Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary gave public testimony for the first time yesterday to a packed Dauphin County courtroom in Harrisburg. Questioned by Deputy DA Bruce Beemer, McQueary told the court that he saw Jerry Sandusky having sex with…
Year: 2011
Sandusky Will Face His Accusers Another Day
In a crowded ornate courtroom Jerry Sandusky told Judge Robert E. Scott that he wished to waive the preliminary hearing where some of his accusers were prepared to testify. These are a few sketches from his short appearance in court.…
SCOTUS Watercolors
Here are some sketches I did – still working on my watercolor chops – of arguments in two cases before the Supreme Court today. The first, Mayo Medical Laboratories v. Prometheus Laboratories, is a very complex case about whether you…
Confrontation Clause Arguments
In two recent cases the Supreme Court has expanded Sixth Amendment right to confront a witness to include the lab technician who actually did the test. In today’s argument the petitioner is challenging his conviction because the lab tech who…
Unwarranted Warrant?
How far can the police go in procuring a warrant based on an affidavit “so lacking in indicia of probable cause” that the resulting search not only violates the Fourth Amendment, but exposes the officer to civil action? Beats me. …
Hinckley Back in Court
Every few years over the past two decades John Hinckley has gone before a judge seeking more freedom from St. Elizabeths Hospital where he has been a patient since being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the attempted…
Does Standing Require Injury?
The 1974 Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act bars, among other things, kickbacks by title insurance companies. Under the law a plaintiff can sue without having to show actual injury. At least that was the argument made by the lawyer representing…
The Cheese and the Worms in Bologna
These are sketches of historian Carlo Ginzburg being interviewed by artist Jorge Satorre in Bologna. Ginzburg is the author of that seminal work of microhistory, Il fromaggio e i vermi, The Cheese and The Worms.
“It’s not just a coincidence that I look like Jesus.”
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez appeared before Magistrate Judge Alan Kay today, charged with attempting to assassinate the president by firing an AK-47 at the White House. He does indeed look a bit like Jesus, as he told Oprah in this home…
The Meat of Preemption
In 2009, in reaction to a disturbing Humane Society video documenting the mistreatment animals at one of its slaughterhouses, California passed a law banning the purchase, sale and butchering of animals that are unable to walk to their demise. Such…
