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Michigan v. Bryant, 562 U.S. ___ (2011)
Oh-oh. A 6-2 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, and I agree with dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia (the content of what he says, but absolutely not his tone!). I agree with him most infrequently. And in this case, even Justice Clarence Thomas, who almost always agrees with…
Michigan v. Bryant, 562 U.S. ___ (2011)
Oh-oh. A 6-2 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, and I agree with dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia (the content of what he says, but absolutely not his tone!). I agree with him most infrequently. And in this case, even Justice Clarence Thomas, who almost always agrees with…
In Snyder v. Phelps (pdf), the U.S. Supreme Court shielded the Westboro Baptist Church from tort liability for its hateful picketing.
“G-d Hates Fags.” “You’re Going to Hell.” “Thank G-d for Dead Soldiers.” “G-d Hates the USA/Thank G-d for 9/11.” These are a few of the hateful signs carried by picketers from the Westboro…
In last month’s column I discussed the still-undecided Hamilton County juvenile court election. In this column, I continue to examine this race, but this time, from the perspective of the relationship of the two sets of courts hearing the case, and to look at the next steps.
One of the curiosities of our judicial system…
On election night, Nov. 2, 2010, in the race for Hamilton County Juvenile Court Republican John Williams was ahead by 2,847 votes— 10,500 provisional ballots were not included in that count. A provisional ballot is one cast where there are questions about a voter’s eligibility. For example, voters who don’t have the right form of…
As I have written many times in this column, the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment also implicates privacy concerns. A person has an interest that justifies Fourth Amendment protection when that person has a legitimate, reasonable expectation of privacy in the property that is…
As I have written many times in this column, the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment also implicates privacy concerns. A person has an interest that justifies Fourth Amendment protection when that person has a legitimate, reasonable expectation of privacy in the property that is…
Most of the Fourth Amendment cases from the U.S. Supreme Court during the years of the Bush administration seemed to cut back its protections further and further, to a frightening degree. This has been especially true with car stops and ensuing searches. So the recently released case of Arizona v. Gant was a pleasant surprise,…
There has been much chatter in the news lately about empathy in judicial decision making. To me, a recent decision from the Ohio Supreme Court in a nursing home context provides a good example of both empathy and the lack of it.
Resolving disputes through the procedure known as arbitration has become increasingly popular in…
Barberton v. Jenney, 2010-Ohio-2420
While the Ohio Supreme Court usually decides cases of great significance (the Court’s own criteria for selecting cases other than constitutional cases is that they must be of great general or public interest), sometimes it goes for the not-quite-so- significant. And the flap on those little ones can be loud and…
