Legal Theory

But Is It War?

Conservatives debate the limits of executive power post-9/11

Sep 1, 2007 7:30 AM CDT

The Architects

The Bush administration lawyers who created the blueprint for the legal war on terror

Sep 1, 2007 7:15 AM CDT

“If I Represented Bin Laden ...”

Imagine Osama bin Laden is captured by U.S. forces on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He’s transported to the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan—blocks from the World Trade Center site—where he has been under indictment for the 1993 attacks on U.S. troops in Somalia and the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Sep 1, 2007 6:15 AM CDT

A Uniform Complaint

Former military lawyers recount their fight to define justice for enemy combatants

Sep 1, 2007 5:45 AM CDT

Pedophile Order Is Invalid, Case Dropped

A California judge’s unusual order prohibiting a self-described pedophile from getting within 10 yards of the state’s children is invalid, according to Los Angeles prosecutors. But an attorney who persuaded a judge to issue the order earlier this month says the real problem is prosecutors looking for an excuse not…

Aug 22, 2007 3:37 PM CDT

Toy Litigation Legacy: Monitoring Rules?

Updated: As lawsuits mount over a recall of toys that may contain dangerous levels of lead paint, the litigation could lead to new precedent of interest to lawyers in a wide range of tort cases. That is because the lawsuits are likely to ask for a controversial remedy—medical monitoring of…

Aug 20, 2007 5:28 PM CDT

FBI Big-Case Interviews Soon on Web

The National Law Enforcement Museum isn’t scheduled to open for another four years. But it doesn’t need a bricks-and-mortar building to provide access to interviews of FBI agents about big cases on which they’ve worked. Surprisingly candid interview transcripts will be posted by the end of 2008 on the museum’s…

Aug 16, 2007 11:22 PM CDT

Did Pedophile Violate Unusual Order?

A self-proclaimed pedophile who was the subject of an unusual injunction earlier this month was arrested twice yesterday. Initially, Jack McClellan, 45, was arrested yesterday afternoon on suspicion of violating a temporary restraining order imposed Aug. 3 that prohibits him from coming within 10 yards of any child in California,…

Aug 14, 2007 5:15 PM CDT

Is Possible MN Bridge Design Flaw Nat’l?

Defective construction components known as gusset plates may have helped cause last week’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis, raising concern about other bridges constructed with the same components nationwide. Hundreds of gusset plates, steel parts that connect bridge girders, were used on the Interstate 35 bridge, and they may not have…

Aug 9, 2007 9:34 PM CDT

Judge OKs, Adds to Pedophile Injunction

Two Santa Clarita lawyers who sought an injunction to protect their daughters and other local children from associating with a self-admitted pedophile got everything they sought from a California judge today—and more. They had asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent Jack McClellan, a 45-year-old who admittedly is sexually…

Aug 3, 2007 7:15 PM CDT

Injunction Sought for Admitted Pedophile

Jack McClellan has never even been arrested for a child sex offense, let alone convicted. But the 45-year-old California man, who appears to live largely in his car in the Santa Monica area, publicly proclaims his attraction to children, saying that he might act on it if it were legal…

Aug 2, 2007 3:37 PM CDT

Fla. Deals Cold-Case Cards to Inmates

In what a Miami newspaper describes as a macabre—and, so far, unique—game of cold-case poker in the nation’s prisons, authorities in Florida are spending $80,000 to print and deal out to inmates decks of special playing cards that provide information about unsolved crimes and photographs of victims. The poker decks,…

Jul 25, 2007 10:17 PM CDT

Will U.S. Class Actions Invade Europe?

American lawyers and European politicians have discovered they have a common interest in opening the door to class action litigation. Such mass tort suits require changes in the law, to permit plaintiffs with similar claims to band together. But some politicians are interested in enacting legislation to allow European class…

Jul 24, 2007 6:30 PM CDT

Girls in Jail Need Beauty, Kind Words

Throughout the country, prisons are run in a paramilitary manner that seems to work for men. But it’s not nearly as effective for young women, experts believe. So, as the number of girls in jail goes up, juvenile authorities in Illinois have been developing new kind of lock-up for young…

Jul 16, 2007 6:35 PM CDT

UK Considers Citizen Travel Restrictions

Concerned about possible terrorism-related visits abroad by immigrants and British citizens, U.K. officials are considering imposing a ban on travel to certain countries by convicted criminals. In the wake of ongoing terrorist incidents, including recent failed attempts by a group comprised largely of immigrant physicians to blow up fuel-laden cars…

Jul 12, 2007 7:32 PM CDT