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Crime & Federalism 

Discussing recent news and court opinions, with an emphasis on federalism, criminal law, and civil rights actions.
Post Frequency: 8.6/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 15:45:19 Recent Entries: 1840
Go to Crime & Federalism, find other Criminal Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
The Non-Delegation Doctrine
Posted on March 24, 2009I´m not talking about the con law doctrine. I´m talking about delegating the final edit of your documents. Here is what can happen.
Is Libertarianism Based on Superstition
Posted on March 22, 2009Libertarians do not recognize the right to use physical force to compel another to do something. Yet the brilliant can justly convince the dull to sign contracts. How does this make sense? A moron does not use his free will to sign a contract. A moron has his will overcome...
Are We All Solipsists?
Posted on March 22, 2009If I said that only my mind exists, and that others do not have minds or their own will, people would look at me like I am nuts. Yet people are often saying: I cannot understand how someone could do that - where "that" is some horrific deed. What the person really means is: I could never imagine myself doing...
Blacks and AIDS
Posted on March 16, 2009As the epidemiological data shows, AIDS is primarily a disease afflicting blacks and homosexuals: More than 4 percent of blacks in the city are known to have HIV, along with almost 2 percent of Latinos and 1.4 percent of whites. More than three-quarters -- 76 percent -- of the HIV infected are black, 70 percent are men and 70 percent...
AIG Bonuses: So Sue Me!
Posted on March 16, 2009According to the latest spin, AIG must give out bonuses to avoid lawsuits: In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy said outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so...
Frederick J. Hanna & Associates Under Investigation
Posted on March 16, 2009Frederick J. Hanna & Associates is, based on all accounts, a scum bag law firm that collects on debt that does not exist or is not owed. In other words, they are thieves. The Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs has begun investigating Frederick J...
Now on Twitter
Posted on March 16, 2009I haven't decided if Twitter is a time suck; a productively tool; a great way to keep in touch; or all or none of the above. I'm trying it out. You can add me here.
John Stossel's Bailouts and Bull Special
Posted on March 15, 200920/20's John Stossel does a great job with a lot of issues here.
Norm Pattis Gets Prosecutor Cleared In Grievance Case
Posted on March 15, 2009Congratulations, Norm.
Connecticut Lawyer Brief Bank
Posted on March 15, 2009This is a really cool idea: Effective March 1, 2009, section 67-2(K) of the Rules of Appellate Procedure requires all counsel-represented parties who file a paper brief in the Supreme Court also to file an electronic copy of the brief with the court. Through a cooperative arrangement with the Judicial Branch, the Appellate Advocacy Committee will post the brief on...
Another Cruel Joke on Humanity
Posted on March 15, 2009Your brain is strongest from ages 22-27. But you haven't lived long enough to actually know anything. Isn't life grand? I'm reminded of the expression: Youth is wasted on the young. When you're young, you worry about adult problems, or want to "grow up...
Juliet Sorensen is an Unethical Prosecutor
Posted on March 13, 2009Judge Richard Posner explains why in United States v. Farinella (which is itself a great illustration of overcriminalization at play) (via Eugene Volokh). In the opinion, Judge Posner notes: "We asked the government's lawyer at argument what an appropriate sanction for the prosecutor?s misconduct might be...
The Upside of a Surveillance Society
Posted on March 13, 2009Who would have thought that it was Big Brother who should have feared the Surveillance Society?
Bernie Madoff is Free
Posted on March 13, 2009So argues Norm Pattis. He makes good points - at least regarding federal prison time. Federal prison is not Club Fed, but it's not that bad. This isn't due to a kind-and-gentle federal government. It's due to the prison population. In the federal system, you tend to be incarerated with druggies, crooks, and scammers rather than rapists and murders...
Credit Card Companies Are Thieves
Posted on March 13, 2009The latest credit-card scam is to change your available credit limit to an amount less than what you currently owe. Details here. This allows credit card companies to charge you over-limit fees. They change the rules in the middle of the game. You were fine one day...
Symanetc/Norton Claims PIFTS.EXE was "Error"
Posted on March 11, 2009I don't know who would believe this. Sheep, I guess. Norton has admitted that it allows the FBI to install spyware on Norton-protected [sic] computers. I guess people will need to use Symanetc products at their own risk.
Twitter for Your Law Office?
Posted on March 11, 2009Why not create a closed-circuit Twitter account for your law firm? Make everyone create a unique profile. Make them all private. Everyone friends each other within the firm network; no one else is allowed to follow. When someone comes in, he or she should update his profile to indicate what case he's working on; and what she's doing with the...
