University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog

Carla Bruni Upstaged?

Yup - it has finally happened, and by a real princess too!

Garth's Revenge

No not Garth from Wayne's World, but rather former MP Garth Turner.  His new book, Sheeple, is a tell-all about his two years in the House (after an absence of 13 years) and his run-ins with the PM and his staff. I look forward to reading this book, because it has been a while since a juicy tell-all has been published, and I love to read gossip.

Based on what little I have read about the book so far, I am not sure Garth Turner is completely innocent either. Suggesting that we Albertans are a bunch of "hostile, me-first, greedy, macho, selfish" losers doesn't exactly make him an endearing character. The atmosphere of silence in the Harper administration, on the other hand, doesn't sit well with us out West, where we have a very open and democratic provincial government.

Justice Breyer's Underwear

Did kids in Justice Breyer's school stick stuff in his underwear when he was a kid, or did he do the sticking? This hilarious line came out in a rather unfunny case before the US Supreme Court, Safford Unified School District v. April Redding on appeal from the Ninth Circuit, in which the issue of what the reasonable limits are for school searches was under discussion.

In this case, a 13 year old girl was strip-searched, because someone alleged she had some pills on her. No pills were ever found. The US Supreme Court has taken a dim view of school-children's rights against unlawful searches and seizures, and, in this, even the usually liberal Breyer joins in as he did in the Bong Hits case.

Then again what counts as liberal and conservative is not clear, as the case of Arizona v. Gant shows. Scalia and Thomas joined Stevens, Ginsburg, and Souter to limit the ability of police to conduct warrantless searches of a vehicle if they did not fear for their safety.

Howard Roark

The Fountainhead  was on last night on TCM. Gary Cooper does an excellent job, especially whgen he delivers Howard Roark's speech:

Earth Day Celebrations Postponed

It is a bit ironic that Earth Day is being postponed in Edmonton, because it is too cold.

Bea Arthur RIP

The star of Maude and the Gloden Girls passed away today.

Prejean and Phelps an Item?

The controversial Miss California might be dating Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, despite a vehement denial by the swimmer himself. She did receive a standing ovation at the Gospel Music awards. No word, however, if they shared a bong hit on their first date.

Cool iPhone App

Hmmmm, I may have to switch over to the iPhone just because of this cool app.: Black's Law Dictionary! (h/t Legally Minded)

Recession means no prosecutions?

A northern California county has decided, that since it is laying off 18 prosecutors due to the recessionary pressures on the budget, not to prosecute certain misdemeanors such "non-DUI traffic offenses such as driving with a suspended license and reckless driving, simple assault and battery, lewd conduct, trespassing and shoplifting."

Starr on Bong Hits

The case known as the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case pushed back the free speech protections for students in public schools.

Now Dean Ken Starr has posted this article on the Bong Hits case, the abstract of which is as follows:

The Supreme Court's decision in Morse v. Frederick, otherwise known as the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case, highlights the non-realization of Chief Justice Roberts's goal of greater cohesion and unanimity among the nine Justices. Bong Hits is an example of the Chief Justice appearing increasingly among the majority, Justice Stevens speaking vigorously for the minority, and Justice Thomas's iconoclastic approach to constitutional issues. Importantly, the case also reveals a trend of alliance between Justices Kennedy and Alito and their shared Hamiltonian skepticism of local power, as well as Chief Justice Roberts' unsuccessful attempts to limit constitutional questions to narrow grounds of decision. This Essay explores the divided factions of the Court through the lens of Bong Hits and offers further insight into the Justices' constitutional jurisprudence.

(h/t Solum)

I should point out that Dean Starr argued the case for the school district and prevailed.

The Stripper and the Judge

I agree with the sentiment that

"It is axiomatic that 'Judge' and 'Stripper' showing up in a headline is never a good thing, especially if you happen to be the 'Judge.'

This story has the juicy details. (h/t How Appealing)

The Power of the State to Destory

With respect to the Chatterjee discussion regarding asset forfeiture, it seems that Grant and Marnie summed up my viewpoints on the subject in the comments.

As to the point that somehow the state is no different than any other plaintiff in a hearing seeking to dispute the ownsership of property, I guess this boils down to your perspective on the state, the power it wields, and those who are in charge of wielding it.  Stories like this one do not give any confidence in the state nor its agents. Here is a man who was wronged by revenue canada and lost his business, yet the state stands unapologetic and refuses to make things right.

The experiences in the United States with asset forfeiture do not bode well for us in Canada.

No Prosecution for Torture Memos

By now, some are up in arms over President Obama's refusal to prosecute those who authored or implemented the torture memos. The UN dude on Torture claimed that the decision not to prosecute was illegal [must resist all sorts of comments about the UN and its self-righteous types]. Meanwhile the defenders of the memos claim that the they were effective and were done for the general good.

I was reminded, however, of our own equivalent episode of government heavy-handedness (reading Michael Cust's post) of PE Trudeau's famous interview, in which a very fiesty reporter asked the hard questions:

So the question for those who think Obama should prosecute the Bush team, should we be prosecuting those behind the invocation of the War Measures Act, including PET himself (if he were alive).

While we are on the subject of PET, here is the famous "fuddle duddle" incident, or at least the reporting behind it:

Order in the Courtroom

Don't disrupt this judge's courtroom.

Can Miss CA sue for Discrimination?

By now most of you should have followed the controversy over Miss California's denial of the Miss USA Crown based on her answer to Perez Hilton's gay marriage question. Now some are arguing that she has a claim of discrimination based on her reliious views.

Was Domino's Too Late?

It seems that responding to a crisis 48 hours later is now too late. How times have changed! The story discusses the case of when some employees at a Domino's recorded themselves

It started when the two employees posted YouTube videos of themselves engaging in a number of public health law violations: putting cheese in the nose, blowing mucous on a sandwich and putting a sponge, used to wash dishes, between the buttocks. The videos went viral online, viewed by millions of people. They were identified by YouTube viewers, who alerted Domino’s officials. The pranksters were promptly arrested.

It seems now that "[y]our response time is only 24 hours."

This means that managers and lawyers will need to learn the skillsets of quick thinking and adaptation.

Xylopholks

This video has nothing to do with law, but cute nontheless:

Teachers shouldn't Say Kill

I know being a school teacher can be stressful, but you would have to be quite stressed to say you want to kill someone. What exactly the teacher said is the subject of dispute but also the basis of a lawsuit filed by the tecaher against the school for calling the police and sending her for psychiatric help. Ultimately theSupreme Court of New Jersey ruled against the teacher.

Female Lawyer in Saudi Arabia

This is an interesting story about a female lawyer in Saudi Arabia who is doing quite a bit of pro bono work in the area of family law.

S. Korean Blogger Acquitted

A South Korean Prophet of Doom blogger was charged with spreading false news, but was acquiteed, because he was right! (h/t ATL).