Here is How America's Subtle Alterations to Democracy and Social Justice Avoid Political Monopolies
To a U.S. immigrant who grew up (1972-1992) under a de facto dictatorship where election fraud and accepted discrimination were a societal norm, the concepts of fair and transparent elections, “All men are created equal,” and “equal opportunity …” were unfamiliar. They became a substitute of justice for the customary sense of helplessness. I felt [...]
On January 13, 2021, the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility published ABA Opinion 496, “Responding to Online Criticism,” which delineates the ethical restrictions imposed on lawyers who wish to respond to unflattering online reviews. Recognizing the need to adapt to a changing world increasingly characterized by online interactions, the [...]
The Teitiota family from a little-known Pacific island didn’t intend to become a catalyst for expanding the concept of asylum—but they became one anyway. In 2015, New Zealand denied the family’s asylum claim and deported them, despite the parents’ plea that their three children’s health and well-being were at risk amid crop failure, withering coconut [...]
After the American Election: Overcoming Plague, Chaos and "Mass"
“The mass-man has no attention to spare for reasoning; he learns only in his own flesh.” – Jose Ortega y’Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses (1930) In the United States, prima facie, presidential elections represent a core fixture of democracy. Nonetheless, though necessary – and never more so than in the just-completed defeat of Donald [...]
Mississippi Attorney General drops murder charges against Curtis Flowers after 6 jury trials
The Mississippi Attorney General filed a motion to dismiss four murder charges against Curtis Flowers on Friday because it did not have sufficient evidence of Flowers’ guilt. Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Joseph Loper granted the motion, ending a process that had led to six jury trials of Flowers over more than a decade, and might [...]
Besides the fact that the legal system is an abstract entity incapable of possessing such anthropomorphic qualities, it has demonstrated a particularly bad track record for integrity. Some individual lawyers possess integrity; the law itself is a tool to be used for good or ill. But historically speaking, the mechanics of the American legal system [...]
What Is Parole? Parole refers to the type of conditional freedom that is exercised by prisoners. In its conventional sense, it is a privilege for the prisoner who is deemed to be fit to re-interact with society. Historically, parole comes out of military law and denotes the release of a prisoner of war on a [...]
Supreme Court hears oral arguments on DACA and border questions
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in two cases concerning immigration and border issues. The first, Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, is a challenge to the Trump administration’s 2017 decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Child Arriveals (DACA) program. And the second, Hernandez v. Mesa, stems [...]
On October 24, 2018, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood sued Exxon for defrauding investors about the business risks of climate change. Of course, Exxon will probably deny that it committed fraud. But, in anticipation of this day, the oil giant has spent the last two years preparing a far more insidious legal defense: that its fraud is actually protected [...]
Madagascar accused of unjust and excessive pre-trial detention
Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Madagascar of an “unjustified, excessive, prolonged and otherwise abusive use of pre-trial detention.” The law in Madagascar allows pre-trial detentions to last as long as 5.5 years for adults and 2.75 years for children. In the second quarter of 2017, 45 percent of minors that were released from pre-trial detention [...]
