A person can not be prevented from being their own lawyer, and the defense has the absolute right to cross examine the accuser. Hence the quagmire.

I think Canada inserted a proxy mandate for this subset of crimes. Dude wants to represent himself, fine, he can do that. But he MUST have a court officier handle the questioning of the accuser. He can do all the other stuff on his own, and he can confer with the court officer about what questions he wants posed but…

Scalia wrote the Crawford majority, so he is responsible for the controlling law, not Rehnquist’s concurrence. Scalia was also joined by every single other justice in the judgment, so you’d have to kill at least 5 judges.

It was Scalia’s majority opinion that brought the Confrontation Clause back. Rehnquist concurred, but would have decided the case on Roberts “indicia of reliability” grounds.

Go back in time and assassinate William Rehnquist before he could revive the Confrontation Clause in his opinion in Crawford v. Washington?

And/or she told herself that. Which is exactly that which I would have done. Told myself that if I didn’t engage, his tiresome game would eventually lose steam; told myself that if I blocked him, he might escalate; told myself that this was his escape valve, and that to close it might lead to increasingly dangerous…

The constitutional right of the accused to confront the accuser. It’s something that does more good than harm, but it leaves victims of sexual abuse and stalking in horrible positions that often results in them refusing to testify. I’m not sure of the solution though. Ideas? Also while keeping in mind to change this…

Oh, Ashanti. They told you not to engage, didn’t they, and now he’s saying that your failure to engage was just proof that you wanted all that harassment. Fuck that guy, fuck the assholes who gave you bad advice, and here’s hoping he’s found guilty on all charges.

Always done it up-down, up-down. Also picked Yale and went to law school.

I am an up-down because unlike today’s college students, I know how to follow rules, dammit.

Author here (IN THE GREYS). A couple points. First, then-Senator Obama’s support for a filibuster was based on his gripes with Justice Alito’s ideology. So far, it looks like any GOP filibuster would be based on...running out the clock on any nominee regardless of their beliefs. It’s OK for senators to disapprove of a…

The most hilarious scenario is Republicans stop the nomination of a new Justice, Hilary wins and nominates Obama.
I’m pretty sure I’d die laughing.

Did not know that but this is cool.

Let’s also remember Bernie is the only candidate paying his interns!

This shit isn’t funny.

A few weeks ago I was walking my dog home from a friend’s house and felt the urgent call of nature. My dog, on the other hand, felt the need to stop every six inches and smell every plant and befriend every other dog we encountered. IT WAS SWEATY, TENSE AGONY.

I was on Tinder until I got a bernie sensation when I peed.

It is actually pretty standard to suspend an officer and investigate whenever they fire their weapon. Most officers never fire their weapon, so it should be investigated and the officer should be given mental health support.

I was once in the window seat of a row of three. There was a gentleman in the aisle seat. As the boarding process ended, it became clear that the middle seat was to remain blissfully empty and I felt immediate relief, until the gentleman picked himself up, scooted over, and started to lower his ass into the vacant…

Pay for first class if you want ample-ish room. Otherwise, suck it up you discount fare buying plebe.