Eugster Law & Comment

Where are those few lawyers of the late 60’s and early 70’s who cared about the poor, the outcast, the overwhelmed, the environment, the public trust, the public interest?  They no longer exist, for the very most part.  The lawyers, judges, people who appoint judges, the people who elect judges, the law schools and the professors [...]

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In an interview with Bill Moyers, Martha Nussbaum, speaking of the tragic sense of life said she thought ethics was founded upon an inner sense or hope that others could be trusted to be ethical, good.   I later read a comment in conjunction with her book The Fragility of Goodness  that
[s]he eventually rejects the Platonic notion that [...]

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Martha Nussbaum speaking to Bill Moyers about ethics, trust in others and the hope of such trust, and tragedy on YouTube here.  For more about Martha Nussbaum see Taimur Kahn’s website.

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The Washington Court of Appeals, Division Three, decided another case dealing with whether the Washington Public Disclosure Act (RCW Ch. 42.56) applies to non-public entities which provide government services at the behest of the government. Leonora Claire Clarke v. Tri-Cities Animal Care & Control Shelter, No. 25222-1 - III (Apr. 24, 2008). In this case, [...]

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A fallacy of logic is a method of reasoning that does not have a sound basis in reason.
One fallacy we have quick recognition of is ad hominem argument  or  argumentum ad hominem (Latin: “argument to the man”, “argument against the man”).  Using this fallacy, one replies to an argument or factual claim by saying something about the [...]

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Justice Scalia is critical of the New York Times regarding the Riegel v. Medtronics.  He says the paper does not pay attention to the essence of the case and instead reports it as expression of political power. 
An interesting criticism but the issue is really this — is the Court a political body or something else? We like to [...]

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We like to think the Supreme Court is the highest point of the wisdom of our country.  From the minds of nine people dressed in robes and distant from the great swarm of people who employ them, come the great truths upon which we govern ourselves.  We would think The Nine are on top of all of the important issues of our [...]

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The other day, I listened to one of our Supreme Court justices, Anton Scalia, talk about a book –Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges – he had written with another, a writer employed to write by one of the larger law book publishers, a “household name” in the legal profession. There was not [...]

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In Richard Sobol’s book Bending the Law: The Story of the Dalkon Shield Bankruptcy , a rather momentous example of earwigging of a federal district court judge is described.
In the Preface to the book, Mr. Sobol describes how A. H. Robins Company, the manufacturer of the Dalkon Shield, sought to consolidate the Dalkon Shield Litigation [...]

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The leaders of the social ethic of the Mississippi legal culture are handing out accolades these days. For instance an award was given recently to the Circuit Court judge who became an agent of the federal government who entrapped people in a judicial bribe which he had proposed.
The United States District Court judge who handed [...]

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