In California Supporting the Boy Scouts May Disqualify Judges

If you support traditional marriage or are a member of the Catholic Church or other "hate groups" like the Boy Scouts you are not qualified to serve as a Judge.  Full story here.

Little Known Legal Challenge Could Torpedo Obamacare

Full story from Yahoo News.

Shaking Baby Syndrome

Shaking Baby Syndrome: Are parents going to prison for a diagnosis that doesn't exist?  Interesting article from The Verge.

Why it’s so hard for SCOTUSblog to get Supreme Court press credentials | Poynter.

SCOTUS blog is the premier source for information about cases before the Supreme Court.  Then why are they about to loose their press credentials?  Why it’s so hard for SCOTUSblog to get Supreme Court press credentials | Poynter.

Federal Judge Rules Ohio Must Recognize Out of State Same Sex Marriages

Full story here.

From the Anglo-Saxons to the ABA

I did it.  And it was quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself.  I read all 1144 pages of Professors Langbein, Lerner and Smith’s massive textbook on legal history: History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions (Aspen, 2009).

This book could be described as everything you ever wanted to know about the Common Law but was afraid to ask.  The book begins by describing law and order in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest of 1066 and ends with a description of the legal profession in the United States in the twenty first century.

Greatest Stars of the Common Law:  Lord Chief Justice Edward Coke

If you ever wanted to know what procedure was utilized in the Court of the Exchequer in the 18th century, this is the book for you.  It took me, off and on, probably about six months of mornings to read this all the way through.  It was a really worthwhile experience.  I learned a great deal of interesting facts which explain why we do things the way we do them.  For instance, the authors opine that the procedure of the Chancery Courts in England have swallowed up the Common Law in Civil Cases in the modern United States.  All of our pre-trial discovery procedures, interrogatories, depositions and pre-trial motions have their root in the practice of the Courts of Equity.  A common law trial on the other hand, was a pleading contest to narrow an issue to submit to a jury.  Depositions and written interrogatories were unknown to the Common Law.

There are liberal quotes throughout the book from all of the “greats” of the law.  Lord Hale, Lord Cook, and Blackstone are all here as well as American greats like John Marshall, Oliver Wendall Holmes, and Benjamin Cardozo.

If you have any interest in legal history, and you have the time.  History of the Common Law by Langbein, Lerner and Smith is well worth your time.

Professor John H. Langbein, Sterling Professor of Legal History, Yale University

Oklahoma Inmate Sues to Change Name to "Apokalypse God Allah"

Full story here.

EEOC Sues Business For Using the Same Background Check Used By EEOC

Full story here.

Man Cleared of Murder After 25 Years

Full story here.