I just wanted to give my thanks to Mr. Olson for letting me post a few things here about the law, both within and without the usual range of this blog. If you’d like to read more of my posts, you’ll find me at Crescat Sententia.

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Howard Bashman, the other great source for law-related news on the web, is back and blogging.

This is a trifle off-topic, but a pair of posts by Amanda Butler highlight some intriguing issues about the way the law treats children, an issue I touched on briefly in a previous post on voting ages. Here is one post on Patrick Kennedy, sentenced to death for raping a child, and here is another, about a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to execute murderers under the age of 18.

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Down Under, Victoria’s Attorney General has come out in favor of a pretty far-reaching set of legal reforms designed to protect consumers:

While it is appropriate that justice is blind, that does not mean the Bracks Government is blind to the needs of the Victorian public.

With some inspiration from an article at a previous Overlawyered post, David Giacalone is inquiring into whether ethics classes make one more ethical.

Numerous proposals abound to extend the right to vote to children of any age. Micah Schwartzman thinks it’s a questionable idea, but stops short of condemning it entirely. He asks:

Place yourself in the original position and ask: if I didn?t know how old I would be when the veil is lifted, what principles of political representation would I favor? One-(adult) person, one vote?

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Is litigation weakening American Culture? Kevin McGuiness says no (see update) but Senator Mitch McConnell says yes. (Via Southern Appeal)

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(Registration Required): Citizens of Riverside are considering suing because the OC called them “White Trash” but Eugene Volokh thinks that they have no chance.

Illinois has passed a new dog law, which seems like a really complicated solution to a fairly simple problem.
Nick Tarasen of “Chicago Report” explains (pretty convincingly) why he thinks that the law is a bad idea.

Col. Kassem Saleh has apparently been making himself a little too popular with the ladies. It’s a fascinating question of whether one can get in trouble for “just talking” if one didn’t actually engage in any harassment at all. Indeed, the women seem to be complaining that they wanted more Saleh, not less.

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The Curmudgeonly Clerk has laudably detailed (if slightly disturbing) coverage of the case of Municipal Judge Charles Maestas, convicted of exchanging reduced sentences for sexual favors. The CNN report is available here.

I don’t know how many of y’all remember the King murder trials from last summer. Prosecutor David Rimmer was pursuing cases against both Mr. King’s two sons and an outsider named Mr. Chavis, and created a huge stir because the theory he was pursuing in one case was inconsistent with the theory he was pursuing in the other. Given that prosecutors are supposed to prove their cases beyond reasonable doubt, a lot of people were skeptical– if one tries to prove two contradictory things, surely it’s reasonable to doubt either or both?

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Hello all. My name is Will Baude and I’m very thankful to Mr. Olson for letting me blog here. I’m a student at the University of Chicago, and normally you’ll find me at the group-blog Crescat Sententia.
What with Howard Bashman on vacation, I’m happy to get email about any interesting law-related news, so if you see anything interesting, don’t hesitate to drop me an email.