The following articles, except where noted, were originally published in the Keene Sentinel.
The Right to Vote is Being Wronged
On April 6, 2020, the Supreme Court decided a case called Republican National Committee v. Democratic National Committee. The Court’s opinion, with no Justice’s name attached to it, ruled in favor of the Republican Party and held that absentee ballots for the April 7 Wisconsin primary had to be [...]
Even the Worst Among Us Deserves a Fair Trial
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is no Walter McMillian, the central figure in Bryan Stevenson’s landmark book (now a movie) “Just Mercy.” McMillian spent six years on Alabama’s Death Row for a murder he did not commit, while Tsarnaev is, in plain English, a cold-blooded killer. On Patriots’ Day, April 15, 2013, [...]
The Supreme Court Doesn’t Always Side with the Trump Administration
The Supreme Court decides two kinds of cases, those that deal with constitutional rights and those that do not. This year’s term, now at the finish line, has produced some blockbuster decisions in both categories. Chief Justice Roberts has been with the majority in practically every instance, and despite [...]
In a Democracy We Do Not Allow Prior Restraints
This article originally appeared in the June 23, 2020 Concord Monitor. During the 18th century, a man named Blackstone wrote “Commentaries on the Laws of England,” the definitive treatise on English law. In that book, he explained that freedom of the press “consists of laying no previous restraints on [...]
Freedom of Assembly: Not a Privilege, It’s the Law of the Land
The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. The Constitution is an experiment, as all life is an experiment. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes I’ve been looking through the Constitution for a place where it says the [...]
Constitutional Issues in the Time of Coronavirus
This article appeared in the May 20, 2020 issue of New Hampshire Bar News, published by the New Hampshire Bar Association You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:9-18) In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Supreme Court upheld punishment for circulating flyers urging men not to register [...]
What’s Going on at The Supreme Court During the Pandemic?
The Supreme Court is not conducting business as usual, but it is conducting business. One unusual development has been Court hearings by telephone. Previously, you had to wait a few days before you could listen to recorded oral arguments but in May, for the first time, the public could [...]
Can Attorney General Barr Unring a Bell?
This article appeared in the May 16, 2020 Concord Monitor As early as Roman times, the law has recognized the doctrine of non bis in idem ("an issue once decided must not be raised again"). It is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment as the double jeopardy clause. If a [...]
Constitutional Issues in the Time of Coronavirus
According to the seventeenth century poet John Donne, “No state is an island entire of itself; every state is a piece of the continent.” As you may have noticed, I changed a word. He used the word “man” where I have inserted “state.” My altered version serves as an [...]
Eight Qualities of Good Leadership
This article was originally published in the March 27, 2020 edition of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. If you Google the words “leadership qualities” you will find no shortage of entries. But rather than open those links and write about what others have to say, I decided to offer observations based [...]