Regardless of what you think about my dear friend, Lynne Stewart, she’s dying.  It used to be a joke, when Jeralynn Merritt asked when judges would start meting out sentences of “life plus cancer,” but that’s the effective sentence imposed on Lynne.

As many of you know, I’ve been twitting since yesterday asking people to sign a petition to the government to allow Lynne compassionate release.  There have been more than a thousand new signers since then, and to the extent I’ve contributed to that, I thank you.

As I wrote in the twit, I don’t ask much, but I have something to ask of you now. Please sign the petition.  No, I am not a big believer in petitions, but the government has already refused compassionate release and appears quite happy to let Lynne die in prison.  Let the government know that you find its position disgraceful.

I realize that many do not share my views with regard to Lynne, and may think of her as a criminal.  So what? Her life is coming to an end. Is that not enough to sate your appetite for retribution?  Even if you think Lynne deserving of the sentence of imprisonment, show enough humanity to allow her to die with her husband, Ralph, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Lynne is dying of cancer regardless of what anyone thinks. That’s enough.  Let her die at home. Please sign the petition. Thank you.

Whether one likes it or not, and I don’t in case that’s unclear, people use the internet to “learn” about the people, products and services they need. They read reviews, which makes reviews matter regardless of whether or not they should. And that means reviews becomes the target of deception.  I know. Shocking, right?

The problem is huge and intractable, as people and businesses fight with review sites to clean up phony negative reviews and sites try to stop phony positive reviews.  The internal war is a losing proposition, Continue reading →

When the first sentence of a post damn near causes whiplash, you know things are going to get bad.  Your head spins back from the squiggly lines on the page in shock at seeing what appears to be the rantings of a total lunatic, except the writer is listed as “Max McCann, Attorney, City of New York.”  Who? The guy who wrote this:

Most of the time, reporters avoid writing a story about an arrest in a way that  assumes the guilt of the person charged. Continue reading →

A drama played out last week between USA Today reporter Brad Heath and the Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility.  At Techdirt, Mike Masnick reported it, and Ken at Popehat followed it up. It matters because Brad has done some extraordinary investigations into systemic impropriety, and made some enemies along the way.

It began with Brad trying to FOIA documentation to find out what the OPR had done after the release of classified decisions showing that the FISA court had thrice chastised the DOJ for presenting misleading information to the court. Continue reading →

Over the years, I’ve heard from people about lousy CLE’s taught by lawyers who demonstrated little level of expertise in the subject they were teaching. I’ve heard about conferences where people no one knows spoke about a subject that conclusively proved they knew the least about it of anyone in the room.  These are issues I’ve written about here as well.

Another frequent occurrence is speakers, with a product or service to sell, end up on the podium to pitch. Often, they are smart enough not to sell directly, but to sell the underlying concept that justifies their product. Continue reading →

When it comes to an issue like retroactivity of ending mandatory life without parole for juveniles, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, there is no shortage of credible people ready to provide strong arguments in support.  It’s so easy, even I can do it.

But arguments against it? Not so easy. Even harder to find some credible source, which no doubt left the New York Times scratching and clawing to find someone, anyone, to be the spokesman for the losing side of the debate.  Enter Kent Scheidegger, Continue reading →

If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.

— Lucille Ball

With alarming regularity, people ask me how I do it.  I’m told by people who don’t know me that it’s impossible to write as much as I do. I’m told that I must spend every waking second writing, and when can I possibly find time to do work. I’m asked what my secret is.

Here’s the secret: Continue reading →

[Not to be disclosed without authorization of the Third Deputy Assistant Grand Poobah.]

Many contend that agencies of the United States tend to mark too many documents “secret” or “top secret,” or maybe even “super-de-duper secret.”  After all, it’s only the lunch order, and while it does relate to the special sauce, it really lacks sufficient impact to invoke the Espionage Act of 1917.

But the New York City Police Department has gone one better, Continue reading →

At Huffington Post, Radley Balko writes of an old SWAT operation in Detroit, back when someone thought cleaning up Eight Mile Road would save the city from moral bankruptcy.

Over a three-day period in June 2007, heavily armed SWAT teams, supported by tanks and helicopters, descended on Detroit’s Eight Mile Road. The massive operation involved police and agents from 21 different local, state and federal branches of law enforcement, and was intended to rid the notoriously crime-ridden area of drug houses, prostitutes and wanted fugitives. Continue reading →

The set up was damn near perfect.  A public junior college, rules that would assure a conflict, a camera and a document no less dreaded than the United States Constitution. What could go wrong?

Via FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education:

Modesto Junior College in California told a student that he could not pass out copies of the United States Constitution outside the student center on September 17, 2013—Constitution Day. Continue reading →