We finally got a decision. We have been waiting for months… well, really years… for Judge Roger T. Benitez to release his opinion in Duncan v Bonta. You may remember this originally as Duncan v Becerra. California has Penal Code § 32310(c) and (d) that was amended by Proposition 63 which essentially made the mere possession of a...
“Bearing arms does not mean from your bathroom to your kitchen!” That little missive was penned by Justice Clarence Thomas in a dissent to the granting of certiorari on a Second Amendment case a few years back. The gravamen of the case centered around the question: Does the Second Amendment provide protection for conduct outside the...
In 2014 I was having a conversation with my friend, Rich Nelson. At the time he was a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. More specifically, he was the Administrative Deputy for Lake Forest and spent a good chunk of his time here at Artemis, both in his law enforcement capacity, as well as...
In the introductory pages of John le Carré’s, The Night Manager, a lawyer is about to be executed. He is trying to process the enormity and finality of the moment and becomes fixated on the instrument of his demise, specifically the gun being pointed at him. He does not reflect on the circumstances that led him to...
I felt the nudge on my right shoulder. “Captain, you are pondering again?” I glanced up and saw the LTC standing next to me. In his right hand he held his drink and in the left was a crystal glass containing the 11-year-old Lagavulin he had just tapped me with. In his mouth was an ancient cigar,...
Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes had a famous saying: “Hard cases make bad law.” This is quite true. A particularly noxious defendant can assert rights that may very well have been abrogated during an arrest or trial. Recognition of those violations might well negate the defendant’s conviction. Judges are human, and the idea of setting a miscreant free might...
Last week a court decision (well, actually a decision on a motion for preliminary and permanent injunction) was handed down in the case of Andrew Hanson, et al., v District of Columbia. Mr. Hanson was challenging the District of Columbia’s ban on standard capacity magazines. If this sounds similar to the case we have been...
Well, I had every intention of writing a blog this week about either God, the transcendent human condition, why I really like gefilte fish, or the demographic catastrophe about to manifest on the European continent… But, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, so to speak. We got a victory in federal court (well…...
MAJOR NEWS!!! Injunction issued regarding CA Roster!!! I was in Federal Court today making an appearance on an unrelated matter when my phone began to blow up….in a really really good way! The California Rifle and Pistol Association, (CRPA) in conjunction with the law firm of Michele and Associates had filed a lawsuit challenging the CA Handgun Roster. ...
“Come fly with me, come fly away… if you can use some exotic booze, I know a bar in far Bombay”… The sounds of Sinatra fill the empty spaces in my troubled soul. Yes. I can use some exotic booze. The world is in need of a great reset. This has been looked upon by many...
