necessary, they just don’t care. When you wrap yourself in the glory of righteousness, the ends justify the means.

So it was at UCLA, as reflected in the complaint in Frankel v. Regents. Continue reading →