Politics & The Law

In Jeffrey Toobin’s review of My Grandfather’s Son, the recent memoir by Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, he points to the oft-cited ingratitude or hypocrisy of Justice Thomas’ oft-expressed scorn for the affirmative action efforts which presumably played an important part of the success he has enjoyed since his admission to Holy Cross College.

As often referenced in the press since the memoir’s publication, Thomas apparently put a fifteen cent sticker on his Yale law degree, with a c...

I love it when people ask questions like:

“Should global warming really be our priority?"

Followed by:

"Money spent to reduce carbon emissions would save far more lives is used to fight malaria, malnutrition, water pollution, and HIV. And while helping Third World nations develop their economies and infrastructures may result in higher emissions, it will also help these societies deal much better with future problems, including global warming.”

Okay.

Where is your money to fig...

According to its website, the Center for Consumer Freedom is "a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices."

The Center ran a full-page ad with one hippo saying to another hippo: "Fred, your butt is getting huge." Then presumably Fred says "Who can we sue?"

The ad continues: "It's no joke. Trial lawyers are suing restaurants and food companies because th...

Now that the Democrats have won, what should they do?

First of all, don’t waste time trying to go back and prove that Bush and Cheney “lied us into war”. No one wants to hear about that. If something new comes up, or comes out, act responsibly. But people want to move on. They don't want to waste time bickering about the past.

Going forward, I don’t know what to do about Iraq. And frankly, most of people offering opinions probably don’t either, including, likely, most of the people in Co...

I always find it somewhat counter-intuitive when I read a judicial decision wherein the court declines to actually rule on the case. While this certainly seems appropriate under a host of circumstances, I always find myself wondering, on some level, Why did this person want to become a judge, if he or she didn’t want to decide cases?

Isn't that the whole point?

It's kind of like all of these politicians whose entire platform is anti-Government.

Or executives who don't believe in executing...

“The cornerstone of politics today is grievance” noted Jon Stewart in a recent interview. “It’s really hard to keep that going when you’re in power. I’ve admired their ability to hold onto that idea of being aggrieved while maintaining almost absolute control of all functions of government. I love it. And what are they most angry about? People who play the victim card.”

In 2005, a year in which the economy grew quite fast, the income of non-elderly families lagged behind inflation.

Once the...

Several weeks ago, the Times Picayune had three front page stories that I just could not believe:

- Nagin Endorses Bill Jefferson for Congress

- City Signs New Waste Disposal Contract at 3x the Current Price

- Grand Jury Fails to Indict Kimberly Williamson Butler for Malfeasance in Office

That's in just one day.

Then, I got a $700 bill from the Sewerage & Water Board for a house I'm not living in, which only used to cost $100/month when I was living there. So I call to complain, and ...

November 21, 2006.

To the Honorable Members of the Rules of Professional Conduct Committee of the Louisiana State Bar Association:

I am a partner in the firm of Herman Herman Katz & Cotlar, LLP, located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in the national firm of Herman Mathis Casey Kitchens & Gerel, LLP, with central offices in Atlanta, Georgia. I handle litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants in commercial, personal injury, complex and other cases. I am the author of America and...

One might take pause to consider whether any elected official who would suggest that the Constitution be amended to outlaw gay marriage has requisite understanding of, or respect for, the Constitution.

The Constitution is not a piece of super-legislation to be amended by factions, or even majorities, who, from time to time, don’t get what they want. Nor is it some type of referendum on moral or social or religious institutions or beliefs. It is a sacred legal document which defines the rel...

Why “Windfall Taxes” Are a Bad Idea:

1. It’s subjective. What is a “windfall”? How much is “too much”? Who decides? Politicians? Voters? The courts? If someone makes “too little” for the work they’ve done, is the Government going to give money back to them?

2. It’s retroactive. If you are going to subject someone to a tax, you should be told about it up front. Otherwise, it’s nothing more than a taking.

3. It’s un-American. The whole idea behind a Free Market, Capitalistic system, is that ...

May 16, 2006.

What’s up with Ray Nagin?

I like Nagin. I think, under ordinary circumstances, it’s good to have a mayor like that, to inject some new blood, and bring in some business sense and efficiency. But when you have an emergency, like Katrina, and the situation we have now, you really need to have a politician, who can talk the talk, and walk the walk, with a reservoir of contacts and supporters and favors that you can call in and count on to get things running.

What did you think...

1. When are you going to stop whining about the 2000 Election? No one likes a sore loser.

2. When are you going to stop talking about how you were misled into voting for the War in Iraq? No one believes you.

3. When are you going to get out of the 20th Century? You can’t continue to have social security, welfare, public health and other domestic programs premised on the social and economic conditions of the 1940s. African Americans are not where they were in the 1960s. Labor-management dyn...

I don’t personally have a problem with the NSA tapping phone lines or e-mail communications.

What I think is the most offensive thing about the spying-on-American-citizens-without-a-warrant affair is the idea that the President of the United States would get on TV and say that he was authorized by Article II of the Constitution to defend the country. Bill O’Reilly says there is no way that the President, in his own mind, believes that he broke the law, and, okay, I'll agree; Bush was sincer...

Growing up, I always thought it was ridiculous when people sometimes got offended when someone wished them a Merry Christmas. I mean, someone is trying to be nice, and you’re offended? Don't you know it’s the thought that counts?

Yet, I never imagined that anyone would possibly be offended by Happy Holidays.

It would be all too easy to point out that most of these anti-“War on Christmas” Crusaders don’t really have any intention of putting the “Christ” back into Christmas. Feeding the hu...

