Monthly Archives: December 2014

How many times have you heard someone who feels wronged swear he or she will see justice done “even if I have to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court”? Not so fast, my indignant friend.  The … Continue reading →

The Wall Street Journal suggests that red light cameras may be coming to a full stop:  Can the Red Light Camera Be Saved?

Yesterday’s post on the “right to remain silent” and the Fifth Amendment right not to be “compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against [yourself]” may have strayed a little too far into the weeds of legal jargon.  … Continue reading →

It’s an old criminal lawyers’ joke:  The client has confessed, and during the first interview, the lawyer asks why.  I knew I had the right to remain silent, says the client.  I just didn’t have the ability. Today I ran … Continue reading →

As an addendum to the previous post, a driver stopped by police is not required to consent to a search when a police officer asks for the driver’s consent.  If the driver does consent, he or she may have waived … Continue reading →

This week, in Heien v. North Carolina, the United States Supreme Court held that evidence discovered by a police officer during a search of an automobile can be admissible as evidence during a later trial even when the police officer’s … Continue reading →

Has NASA taken the first step toward airliners without any human pilots?  http://www.wsj.com/articles/single-pilot-cockpits-floated-in-nasa-study-1418611930 (may require login).

In approximately eighty per cent of the cases in which the United States Supreme Court grants a petition for writ of certiorari (agrees to hear the appeal), the Court reverses the holding of the lower court.

The backgrounds of the present members of the United States Supreme Court not only reveal a lack of diversity in legal education; the Court lacks religious diversity as well.  The Court is presently an exclusive Catholic and Jewish club.  Georgetown … Continue reading →

The present nine sitting justices on the United States Supreme Court are not a diverse group with regard to legal education.  The justices received their law degrees from just three law schools:  Harvard, Yale, and Columbia.