Tag Archives: Justice

How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?

Posted on December 5, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

The reliability of eyewitness testimony has been highlighted by the Ferguson grand jury process, in which the grand jury heard from a number of eyewitnesses with differing accounts of what transpired between officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown.  Each likely believed what … Continue reading →

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Thankful In the Wake Of Ferguson

Posted on November 29, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

We have all been touched by the events in Ferguson, and many have been polarized.  On this Thanksgiving holiday, we at LPR want to remind everyone to be cautious about jumping to conclusions based on limited or incorrect information from … Continue reading →

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What Happens To Lawyers When They Miss Death Row Deadlines? Apparently Nothing

Posted on November 22, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

On November 16, 2014, The Washington Post ran an article written by Ken Armstrong for The Marshall Project titled When Lawyers Stumble, Only Their Clients Fall, about when court-appointed lawyers miss deadlines for filing death-penalty habeas corpus appeals.  Federal habeas corpus appeals typically occur after … Continue reading →

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US Department of Justice’s New Elder Justice Initiative

Posted on September 12, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

One of LPR’s followers alerted us to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) recently launched Elder Justice Initiative.  The DOJ’s Elder Justice Website seeks to help elder abuse victims and their families learn about and report abuse. [T]he United States … Continue reading →

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Justice Is Not Always Just – Criminal Court Edition

Posted on August 16, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

Twenty-one year old Baltimore, Maryland resident Tyree Threatt was picked out of photo lineup and arrested for armed robbery.  Bail was set at $75,000, which he could not afford.  The public defender’s investigation uncovered that at the time of the robbery Mr. … Continue reading →

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Justice Is Not Always Just – Traffic Court Edition

Posted on August 7, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

Imagine you are riding a motorcycle through twisty mountain roads, traveling well within the speed limit, and when you brake to prepare for a sharp turn, you hit a patch of gravel, your bike slides like it’s on marbles and … Continue reading →

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STFU? Does Judicial Blogging Harm The Legal System?

Posted on July 10, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf and author of the blog, Hercules and the Umpire, recently made national headlines for his post titled, Remembering Alexander Bickel’s passive virtues and the Hobby Lobby cases.  In the post, Judge Kopf addressed the political … Continue reading →

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If It Can Happen To Dan Rather . . . It Can Happen To You

Posted on July 3, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

In Chapter 10 of his memoir, Rather Outspoken: My Life In The News, famed news reporter Dan Rather discusses his 2007 breach of contract lawsuit against CBS for removing him from the CBS Evening News anchor chair.  Mr. Rather’s experience … Continue reading →

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“When Judges Err”

Posted on June 7, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

When judges realize their written opinion contains a mistake, should they publicly acknowledge the mistake and the correction?  U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Judge Andrew D. Hurwitz answered that question in the affirmative in his recent essay for the … Continue reading →

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One Judge’s Take on “The Secret Life of Judges” and Judicial Bias

Posted on April 18, 2014 by The Legal Reformer

In 2006, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Dennis Jacobs delivered a lecture at Fordham Law School titled “The Secret Life of Judges.”  In his lecture, Judge Jacobs described “the judicial mentality,” as “a habit … Continue reading →

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