I know this has been tried before, and I'd be surprised if it has ever worked, but it didn't work this time. In an opinion issued on October 14, the California Court of Appeal held that an insanity plea to…
On October 12th the legal newspaper The Recorder ran a story on Judy O'Brien, who is now general counsel at a Bay Area startup called Obopay, and was formerly a partner in the Silicon Valley law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich &…
I am way overdue in suggesting that you buy a copy of Jay Wexler's book, Holy Hullaballoos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church/State Wars. At the outset, given that the FTC is now regulating blog endorsements, I…
I thought today's proceeding was another hearing in the case, but it turns out the judge was ready to announce his decision. That decision: it is indeed fair to say that Joseph Stalin was a bad guy. The judge found that…
The Associated Press reports today that hearings had resumed in Moscow in a libel suit filed by Yevgeny Dzhugashvili. Dzhugashvili is suing a newspaper that printed some negative comments about his grandpappy, Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as "Stalin." Now, I…
There are more good tidbits in the series of C-SPAN interviews of Supreme Court justices, the series in which Justice Scalia suggested that smart lawyers should find something more productive to do. In his interview, Justice John Paul Stevens was…
Not a great idea to bring marijuana with you to the courthouse, but if you must, you should at least be aware that at least in Texas it is still illegal to possess it. And so you should not, for…
Hardened Delaware criminal and recent Cub Scout recruit Zachary Christie faces 45 days in reform school for bringing a camping utensil to school. School officials decided that the utensil, which combines knife, fork and spoon, violated the district’s “zero-tolerance” policy….
In September, 22-year-old Scott Zeilinski sued the owner and staff of Nick's Short Stop Party Store in Clinton Township, Michigan, alleging that he was shot and wounded during a visit to the store. Those allegations appear to be true. The…
The Swedish Nobel Committee announced today that President Barack Obama had been awarded its prestigious Not-Being-George-W-Bush Prize for 2009. While the committee noted that Obama has successfully not been George W. Bush for the past five decades or so, it…