Legal Theory

Stanford Class for Laity: Think Like Lawyer

An all-star faculty lineup at Stanford Law School is offering an ambitious and perhaps unprecedented course for nonattorneys. In a single quarter, 12 professors will attempt to teach graduate students in other disciplines to think like a lawyer, reports the Stanford Daily. The whirlwind tour of the legal profession is…

Sep 18, 2007 5:24 PM CDT

Religion Statute May Allow Gitmo Claims

Four former Guantanamo Bay military prison detainees who claim American officials abused them there haven’t had any luck trying to sue the U.S. government over alleged constitutional rights violations. But redress may be possible under a 1993 statute that says the government must have a compelling reason for infringing on…

Sep 17, 2007 3:48 PM CDT

ACLJ is Key Contender in Religious Cases

Most lawyers are probably familiar with the ACLU. Far fewer attorneys may have heard of the ACLJ. However, the two civil rights organizations—sometimes fighting together and sometimes on opposing sides—are both key players in ongoing efforts to protect religious rights. The ACLJ—American Center for Law and Justice—is a leading Christian…

Sep 5, 2007 12:44 AM CDT

Law In the Age of Terror

Six years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, much of the legal system’s role in the war on terror remains unresolved. Should the courts take a backseat to the executive branch, as they have historically done during wartime? Or, in this new kind of conflict—with no hope of…

Sep 1, 2007 9:00 AM CDT

But Is It War?

Conservatives debate the limits of executive power post-9/11

Sep 1, 2007 7:30 AM CDT

The Architects

The Bush administration lawyers who created the blueprint for the legal war on terror

Sep 1, 2007 7:15 AM CDT

“If I Represented Bin Laden ...”

Imagine Osama bin Laden is captured by U.S. forces on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He’s transported to the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan—blocks from the World Trade Center site—where he has been under indictment for the 1993 attacks on U.S. troops in Somalia and the 1998 bombings of U.S.…

Sep 1, 2007 6:15 AM CDT

A Uniform Complaint

Former military lawyers recount their fight to define justice for enemy combatants

Sep 1, 2007 5:45 AM CDT

Pedophile Order Is Invalid, Case Dropped

A California judge’s unusual order prohibiting a self-described pedophile from getting within 10 yards of the state’s children is invalid, according to Los Angeles prosecutors. But an attorney who persuaded a judge to issue the order earlier this month says the real problem is prosecutors looking for an excuse not…

Aug 22, 2007 3:37 PM CDT

Toy Litigation Legacy: Monitoring Rules?

Updated: As lawsuits mount over a recall of toys that may contain dangerous levels of lead paint, the litigation could lead to new precedent of interest to lawyers in a wide range of tort cases. That is because the lawsuits are likely to ask for a controversial remedy—medical monitoring of…

Aug 20, 2007 5:28 PM CDT

FBI Big-Case Interviews Soon on Web

The National Law Enforcement Museum isn’t scheduled to open for another four years. But it doesn’t need a bricks-and-mortar building to provide access to interviews of FBI agents about big cases on which they’ve worked. Surprisingly candid interview transcripts will be posted by the end of 2008 on the museum’s…

Aug 16, 2007 11:22 PM CDT

Did Pedophile Violate Unusual Order?

A self-proclaimed pedophile who was the subject of an unusual injunction earlier this month was arrested twice yesterday. Initially, Jack McClellan, 45, was arrested yesterday afternoon on suspicion of violating a temporary restraining order imposed Aug. 3 that prohibits him from coming within 10 yards of any child in California,…

Aug 14, 2007 5:15 PM CDT

Is Possible MN Bridge Design Flaw Nat’l?

Defective construction components known as gusset plates may have helped cause last week’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis, raising concern about other bridges constructed with the same components nationwide. Hundreds of gusset plates, steel parts that connect bridge girders, were used on the Interstate 35 bridge, and they may not have…

Aug 9, 2007 9:34 PM CDT

Judge OKs, Adds to Pedophile Injunction

Two Santa Clarita lawyers who sought an injunction to protect their daughters and other local children from associating with a self-admitted pedophile got everything they sought from a California judge today—and more. They had asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent Jack McClellan, a 45-year-old who admittedly is sexually…

Aug 3, 2007 7:15 PM CDT

Injunction Sought for Admitted Pedophile

Jack McClellan has never even been arrested for a child sex offense, let alone convicted. But the 45-year-old California man, who appears to live largely in his car in the Santa Monica area, publicly proclaims his attraction to children, saying that he might act on it if it were legal…

Aug 2, 2007 3:37 PM CDT