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...
There are two potential antidotes to misinformation or disinformation: criminalization of speech or competitive speech. We have officially adopted criminalization of speech, and have now broadened that concept to include criminalization of thought. This is not just a manifestation here in the States; we see it happening in Europe too. Where China and the former Soviet Union...
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...
A funny thing happened on the way to Moscow last week. We have all been regaled on how Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head (well, the now “former” head) of the Wagner Group strapped on his armor and led his merry men on a jaunty and noble trek across the windswept tundra (Russian Highway M-4) to within...
Exactly who are “The People”? We see that phrase twice in the Constitution, once in the Preamble and the second time, interestingly enough, in the Second Amendment. While the answer to that question may seem fairly obvious, the devil is always in the details, is he not? And Old Scratch seems to be working overtime on this...
Firelight flickered across Napoleon's face, his horse frozen in time, rearing up as the Emperor pointed to the pathway over the Alps with his head turned back looking towards his unseen army. From my leather chair I took in the image in its totality. Not just Napoleon, but the gilded frame around the painting, the...
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...
“Hear me now, oh, thou bleak and unbearable world Thou art base and debauched as can be And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee! Hear me, heathens and wizards and serpents of sin All your dastardly doings are past For a holy endeavor is now to begin And virtue shall triumph at last!” So...
By now, a little over a week has gone by since former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records. There has been a tremendous amount of ink spilled by far smarter commentators than I on the jurisprudential logic of “bootstrapping” a misdemeanor that had fallen outside the statute...
