Category : Featured Article
TIME’S UP: ATTORNEY GENERAL CURTIS HILL
Despite the pyrotechnics and other distractions of the week commencing Monday, July 2, 2018, no one who reads local news could have avoided the story of Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill making an ass of himself (allegedly) at an end-of-session legislative party in Indy during the early morning hours of March 15th. “Legislative leaders” are […]
DRIVING WHILE WHITE
Let me begin by confirming my belief that “driving while Black” is an actual phenomenon, though perhaps less common than perceived by some. My belief is supported by the credible reports of Black clients and others describing traffic stops for nebulous cause. Since my evidence is anecdotal and not statistical, I cannot make any conclusions […]
THE ARTISAN BAKER, RELIGION, AND GAY ARROGANCE IN THE SCOTUS
The case is Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission decided June 4, 2018 in the SCOTUS. “Decided” may be too generous a description of a majority Opinion crafted to avoid the hard questions still lurking. Jack Phillips owned the mentioned Cakeshop during 2012 in a Denver suburb. At the time in question Colorado law […]
SECOND THOUGHTS ON PARKLAND
As discussed in my Article of February 20, 2018, law enforcement (FBI and local) failed the students and faculty of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School before the massacre of February 14, 2018. The failure was the (apparently systemic) turning of a blind eye and deaf ear toward early warnings of the threatening behavior of […]
HAMMOND’S VICTORY FOR NOW
UPDATE:..As of June 29, 2018 both the landlords and the State had petitioned for Transfer. Without formally granting Transfer the SCOTSI set the matter for oral argument on September 13, 2018. The CLB predicts a grant of Transfer and a result favoring the landlords and the State The case is City of Hammond v. Herman […]
MIXED THOUGHTS ON PARKLAND
The Death Penalty. I envy the certainty and the untroubled serenity of those who know exactly how they feel about capital punishment. While I would prefer to stand consistently in opposition to the death penalty, I find that the best argument in favor of it is the (mostly male) population committing capital crimes. Among the […]
WHEN THE LEARNED JUDGE ISN’T
This Article is based upon the case of Wilson v. State, decided January 30, 2018 in the COA. Any CLB commentary would ordinarily appear in an appellate case note with other entries involving interesting, or dull but informative, applications of law. But the law included in Wilson v. State is routine and well-settled. What makes […]
TWO SETS OF RULES: HYPOCRISY IN APPELLATE REVIEW
The best children’s games include a set of rules that are familiar, simple, harmonious with each other, and applicable all the time to anyone who plays. And so it is in the affairs of adults. In the criminal justice theater, our rules must have general applicability and must not contradict each other. While a child […]
ODD COPS PART ONE: SPECIAL DEPUTIES
Series Introduction. The inspiration for the CLB’s “Odd Cops” series was bolstered by the COA’s February 28, 2017 opinion in Albee v. State, 71 N.E.3d 856 (Ind.Ct.App. 2017). Albee confirmed the stereotype of the hapless campus cop, as recounted in an appellate case note titled “What do you mean line-up…?” I made a list, which […]
WHAT ABOUT ROY?
AN UPDATE AND A CORRECTION As I write these words on December 13, 2017, Roy Moore has lost his bid to become the junior Senator from the State of Alabama. There will be no test in the Senate of my musings over the exclusion and expulsion options at Article I Sec. 5 of the Constitution. […]