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Miscellaneous

court-o-rama.org

About the courts.
By Anne Skove, Esq.

Post Frequency: 12/day

Last Entry: March 25, 2011 at 00:00:00

Natural-Born Nuts

Posted on December 04, 2008
We thought the election would make the Obama citizenship conspiracy go away! Like bumper stickers that don't come off and campaign signs nobody bothers to remove, this case lingers on. The most recent version has been filed in New Jersey. This time Justice Thomas (a good sign that the case will be stopped dead in its frivolous tracks) and Alan Keyes (we thought he'd gone away, too) are involved! Florida Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who twice hung up on President-Elect Obama thinking it was a prank call, was not involved! See Lawsuit Contesting Obama Citizenship Continues, AP (December 4, 2008), quoting Volkh.

Remember Chuck?

Posted on December 02, 2008
Once upon a time we brought you If It Smells Bad... (January 22, 2008), recounting (briefly) shenaningans from the Harris County, Texas, DA's office. So what ever happened to DA Chuck Rosenthal and his "dozens of pornographic, racist and political e-mails" he tried to delete from his office computer? Recall, this is the same DA who extended a grand jury's term to give them enough time to indict a particular justice...

Probation on Probation in Lake County, IL

Posted on December 02, 2008
It's the same story around the country: not enough money. What stays? What goes? How much can courts take? The 19th Circuit in Lake County, Illinois, is coping with staff vacancies (some have lasted nearly twenty years) and other shortfalls. The biggest problem, though, is probation...

Can You Hear Me Now? Unfortunately, Yes!

Posted on December 02, 2008
Fine acoustics are a must for concert halls, arenas, and classrooms. But sound shouldn't carry so well in a courthouse. Jury rooms, chambers, conference areas, offices, etc., all require privacy and some semblance of soundproofing. Sadly, one courthouse in Minnesota skipped the usual standards and went for something much lower when renovating a courthouse in Winona...

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Civil Gideon: If Not Now, When?

Posted on November 30, 2008
There is no "civil Gideon" -- representation for those involved in civil (as opposed to criminal) cases. The downturn in the economy and the constant (since the Age of Newt) downward spiral in legal services funding will have you giving thanks for the blessings you have...

The Art of Juroring

Posted on November 28, 2008
What would you do if you had jury service?* We'd blog away. Barring the admittance of laptops, we'd write/draw snarky comments/pix of people and events. So we were thrilled to see Carol Lay's Notes from Jury Duty, Salon (November 28, 2008). Love the crackhead fish! Thanks to Ben for giving notice...

Traditional Family Earspin

Posted on November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving often means spending time with family and honoring traditions. Our very notion of "family" is fraught with tradition. But would we recognize a traditional family if one invited us over? Professor Stephanie Coontz has two things to say about this: one, our concepts about what constitutes traditional family are misguided (at best), and two, traditional families were nothing to write home about anyway...

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

Posted on November 25, 2008
This just in from the West Coast, where they are all about hi-tech and psychobabble! Chris Crawford of Justice Served and Serving Justice fame sent us a link to Typealyzer. Like Chris, court-o-rama's type (ESTJ) is not the type of the person who writes it (usually ENTJ)...

Sunday Puzzle

Posted on November 23, 2008
Sporcle strikes again! Name the words starting with p-r-o. Yes it is court-related (a few answers anyway). Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Pacer Access Not Required

Posted on November 20, 2008
We can tweet about the twits on Twitter, make fun of the kids on MySpace, whine about how we're too poor and insignificant (or too important) to own a BlackBerry, or get all confused about how to use our cell phones to do things other than make phone calls...

One Angry Man

Posted on November 20, 2008
Can a juror change the world? See Juror Challenges Closed Door Trial in Journalist's Murder Case, Philip P. Pan, Washington Post Foreign Service (November 20, 2008).

Hackers and Help Wanted

Posted on November 19, 2008
Susan Yates has spent her career helping people solve conflict. Now, the executive director of Resolution Systems Institute (RSI) has her own conflict -- someone hacked their wonderful site! Good grief! What's this world coming to? We know court ADR has its critics, but goodness...

Good News and Bad News (Not in that Order)

Posted on November 19, 2008
What's the first thing to be cut? We're way past that decision in these difficult budgetary times. Here are some of the latest belt-tighteners: Kitsap County, Washington, will cut food service. This might be an initial hassle, but it could be a boost to local restaurants...

Jailhouse Talk

Posted on November 19, 2008
Never been to jail but just a leeetle curious about what it's like on the inside? Ask Kiefer Sutherland! All lights, no smokes, no motor car, not a single luxury. Lost Boy tells all: Sutherland Says Jail Was Bad, Chicago Tribune (November 19, 2008)...

Haunting Update

Posted on November 16, 2008
Does your old courthouse ever make you weep? No, not because the ceiling fell in during a bad storm, or because you can't get funding to upgrade the technology to 20th century standards, but because it's haunted! This is the case (allegedly!) in Decatur, Georgia...