I’ve never understood the White House’s argument against disclosing who was present at the secret energy policy meeting with Vice-President Cheney and what was said by whom. Or, if there is an argument, why anyone would accept it. Where is the press on this? Why aren’t their lawsuits and subpoenas and Freedom of Information Act requests? This would seem to be a U.S. v. Nixon issue. Or at least a Clinton v. Jones.

Now I read that there is something apparently called the Council for National ...

I remember, when I was in high school, questioning the theory of evolution. Just thinking about things very superficially, it seemed like there should be more existing steps or links along the way between Species A and Species B. All of them died out? Just didn’t seem likely. Plus, animals don’t really make sense. Once organisms can engage in photosynthesis, and make their own food, why do they really need to do anything else? Why would you ever need to evolve beyond the simple algae?

Of ...

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh the other day, and he was talking about some scientific study that purportedly showed that Global Warming had nothing to do with the origin or intensity of Hurricane Katrina.

I used to like to listen to Rush Limbaugh. Originally, it was a “know thine enemy” type of thing. In some cases, I agreed with him, or, more frequently, disagreed with his overall conclusions while agreeing with one or two specific points along the way. I found intriguing the mechanism a...

I do not really believe that Bush intentionally "lied" to Congress and the American people in making his case for war. Nor do I think that too many people really ever believed that the War in Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction in the first place.

I think it's unlikely that the “outing” of Valerie Plame was either a vindictive act of retribution or a way of sending a message to other would-be whistleblowers critical of the Administration. But let’s assume, further, that Li...

The Bush Administration and others use the terms “strict construction” and “judicial restraint” together as if they were synonymous with conservative or Republican political beliefs. In fact, they are not even synonymous with one another.

There are several forms of “judicial activism” or “restraint”.

First, a judge can demonstrate “activism” or “restraint” in the way that decisions are crafted. In the case where a court, such as the U.S. Supreme Court, decides which cases it will accept: ...

When I was in college, one Saturday or Sunday afternoon, we were drinking Scorpion Bowls to commemorate the 21st birthday of David Wolfson, my “little brother” in Alpha Chi Alpha. The fraternity, where we had gathered on the porch, was across the street from the President’s House, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist was, for some reason, visiting. Not knowing really anything about Rehnquist except that he was presumably one of the “bad guys”, I joined one of my friends who was chanting, “He...

The following are television ads I would have liked to have seen, but did not see, during the 2004 Presidential Election:

The Pre-9/11 statements of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice that Saddam Hussein was completely contained and posed no threat... juxtaposed against President Bush’s State of the Union Address regarding weapons of mass destruction.

Bush during the 2000 campaign bragging about the Texas Patients Bill of Rights which he had signed as Governor... juxtaposed against the Bush ...

After Pat Robertson prayed for the death of a Supreme Court Justice, followed by the assassination of the democratically elected President of Venezuela, I decided to watch his show, out of curiosity.

I only saw 20 or 30 minutes, but, during the time I watched, there was absolutely nothing religious whatsoever.

It was entirely political.

There was a segment on the nomination of John Roberts for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. Robertson was commenting that he thought the opposition ...

The Democrats, once again, have blundered the situation by overplaying their hand and taking things too far. You had the solitary Mrs. Sheehan against the weight of the Second Triumvirate of American Politics supported by the Rove Machine. The underdog. One voice. Then the Howard Deans and the Michael Moores and the Moveon.orgs move in, and set up camp, and Joan Baez is singing, and the Sean Hannitys and the Rush Limbaughs and the Bill O’Reillys of the world now have their fodder.

And ye...

While the decades-long rejection of global warming to advance economic policy likely contributed, in some part, to the string of recent hurricanes culminating in the devastating Katrina, I, of course, recognize that there were hurricanes and typhoons and other natural disasters long before the SUV became the top-selling car in America.

Yet where is the Louisiana National Guard?

In Iraq.

Where is the Corps of Engineers?

In Iraq.

It is impossible to accept the proposition that military shi...

1. If the Democrats say a bill is X, and the Republicans say a bill is Y, and the media simply presents those two sides of the story, how will the average person know whether the bill is really X, Y, or Z?

2. Why do you let people like Rush Limbuagh and Bill O'Reilly publish books with no footnotes, endnotes, or other citations of authority for the "facts" which they advance to support their opinions?

3. Do we really need a re-make of The Bad News Bears?

4. Has there ever been an...

Shortly after 9/11, our President announced "The Bush Doctrine", which basically stood for the proposition that America can and should declare war on any country that harbors terrorists. Presumably, this was some way of justifying the invasion of Afghanistan, which didn't need very much justification. Still, it is curious that no one ever took issue with this "doctrine". Is it really a doctrine in the first place? Do you simply announce a doctrine? Or is it somethin...

I used to like Bill O'Reilly. I thought he was, although a little right-of-center, pretty much a straight shooter, who called things as he saw them. But then he seemed to always be talking about the "secularist agenda". Now, I don't know exactly what the "secularist agenda" is, but, whatever it is, I'm thinking it's probably preferable to any "religious agenda" that might be floating around out there.

The Founding Fathers, it seems to me, had a secularist ag...

Most people view the "need" for tort reform in monetary terms. Law and economics. Risk/benefit analyses. These relative costs and benefits are thoroughly explored and examined in The English Rule, a book chapter from America and the Law dealing with the litigation explosion, loser pay proposals, caps on damages, and other issues.

But what I find interesting about tort reform is that, in my opinion, it has very little to do with money.

There are, of course, some extremes. The i...

Many have alleged that there is an ungracious, vindictive and avidly un-American attitude with which a Nixonian Karl Rove-lead Administration has investigated, intimidated and otherwise attempted to destroy anyone who isn't aligned with its political agenda. This may or may not be the case. But what I find more significant is the agenda itself. And if a victor can be described generally as a person or corporation with considerable capital, (political or otherwise), the agenda seems fairly ...