The September 2018 decision of Federal District Judge Troy Nunley in Tracy Rifle and Pistol LLC v. Harris is noteworthy for at least two reasons. First, the decision invalidated a California law prohibiting firearms retailers from displaying on the exterior of their premises any readily visible “handgun or imitation handgun, or placard advertising the sale or other [...]
After being detained for one year, the court released 17 lawyers held in custody in Turkey, but it was short-lived. Their release was pending on the final outcome of the trial, but within 24 hours of that decision, judges already started to reverse course due to the prosecutor’s objection. Since the*n, six lawyers were re-arrested, [...]
The joy and amazement Second Amendment supporters felt in July at two Ninth Circuit Appeals Court opinions were dashed in August when, in Pena v. Lindley the Ninth Circuit upheld California’s Unsafe Handgun Act banning purchase of new handguns that lack technology no current gun has and no manufacturer is contemplating. Although the two July opinions [...]
This week the Supreme Court gave the green light to stemming the tide of dark money being pumped into our political system. Last month the United States District Court for the District of Columbia made a sound and rational decision to help protect our democracy from an onslaught of dark money as we approach the [...]
On September 17, 2018, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly (99-1) in support of the Opioid Crisis Response Act (OCRA) of 2018. OCRA proposes a series of measures addressing the devastating, long-term impacts of opioid addiction and abuse nationally. Building on efforts previously authorized in 2016 via the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and the [...]
As the world turns inward, nationalistic perspectives are on the rise. It feels like 1930, where the international order laid out in the Versailles Treaty, was about to be turned upside down. Today, something terrible is lurking around the corner, sitting in the shadows of anarchy and fascism. The rule of law tentatively steps forward [...]
For the first time ever, on September 12, the European Parliament (EP) launched Article 7 TEU (Lisbon Treaty) proceedings against Hungary’s government. The Parliament began the action by adopting a report by Judith Sargentini, a member from the Netherlands. The report lists 12 major concerns from the functioning of the constitutional and the electoral system [...]
People like me, who believe we should have tighter regulation of firearms, like to use the word “reasonable.” We support reasonable gun control measures, steps that would preserve gun rights but keep guns out of the wrong hands and reduce the risk of harm from improper use of firearms. Those who support reasonable gun control must be willing to acknowledge [...]
Very conspicuously, Israel’s Palestinian foes regard “martyrdom” as among the highest expressions of religious sacredness. Nonetheless, there are distinctly prominent disjunctions between the pertinent obligations of faith and those of international law. In essence, only the latter set of obligations can have a properly authoritative place in assessing Palestinian resorts to international force. This is [...]
When considering the comments in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with the perspective of thirteen years since their landfall, I’ll paraphrase Mark Twain’s comment about an erroneously pre-mature 1897 obituary: “the reports of death are greatly exaggerated.” The perspective of time and the restoration of many services to the Hurricane Katrina and Rita-stricken Gulf Coast reveal that matters [...]