The Public’s Right To Record Police Activities
Posted: April 27, 2013 Filed under: General Law | Tags: first amendment, police, recording police 18 CommentsLast Tuesday, April 23, the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government (“CFOG“) sponsored a panel discussion on the public’s right to record police activities. It was my honor, as the president of CFOG, to moderate the panel discussion, which featured Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane, South Windsor Chief of Police Matthew Reed, Mickey Osterreicher (General Counsel for the National Press Photographer’s Association), Ben Solnit of the ACLU of Connecticut (sitting in for Sandy Staub, ACLU legal director), and Mario Cerame, creator of www.righttorecord.com, a blog that covers this issue. We had a great discussion. For anyone interested in this topic, video of the discussion is available here on CT-N. Read the rest of this entry »
Warrantless Searches And The Watertown Manhunt
Posted: April 25, 2013 Filed under: General Law | Tags: boston marathon, exigent circumstances, fourth amendment 5 CommentsIn the wake of the Boston Marathon tragedy and the manhunt in Watertown, MA for the two suspects, many people have asked me whether it is constitutional for the police to set of up a perimeter in a town and search–without a warrant–every house in the perimeter for potentially armed and dangerous suspects.
Of course, there is no Fourth Amendment problem with the search if the occupants of the house give their consent, assuming it was not obtained under duress. But what if they do not consent? Must the police obtain a warrant, or does the “exigent circumstances” exception to the warrant requirement apply? Read the rest of this entry »
Miranda Rights And The Boston Marathon Bomber
Posted: April 21, 2013 Filed under: General Law | Tags: miranda 1 CommentThere is a great deal of misleading and confusing buzz in the traditional media and the blogosphere about the Department of Justice’s decision not to read Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights before questioning him (once his medical condition improves). The DOJ is invoking the “public safety” exception to Miranda, set forth in New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649 (1984). Read the rest of this entry »
The United States Senate: Our Undemocratic National Disgrace
Posted: April 18, 2013 Filed under: General Law, Legal History | Tags: filibuster, structure 3 CommentsBlame Aaron Burr. Not only did he kill Alexander Hamilton in a duel, he is arguably responsible for the filibuster, the procedural rule that effectively requires 60 votes in the U.S. Senate–ten more than a simple majority–to pass any bill. The institution oft-described as the “world’s greatest deliberative body” has been reduced to a national disgrace, a laughing-stock, a body composed of mostly rich, mostly white men, who can’t even enact legislation requiring meaningful background checks on individuals who want to buy firearms. Read the rest of this entry »
Former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey Controversial Choice As UCONN Law School Visiting Scholar
Posted: April 6, 2013 Filed under: General Law, Legal History | Tags: michael mukasey, torture, waterboarding 1 CommentLaw schools, like all academic institutions, should be places that promote freedom of speech and thought; that encourage, indeed provoke, students to think deep and hard about difficult issues and to consider alternate points of view. They should not shy away from inviting controversial speakers to their campuses. But when they do, students, faculty, administrators, and the public at large, should not be reluctant to challenge the speakers’ expressed views. The best responses to disagreeable speech are tough questions and opposing speech, not banning the speaker.
Appealingly Brief! 