July 4 is here, and we have an opportunity to adopt a more truthful narrative about the celebration of our nation’s birth and the racism upon which it was formed. This year while we look back on the almost 250 years since Americans freed themselves from England’s oppression, we must acknowledge that our nation has [...]
Author’s Note: During my tenure as the first Supreme Court Archivist-Legal Historian to the Supreme Court of Missouri, I authored an in-house history column. Reproduced below is my July Fourth column from 2013. On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife Abigail. “My dear Friend,” , “he Second of July, 1776, [...]
Since murder is a horrible wrong, preventing a murder must be a good thing, right? Truth be told, it can get complicated. Among the many questions raised by the killing of George Floyd, we should pause to consider what would have happened if a bystander had actually been successful in rescuing Floyd from the knee [...]
“I can’t breathe”, “please, please, please”. These words are still fresh in the mind of netizens all around the world and will continue to ring shock and anger in their hearts for a long time to come. These were the last words of African-American George Floyd before he was consciously murdered by a group of [...]
On 11 June 2020, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Baldassi & Ors v. France set aside an ‘incitement to discrimination’ conviction of activists avowing commitment to the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” movement. With a groundswell of support amongst the Palestinian diaspora, this campaign usually employs boycott mechanisms against Israeli universities, products, businesses, and [...]
On May 29th, the fuel tank at a power plant near the Siberian city of Norilsk, Russia collapsed spilling 20,000 tons of oil into River Ambarnaya inside the Arctic Circle, turning it crimson red, contaminating 350 sq. km. land, affecting around 180,000 people. The plant was operated by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, the world’s [...]
On the 20th of December, 2019 the United States Space Force (USSF) was commissioned as an independent branch of the US Armed Forces. From its very foundation, the USSF seems to have been caught in a legal tussle with Netflix over a very interesting issue of Intellectual Property Rights. The release of “Space Force” starring [...]
I am a native Tampanian, and in 1992 I graduated from Vanderbilt University Law school. Because I spent my last year of law school studying abroad, a novel idea back then, the law school registrar would not certify my graduation for me to sit for the July bar exam in 1992. This was the first [...]
Susan Sorella is in her last year at Suffolk Law School in Boston. When she began clerking for criminal defense lawyer Bobby Coughlin, Susan had no idea she would become a central figure in a murder case that pitted the mob against corrupt FBI agents. Or that she would be compelled to take the lead [...]
The option to remain apolitical, in the past few decades has been available only for a privileged few. As people around the world are becoming more aware of the rights they possess, and about the injustices prevalent in society, they have started raising their voices. Sportspersons are the few people who are universally adored and [...]