Pro-Election, Post-Election

Posted on November 14, 2008
Are corporations embracing judicial elections over merit selection? See What's the Best Way to Pack a Court? Bert Brandenburg, Slate (November 14, 2008). The author is executive director of Justice at Stake.

Job Hunting with Court-O-Rama

Posted on November 14, 2008
Still looking for that elusive job? Join the club! We know times are tough. To assist in your search, we periodically post interesting want ads and help-wanted sections of interesting organizations. Here are a few: Council of State Governments: currently hiring in New York, DC, Bethesda, MD, and at its Lexington, KY, headquarters...

Friday Fun: Checking Our Stats

Posted on November 14, 2008
Of course we check our web stats every day, it's like coffee or sleep. What we don't do daily is post the often hilarious search terms people use to find us: "court or rama" -- Is that like trick or treat? Hope the 3 people who typed this phrase weren't too disappointed...

Nebraska's Not-So-Safe Haven

Posted on November 14, 2008
Earlier we noted that the broad safe haven law in Nebraska has people talking. Its no-child-left-behind approach allows parents to leave children of any age in designated hospitals. Half of the 33 children dropped off to date were not infants. Nebraska is trying to rewrite its law to mirror other safe haven laws, which were written to shelter infants only...

Very Special Events Calendar

Posted on November 14, 2008
With just one leeetle item: court-o-rama will be in NYC for the ABA's DR Section Spring Conference!!! Really there is so little information that we should have waited, but we are psyched! Everything you wanted to know about probate mediation but didn't, that's our theme...

Fun Fingerprint Facts

Posted on November 13, 2008
Fingerprint evidence was first used in the 1905 trial of Alfred and Albert Stratton. The brothers were convicted of murder. Ancient Babylonians impressed fingerprints onto clay tablets recording business transactions. Francis Galton (Darwin's cousin) collected and studied fingerprints, and was the first to catalog prints in a system usable by law enforcement...

Starting Your Day in a Mathy Way

Posted on November 12, 2008
Statistics! When we were at NCSC, that's all our constituents ever wanted. How many? How often? Who was first? Last? Oldest? Newest? Biggest? Smallest? Most important? Usually we had no idea. People just don't count that many things, and when they do they do not do it in a way that invites comparison...

RFP-O-Rama!

Posted on November 12, 2008
We come across these too often to mention, but every so often a few interesting court RFPs stick out of the crowd. Blue Ribbon Commission Public Education Consultant: California Judicial Council. Due November 17, 2008. GAL and/or Legal Counsel Services for the Family Court and Family Court Drug Court for Parents: Hawaii...

Every Court Is Veteran's Court

Posted on November 11, 2008
The veterans' court getting the most ink is located in Buffalo, NY. But do all such cases end up in the so-called "speciality courts" for which those courts were designed? Of course not. What happens to veterans in courts everywhere else? Rather than cover the veterans' court yet again, we want to call attention to everyday cases in everyday courts, some of which happen to involve veterans...

Friday Fun

Posted on November 07, 2008
Remember the list of Most Important SCOTUS opinions? See if you can guess these Landmark (according to sporcle.com) U.S. Supreme Court Decisions. Hint: they differ. Extra credit: name all the current U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Who will be the first to retire after January 2009? Discuss...

Spa or Courthouse?

Posted on November 06, 2008
The Appalachian Mountains are known for their superior spas -- the Greenbrier, Snowshoe Mountain, Berkeley Springs, and now the Morgan County Courthouse. The Morgan County Commission received federal money to build a geothermal system to heat and cool the new courthouse...

The State of State Courts

Posted on November 06, 2008
Sure everyone watched the election returns. But did any makers of those red + blue maps show the post-election makeup of state supreme courts? From that big skating rink in NYC to CNN to your local news, we bet not. Never fear! While court-o-rama is not so good at creating maplike graphics, we are here to report about state supreme court races from around the country: Alabama: A close race almost prompted a recount, but as of this writing it looked as though Republican Greg Shaw had been declared the winner...

Calling All Papers

Posted on November 04, 2008
From Melissa Chan of the Journal of Court Innovations: Dear Colleagues, The Journal of Court Innovation is soliciting articles concerning the future of commercial litigation and e-discovery. Articles can concern the federal or any state justice system and there is no page length requirement...

A Modest Election Day Proposal

Posted on November 04, 2008
We at court-o-rama.org are appalled at the way U.S. citizens select our President. Whether they're paying big money to appear on primetime tv or showing up on the stagedoorstep of late-night comedy shows, politics has become, well, too political. The money is exorbitant...

One Last Gasp

Posted on November 03, 2008
We hope this will be our last election-tagged entry for some time, but somehow we suspect someone has something up their collective sleeves. But hope wins the day, so here goes... Is it OK to drink on Election Day? Depends on where you are and who's buying...

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