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Category Archives: Lawyer stuff

Free Speech for Me, but not for Thee

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

It seems that some of our friends on the right are demanding that CBS fire Stephen Colbert because, among other things, his latest monologue about 45 was “homophobic”. These people have no sense of irony. It has been only a few day since these same people were condemning the University of California for abridging Ann […]

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Ten years too late

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Sometimes late is not better than never, and this may be one of those times: A panel of three federal judges said on Monday that the Wisconsin Legislature’s 2011 redrawing of State Assembly districts to favor Republicans was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, the first such ruling in three decades of pitched legal battles over the […]

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What have some got, that the ABA don’t got?

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Courage! >Alarmed by Donald J. Trump’s record of filing lawsuits to punish and silence his critics, a committee of media lawyers at the American Bar Association commissioned a report on Mr. Trump’s litigation history. The report concluded that Mr. Trump was a “libel bully” who had filed many meritless suits attacking his opponents and had […]

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An interesting legal question

Friday, October 7, 2016

My wife and I own property in Chester, Vermont, so I have the Chester Telegraph‘s newsfeed on my RSS reader. Chester is right down the road from Grafton, where they used to make Grafton cheeses. That’s right, the factory is gone, as is the outlet shop, leaving nary a thing behind. It did not, however, […]

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Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

It’s not entirely apropos, but the above quote from Shakespeare popped into my mind when I read this: With a tie vote in a closely watched case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a series of voting restrictions in North Carolina to remain blocked ahead of November’s elections. The court handed down an order denying […]

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A legal question

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Two federal judges have declared recent changes in Ohio’s voting laws unconstitutional: Judge Michael H. Watson, appointed by George W. Bush, made his 120-page ruling May 24. He stated that the GOP-run Ohio legislature in 2014 had violated the U.S. Constitution and Voting Rights Act by cutting the period of early voting from 35 to 28 days. Lawmakers also got rid of “Golden […]

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Justice Department throws NC Governor a lifeline

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Not that I disagree with the Justice Department on this, but I do believe, if they stick to it, that it will enhance Republican Governor McCrory’s chances to get re-elected: The U.S. Department of Justice has unequivocally upended one of North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s first promises to his constituents: That the discriminatory HB2 law […]

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Someone ought to sue

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Meteor Blades and Joan McCarter at Daily Kos, are writing a series entitled The War on Voting. The latest article discusses a lawsuit against the state of North Carolina:   U.S. District Court Judge Thomas D. Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled in favor of North Carolina’s new voting law Monday, prompting plaintiffs in […]

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Who says skunks stink?

Thursday, April 28, 2016

We live in funny times. I would have thought that if you see a dead skunk in the middle of the road, and something is stinkin’ to high heaven, you can conclude beyond reasonable doubt that the smell is coming from the skunk, especially if the smell gets worse the closer you examine the skunk. […]

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Another petard hoisted

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

I just heard about this, and, as a lawyer, I am mightily impressed: Travis Kalanick, the chief executive of Uber, failed on Thursday to win the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit accusing him of scheming to drive up prices for passengers who use the popular ride-sharing service. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said […]

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