Serving the Public and Avoiding Conflicts [Updated]
The North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct create unique challenges for lawyers appointed to public office. ...[Continue Reading]
Topics
Obama administration lifts age restriction on Plan B contraception
U.S. District Court judge approves FDA plan to allow the sale of Plan B One-Step emergency contraception without point-of-sale restrictions. ...[Continue Reading]
Prove it! Musings on advocacy, evidence, and the problems of proof at trial: Confrontation, Confusion, and Cocaine – Clear, but not Convincing
Under the testing analyst and testifying analyst paradigm that is now the law in North Carolina, the jury gets to hear an expert opine that a substance is cocaine, but the criminal defendant never gets to confront the expert who actually conducted the tests that produced that opinion. ...[Continue Reading]
Open Wide, Your Identity is in Question
The Supreme Court’s controversial Fourth Amendment decision in Maryland v. King determined that a State’s interests in investigating crimes outweigh the privacy interests of those suspected of crimes. ...[Continue Reading]
Hold on executions in North Carolina lifted
Despite evidence of racial bias in the past prosecution of death penalty cases, Governor McCrory repealed the Racial Justice Act, resuming executions without an appeals mechanism for defendants whose sentences were affected by race. ...[Continue Reading]
“Sexting”: From bad judgment to a registered sex offender
Teenagers that do not fully comprehend the legal ramifications of sending sexually explicit text messages are finding themselves labeled as convicted sex offenders for the rest of their lives. ...[Continue Reading]
Eyes in the Sky: Unmanned Drones Remain a Hot Topic
Drones continue to make headlines, as the President tries to supervise military drones while further drone usages continue to be found at home. ...[Continue Reading]
The Fisher decision offers few answers to questions surrounding Affirmative Action
On the morning of June 24, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States was set to announce its decision in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. Many Americans believed the opinion would be landmark, a definitive ruling on the long-debated issue of affirmative action in college admissions ...[Continue Reading]
Come One, Come All?
Two North Carolina bills aim to allow student organizations the option of restricting leadership based on ideology, but the bills carry the potential to face critical Constitutional issues. ...[Continue Reading]
Using Urban Dictionary to define slang in the courtroom? YOLO.
The popular website may provide the court with an efficient source for words undefined elsewhere, but critics debate whether the perks are worth the risks of misinterpretation and unreliability. ...[Continue Reading]
War of the Wages
Interns working in unpaid positions may finally be getting the compensation they desire by filing lawsuits. ...[Continue Reading]
Lifetime tenure – an indispensable ingredient in our Constitution
When vocal advocates are on the losing side of a judicial decision, a common reaction has been to demand an end to lifetime tenure. But this “solution” may cause more problems than it would solve. ...[Continue Reading]
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but what will it cost tobacco companies?
The Supreme Court refuses to hear tobacco companies’ challenge to the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. ...[Continue Reading]
Former student protected after bashing Cooley Law School
The Michigan Court of Appeals considered First Amendment rights and ruled in favor of a former law student by issuing a protective order for anonymous speech. ...[Continue Reading]
Preserving public accountability: quashed subpoenas and the journalist’s privilege
Despite widespread state adoption of media shield laws, there remains no statutory equivalent at the federal level. ...[Continue Reading]
