I posted not long ago on the Innocence Project’s use of DNA identification to exonerate an innocent man, and direct prosecutors toward a guilty one. Tragically, Robert Lee Stinson spent twenty-three years in prison for a crime he did not commit, until being exonerated. For all those years, an actual killer, Moses Price, was uncharged…
Law
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Government’s Overreach: Trying to Learn What You Read
by JOHN ADAMS •
Government officials often act as more than representatives of their people — they pursue an interest apart from their people, an often intrusive one into the lives of private citizens. In North Carolina, online retailer Amazon has filed a lawsuit to prevent block a North Carolina Department of Revenue request for individually identifiable information on…
Elkhorn, Law
Walworth County’s Arrogance of a Few
by JOHN ADAMS •
Walworth County is a small rural county in southeast Wisconsin. There are diverse delights in the county, from the many capable, caring, common people who live here, and from the natural beauty visible from at every vantage. Sadly, many of our politicians, bureaucrats, and judges are not among those delights. Even the simplest understanding seems…
Free Markets, Law, Laws/Regulations
Freeing Small Farms: Minnesota Farms Fight Protectionism
by JOHN ADAMS •
One often hears that residents should ‘shop locally.’ That’s a choice any consumer should be able to make. What would happen if a city told residents that not only should they shop locally, but that they could only buy products produced locally? Not a suggestion, not a request, but a law that said: Residents can…
City, Law, Laws/Regulations, Planning
Whitewater’s Planning Commission Meeting from 5/10/10: Residential Overlay
by JOHN ADAMS •
At Item 10 of the May 10th Planning Commission meeting, the Planning Commission considered a residential overlay ordinance, that would place greater restrictions than there would be, for example, in a conventional R-1 zoning district. (Two or fewer unrelated persons living in the single residence, rather than three or fewer persons.) The item stated that…
Law
Dodgy Science (Trying to Get) in the Courtroom
by JOHN ADAMS •
We’re an inventive people, but not every invention is reasonable simply because it’s the product of human reasoning. An good example of a bad idea is almost surely fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans to detect dishonesty. Wired has published a few stories about the procedure, the results of which a defense attorney in…
Law, Police
DNA to Exonerate the Innocent (and Identify the Guilty)
by JOHN ADAMS •
At the Wisconsin State Journal, there’s a story about the Wisconsin Innocence Project’s work on behalf of an innocent man. Entitled, DNA project finally clears name of wrongly imprisoned man, the story shows the excellent work of Wisconsin’s Innocence Project: The state’s effort to collect thousands of missing DNA profiles has paid off for a…
Free Markets, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
CNN: Rights Groups Say They Will Challenge New Arizona Immigration Law
by JOHN ADAMS •
A legal challenge is right and inevitable: Arizona’s law will lead to abuse of citizens and non-citizens, and will inhibit a free market in labor, making Arizonans poorer and life there harsher. The law is destined for failure and obloquy, as were the restrictive efforts in California under Gov. Pete Wilson years ago. (That’s something…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
A Proper American Response
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Washington Post, columnist Michael Gerson summarizes nicely what’s wrong with Arizona’s anti-immigration law: This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny — but it also makes it harder for some American…
Law, Police
Live Program on Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture, 11 AM Central
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Cato Institute will hold a policy forum today, Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at noon Eastern, 11 a.m. Central on the Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture. The program will feature Scott Bullock, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice; and Marian R. Williams, Department of Government and Justice Studies, Appalachian State University; with comments by Scott Burns,…
Law, Libertarians
Vote for the Institute for Justice for a Webby Award
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Webby Awards are accepting votes, and the Institute for Justice – a libertarian, public interest law firm – is up for one of the awards. They’ve produced sharp and interesting presentations in support of their work on behalf of economic liberty and fundamental rights. I’ve been happy to post their some of their work.…
Law, Libertarians, Police
Institute for Justice Case on Civil Asset Forfeiture
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted yesterday on the risk to communities of burdening law enforcement with a profit motive. Here’s an example, from Texas, of how distorted and unfair civil asset forfeiture can become. A news video describes the situation of a client of the Institute for Justice, Zaher El-Ali, whose Chevy Silverado was seized, even though he…
Law, Police
The Institute for Justice on “Policing for Profit.”
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve posted before on the work of the Institute for Justice, and readers can find their website on my blogroll, on the left side of this website. They’re a libertarian public interest law firm, and they sometimes produced videos describing cases and issues in their work. They have two that they’ve recently recorded, and I’ll…
Law
King Kong, YouTube, Universal Studios, and Publishing
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m a fan of both the original King Kong (1933) and the Peter Jackson version (2005). They’re both astonishing, and among the finest American films I’ve ever seen. (I know Peter Jackson’s from New Zeland, but his film is American in scope, and deep in an understanding of this country. One of the reasons that…