Criminal
'Blakely' Signifies Great Change In Sentencing in Criminal Cases
By Erwin Chemerinsky , Laurie L. Levenson
Focus Column - Criminal Law - By Erwin Chemerinsky and Laurie Levenson - From a practical perspective, few Supreme Court decis...
Constitutional Law
9th Circuit Rightly Let Doctors Carry Out Their Patients' Wishes
By Erwin Chemerinsky
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - Throughout American history, conservatives have used federalism as a way of opposing des...
Constitutional Law
Bush Shouldn't Steer County With Leadership Based on Faith
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
Some view recent ACLU success in persuading Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties to remove crosses from their respective se...
Column - Closer - By Valerie Fontaine - A candidate otherwise doing well in the interviewing process can be shot down by a poo...
Government
Treating War Prisoners With Respect Is a Useful Policy Tool
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
When French lawyer Jacques Verges recently filed a complaint before the International Court of Justice in The Hague against th...
Criminal
Courts Show Deliberate Indifference to Jailhouse Violence
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
On Dec. 20, 1997, Daniel Segovia, whom our office represented, was dragged - after all the cell doors on his row in a Men's Ce...
Law Practice
Participants in Teen Court Instinctively Uphold Principles of U.S. Constitution
By David A. Lash
Forum Column - By David A. Lash - One of the great displays of respect for justice and the court system recently took place no...
Government
Will Power-Sharing Accords Be Able to Hold Iraq Together?
By Michael M. Farhang
In early April 2003, just prior to the conquest of Baghdad by coalition forces, Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri shared with ...
Civil Rights
In 'Lane,' Court Finally Sees Disabilities Act as Civil Rights Tool
By Michael Waterstone
Forum Column - By Michael Waterstone - Last week, the Supreme Court decided Tennessee v. Lane as lawyers interested in ...
Criminal
Appeals Court's Ruling Could Open Door to Hope for Lifers
By Erwin Chemerinsky
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - The 9th Circuit's recent decision in Ramirez v. Castro, 2004 DJDAR 5048 (9th Cir....
Government
U.S. Must Open All Its Military Prisons to Reform, Watchdogs
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
For the security of American soldiers and civilians, our leaders must do more than reaffirm their belief in an open, accountab...
Forum Column - By Stephen F. Rohde - Fifty years ago today, the United States Supreme Court issued its historic and unanimous ...
Judges and Judiciary, Appellate Practice
People Deserve the Right to Cite From Unpublished Decisions
By Mike Schmier
Forum Column - By Mike Schmier - Have you been burned by an unpublished appellate opinion that ignored well-established rules ...
Appellate Practice
Oral Argument Earns High Place at Summary Judgment
By Paul D. Fogel , Benjamin G. Shatz
Focus Column - Litigation - By Paul D. Fogel and Benjamin G. Shatz - A motion for summary judgment is probably the most import...
Be prepared to answer a question, but first here are the facts: Stanley Williams, aka "Tookie," murdered the employee of a 7-1...
Focus Column - Appellate Practice - By Herb Fox - Successful trial attorneys counsel their clients well for the rigors and ris...
Constitutional Law, Civil Rights
Justices Must Uphold Constitution, Keep Bush in Check
By Stephen F. Rohde
Forum Column - By Stephen F. Rohde - The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in two critically important cases that p...
Civil Rights
Officers Must Be Accountable for Innocent Victims of Pursuits
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
The state Legislature should enact SB1866, the bill to repeal police immunity for injury-causing police chases where the publi...
Anyone with even a passing interest in punitive damages is aware of the U.S. Supreme Court blockbuster decision in State Fa...
Constitutional Law
State High Court Supports Victims of Abuse by Police
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
The California Supreme Court's April 5 decision, Venegas v. County of Los Angeles, 2004 DJDAR 4123, is good for victims of pol...
Constitutional Law
Judges Shouldn't Issue Gag Orders to Control High-Profile Cases
By Erwin Chemerinsky
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - The judge in the molestation case against Michael Jackson has imposed a broad gag order ...
Criminal
America Must Uphold Rule of Law, Allow Consular Assistance
By Stephen F. Rohde
Forum Column - By Stephen F. Rohde - Imagine you are suddenly arrested in a foreign country and charged with murder. It's a ca...
Judges and Judiciary
Justice Learns What He's Made of: Breakable Parts
By Arthur Gilbert
Last month I performed an unnatural act - not an easy admission for anyone to make, let alone a judge, I mean a state judge. F...
Civil Rights
'Smith' Bars Police-Brutality Victims From Vindicating Wrongs
By Robert L. Bastian Jr.
In Smith v. City of Hemet, a split 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel recently upheld dismissal of a plaintiff's excessiv...
Government
Jurists Who Will Judge Saddam Must Be Selected With Care
By Michael M. Farhang
The capture of Saddam Hussein in December has presented a serious challenge for the postwar Iraqi legal system. Plans have bee...
The state Supreme Court just decided E.M.M.I. Inc v. Zurich American Ins. Co., 2004 DJDAR 2245 (Cal. Feb. 23, 2004), in...
Judges and Judiciary
'Summerlin' Will Let Court Overturn Unconstitutional Sentences
By Carlos A. Singer
Forum Column - By Carlos A. Singer - Before the law reduced the case of Summerlin v. Stewart, 341 F.3d 1082 (9th Cir. 2...
Constitutional Law
Same-Sex Unions Will Join Other Constitutional Freedoms
By Stephen F. Rohde
Forum Column - By Stephen F. Rohde - From the founding of our nation, despite bigotry and prejudice, the trajectory of our soc...
Constitutional Law
First Amendment Doesn't Prohibit Nudity or Profanities
By Erwin Chemerinsky
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - Was anyone hurt in the slightest way by the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast for two s...
Family, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Avoiding Three Pitfalls of Family-Law Mediations
By Franklin R. Garfield
Focus Column - Family Law - By Franklin R. Garfield - There are three primary reasons why the mediation of a family-law case m...