Theory v. Reality of Law
Posted on March 11, 2009Terrific post at Popehat about famed Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson.Legal education is amusing. Imagine taking someone who has just passed the bar and was fully licensed. How many of those folks would you hand a trial transcript over to before saying, "OK...
PIFTS.EXE UPDATE
Posted on March 10, 2009Amazing, if true: It seems that the PIFTS file is mining data from Google Desktop and other google products. This has lead to the belief that someone is trying to track searches made by Norton Users. The information sent to the SwapDrive site (owned by Norton) and Microsoft Search Companion seem to add cerdibility to this also...
Norton's PIFTS.EXE: Norton May Have Installed Spyware on Your Computer!
Posted on March 10, 2009The Register is reporting:Conspiracy theories are running rampant in the absence of a clear explanation of why Symantec deleted threads expressing concern about a file called pifts.exe from its Norton support forums. Many users running Norton Internet Protection began seeing a popup warning on Monday that a file called PIFTS...
Norton AntiVirus Helps FBI Spy on American Citizens With Magic Lantern
Posted on March 10, 2009Magic Lantern is spyware that the FBI uses. It keeps track of every keystroke you make. Norton AntiVirus, a popular software that uses purchase to protect their computers, allows the FBI to spy on you. Here is what one top official said:Eric Chien, chief researcher at Symantec's antivirus research lab, said that provided a hypothetical keystroke logging tool was used...
Wikipedia Covers Up Barack Obama's Past: Wikiality
Posted on March 10, 2009Wikipedia is useful for background facts on an issue. It's totally unreliable about anything that is controversial. People are learning this through the repeated edits of President Obama's Wikipedia entry:Critics noted over the weekend that President Obama's page on the free online encyclopedia had been edited to remove any mention of his links to former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers,...
Overpaying for PACER?
Posted on March 09, 2009Joe Lieberman thinks that PACER is overpriced? WTF?No way. Eight cents a page is a steal. When drafting a complaint in a new area of law, I can grab a complaint off of PACER to read for a few bucks. How much time and money does that save me and clients? Oddly, Lieberman is upset that a government agency is...
Vacation Reading
Posted on March 09, 2009Next week I'll be on an airplane to a tropical place. Until then, no leisure reading. During vacation, I'm going to go through these: Voice Power: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention [Yep, I'll do every cheesy exercise in the book]; Clear and Simple As the Truth: Writing Classic Prose; The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature...
Never Been on Drugs: Thanks
Posted on March 08, 2009One of the nicest compliments ever paid to me: Someone said to a good friend of mine, "I'm worried about Mike. Is he on drugs?" My friend got a kick out of that. "No, that's just how he is."I find that when people smoke a lot of marijuana, they are interesting to talk to...
Escaping the Tyranny of Categories
Posted on March 08, 2009Here is a fantastic recipe for spaghetti sauce. I don't eat a lot of carbohydrates, though - and rarely eat pasta. If I'm going to eat carbs, I'm going to pizza or cookies. Yet one can find many fantastic uses for the spaghetti sauce when one no longer calls it "spaghetti sauce...
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Do parents have the right to NOT turn in a sexual offender?
No. The offender should be turned in regardless of any disability (1), or reason...
Can someone detained in a search w/ warrant, be charged with a crime related to the search if they were not arrested at the time of the search?
The police have fairly wide discretion on when they can make an arrest so long a...
I was a bookkeeper for a recreation center. The Center Director left and a new director took over. I went to work one day and some of my files were missing. I called our computer tech and her restored the files (I had ma
In order for a crime to be established you need to conclusively prove that the D...
If I was detained by citizens unlawfully, and then the police showed up...is everything they charged me with in-admissable?
Probably depends on the law of the state in which you live. Many states allow fo...
If I pay restitution, can I still be charged with a crime?
It sounds like the law in your area is treating it as a civil matter. That being...

Do parents have the right to NOT turn in a sexual offender?
No. The offender should be turned in regardless of any disability (1), or reason...
Can someone detained in a search w/ warrant, be charged with a crime related to the search if they were not arrested at the time of the search?
The police have fairly wide discretion on when they can make an arrest so long a...
I was a bookkeeper for a recreation center. The Center Director left and a new director took over. I went to work one day and some of my files were missing. I called our computer tech and her restored the files (I had ma
In order for a crime to be established you need to conclusively prove that the D...
If I was detained by citizens unlawfully, and then the police showed up...is everything they charged me with in-admissable?
Probably depends on the law of the state in which you live. Many states allow fo...
If I pay restitution, can I still be charged with a crime?
It sounds like the law in your area is treating it as a civil matter. That being...








