Law Talkin' Guy

I intended to write a longer post about this topic, but life got in the way this week. Please accept this hastily constructed blog teaser in lieu of the whole enchilada: A few weeks ago I wrote about the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of the right to an attorney. One of the limitations of the right…

Most Law Talkin' Guy posts concern significant areas of Constitutional law, its history and application to our lives. This is important stuff information worth discussing.  Last week we focused on one of the "Law and Order" rights, so-called due to its familiarity from the popular TV show. However, we cannot spend all of our time…

Today I am going to write a little about the Sixth Amendment, focusing on one of the "Law and Order" rights that many people are familiar with. "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime…

Law Talkin' Guy has been on vacation and will return to regularly scheduled programming next week. Until then, remember that marijuana was first made illegal for several bullshit reasons, including but not limited to outright racism, the opposition of people who learned the wrong lessons from Prohibition, and big business not wanting to compete with…

Most Law Talkin' Guy posts are summaries of current law, with highlights of existing Supreme Court decisions, but today is different. A friend of LTG is concerned about the impact of the "Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act" of 2017 (FOSTA), which the President signed into law this week. Despite the…

One reason I write these posts is so that my readers can make informed political decisions. Although this is a law blog, law is intertwined with policy, and regardless of your beliefs, you need to work within the system to effect real change. What follows is not necessarily the policy I want or the law…

Last week I wrote briefly about Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case ruling "separate but equal" has no place in public education as it violates the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment is one of the three "Reconstruction Amendments," ratified after the Civil War. I am not a historian,…

"... of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants." Federalist Papers No. 1 (Hamilton) Not sure what's going on in the national conversation to make me think of this. Have a great week!

This week saw the passing of Linda Brown, who as a young girl was at the center of one of the most important Supreme Court cases in our history, Brown vs. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 (1954), and I could not call myself Law-Talkin' Guy if I did not take a few minutes to…

I've spent much of my law-thinking time considering the 2nd Amendment, and I will write a substantive 2nd Amendment post at some point. For today, there's one specific application of the 2nd Amendment that's been troubling me in light of other Constitutional history. Second Amendment supporters often note that the Founders intended the Amendment, among…