The 5th floor of the Supreme Court building contains a basketball court, nicknamed “the highest court of the land”. The Supreme Court courtroom sits below it on the 4th floor, and the basketball court may not be used while the … Continue reading
Ian C. Pilarczyk
In 1830 James Porter and George Wilson were convicted on several counts of stealing mail and jeopardizing the life of a mail carrier. They were convicted, and Porter was executed soon after. Wilson’s influential friends secured a pardon from President … Continue reading
The Twenty-fifth Amendment was adopted in 1967 and establishes that the Vice President succeeds the President in the result of the President’s death, resignation or incapacity, and also establishes a process for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice … Continue reading
A 2016 study has shown that jurors who are shown surveillance video, in slow motion, of criminal acts committed by defendants often suffer from ‘intentionality bias’. Even when reminded that the footage was artificially slowed down, unanimous juries were four times more … Continue reading
Under ancient Anglo-Saxon law a plaintiff who suffered injuries or death was allowed to seek vengeance, either personally or through surviving family members, through a “blood feud“. This vendetta system was eventually replaced by payments referred to as “blood fines”, “bloodwit” … Continue reading
Eight states still possess constitutional prohibitions against atheists from holding public office: Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. While these provisions still exist, they are unenforceable under the 1961 decision of Torcaso v. Watkins, in … Continue reading
The pervasive use of billable hours by lawyers in the U.S. is a fairly recent phenomenon. Historically lawyers billed at flat rates, or on percentage bases, or based on ‘value billing’ for ‘services rendered’. The ABA began promoting hourly billing … Continue reading
The proposed amendment currently closest to ratification is the “Equal Rights for Attorneys” Amendment” (ERA), which if ratified would become the 29th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA would make lawyers a protected class, and treats as hate speech … Continue reading
The first gun law passed in the United States was in Kentucky in 1813, which banned people from carrying concealed weapons. Kentucky currently requires a permit for concealed carry, although a gun permit is not required for owning a firearm. … Continue reading
The Corwin Amendment was proposed in 1861 as an attempt to reverse the creation of the Confederate States of America and prevent further border states from seceding, and would have prohibited Congress from passing any laws that interfered with the … Continue reading
A ‘wobbler’, otherwise known as a ‘hybrid crime’, is one that can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor. These crimes are said to ‘wobble’ between these two categories, as they can be charged as either based … Continue reading
The Fugitive Slave Clause is found in Article 4, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which states that “No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or … Continue reading