NCAA Madness

Photo by David Reber

I know, I know.  We’re not in March.  It’s the middle of summer.  But I’m not writing about March Madness.  I’m writing about NCAA rules madness.  For example, most college sports fans have heard of the NCAA rules violations at Ohio State University.  That debacle is just one in a long line of similar debacles bringing shame to college sports and destroying the illusion of the student athlete.  Well, not so fast.  On closer inspection, the problem might be with the rule makers, not the rule breakers.

“It’s a Wall Street government.”

Our criminal justice system has two extremes.  On one end of the spectrum, we imprison people for decades for using marijuana or having consensual sex with their fellow teenagers.  On the other end of the spectrum, we turn the other way for the really harmful stuff.  For example, despite the blatant fraud and the trillions of dollars in public losses, those responsible for the recent financial meltdown were never prosecuted and rarely even investigated; instead, some of them walked away with hundreds of millions in bonuses while we bailed out their companies.  And that’s what the documentary Inside Job is all about.

An alternative to the jury system?

Criticism of the jury system is probably as old as the jury system itself.  But while criticizing is one thing, coming up with a better alternative is another.  And for years, I had thought that the jury system was pretty darn good as it is.  But then I got an idea: Why don’t we just let Nancy Grace decide?

Dead Again: The Latest Demise of the Confrontation Clause

I am very pleased to announce that my essay, Dead Again: The Latest Demise of the Confrontation Clause, has been accepted for publication in the Fordham Law Review, which is the sixth most cited law review in the country.  The expected publication date for the essay is December, 2011, and I’ll post a link to the full text at that time.  My previous law review articles on the Confrontation Clause can be found here and here, and the rest of my law review articles can be found here.