FINDLAW COLUMNISTS

• The Supreme Court's Blockbuster Second Amendment Ruling: What the Court Resolved and What it Left Open

• The Response to California's Gay Marriage Ruling: How the Losing Side's Tactics Harken Back to the Fight Over Racial Equality

• Banning Loaded Words at Criminal Trials: A Well-Meaning But Foolish Approach to Protecting Defendants

• The Virginia Supreme Court Enforces Vermont's Custody and Visitation Order Regarding a Same-Sex Couple's Child: Why an Anti-Same-Sex-Marriage State Recognized a Same-Sex Union For This Purpose

• Why The Costs of Sexual Abuse and the Costs of Non-Enforcement of Anti-Sexual-Abuse Laws Are Too High

• The Supreme Court's Recent Child Pornography Decision: Why Justices Souter and Ginsburg Dissented: Part Two in a Two-Part Series of Columns

BOOK REVIEW

• A Review of Marci Hamilton's Justice Denied: What America Must Do To Protect Its Children

FINDLAW COLUMNISTS:

THE SUPREME COURT'S BLOCKBUSTER SECOND AMENDMENT RULING: WHAT THE COURT RESOLVED AND WHAT IT LEFT OPEN
(Michael Dorf) - FindLaw columnist and Columbia law professor Michael Dorf discusses the Supreme Court ruling on gun rights that has recently made headlines. Dorf explains the different approaches to interpretation used by the majority and the dissenters, and considers ways in which gun-rights groups may seek to extend the ruling -- for instance, by arguing that gun rights extend to guns worn by civilians in public, not just guns kept in the home. In addition, Dorf considers what the Court ought to do when it is arguable that a constitutional provision -- or, at least, its original meaning -- may have become obsolete under the different conditions that apply in today's society. Read more...

THE RESPONSE TO CALIFORNIA'S GAY MARRIAGE RULING: HOW THE LOSING SIDE'S TACTICS HARKEN BACK TO THE FIGHT OVER RACIAL EQUALITY
(Vikram Amar) - FindLaw columnist and U.C., Davis law professor Vikram Amar discusses the parallel between the fight over racial equality and the fight over gay marriage -- as manifested in the opposition's response to the California Supreme Court decision holding that, under the state's constitution, gay and straight couples must be accorded an equal right to marry. Amar describes the opposition's argument that no gay marriages should be celebrated until Californians choose whether to reverse the Court's decision at the ballot box-- an argument with which not a single California Justice, even the dissenters, agreed -- and parallels it to attempts at foot-dragging on school segregation after Brown v. Board of Education. Amar also parallels some California counties' attempt to not perform marriages at all, with some Southern schools' decision to close rather than desegregate. Read more...

BANNING LOADED WORDS AT CRIMINAL TRIALS: A WELL-MEANING BUT FOOLISH APPROACH TO PROTECTING DEFENDANTS
(Sherry Colb) - FindLaw columnist and Cornell law professor Sherry Colb discusses the phenomenon of courts' employing word bans during trials on the theory that juries will be inappropriately influenced if witnesses use words that suggest or embody legal conclusions -- such as "rape," "victim," "crime scene," "homicide," and "drunk." Colb argues that while word bans do not raise significant First Amendment issues in light of judges' traditional leeway to control trials, they do tend to frustrate, rather than enhance, the trial's core process of seeking the truth. She also notes the special difficulty that occurs in instances where if one word is banned, the alternate word is also freighted -- such as when witnesses banned from saying "rape" must then say "intercourse," which may imply consent. Read more...

THE VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT ENFORCES VERMONT'S CUSTODY AND VISITATION ORDER REGARDING A SAME-SEX COUPLE'S CHILD: WHY AN ANTI-SAME-SEX-MARRIAGE STATE RECOGNIZED A SAME-SEX UNION FOR THIS PURPOSE
(Joanna Grossman) - FindLaw columnist and Hofstra law professor Joanna Grossman discusses an interesting recent judicial decision regarding same-sex unions. The case arose when a lesbian couple entered into a civil union in Vermont, where they then resided. One of the women used anonymous donor sperm to give birth to a child that the two women agreed to raise together; however, her partner did not adopt the child. When the couple dissolved their civil union, the biological mother sought to deny visitation to her former civil-union partner, despite a Vermont court's visitation order. Grossman explains why the Virginia Supreme Court court held that visitation was required, despite the fact that Virginia is a strongly anti-same-sex-unions state. Read more...

WHY THE COSTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND THE COSTS OF NON-ENFORCEMENT OF ANTI-SEXUAL-ABUSE LAWS ARE TOO HIGH
(Marci Hamilton) - FindLaw columnist and Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton discusses the costs of sexual abuse, and the related costs of failing to zealously enforce the laws against it. In particular, Hamilton responds to recent coverage of the financial costs of the Texas Child Services and court proceedings regarding the children taken out of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound in Eldorado. She argues that the coverage seriously erred in leaving out the costs on the other side -- which are steep, and which can be partially monetized in terms of lost productivity and the need for the treatment of abuse's consequences, such as addiction and mental illness. Hamilton also suggests ways our society can decrease the heavy costs of child sexual abuse. Read more...

THE SUPREME COURT'S RECENT CHILD PORNOGRAPHY DECISION: WHY JUSTICES SOUTER AND GINSBURG DISSENTED: PART TWO IN A TWO-PART SERIES OF COLUMNS
(Julie Hilden) - In Part Two of a two-part series of columns on the Supreme Court's recent child pornography decision, FindLaw columnist, attorney, and author Julie Hilden contrasts the views of the Court majority, as expressed by Justice Scalia, and those of the dissenters, Justices Souter and Ginsburg. As Hilden explains, the scenario on which the majority and dissent differ occurs when a defendant believes and tells his customer that he is offering illegal child pornography, but actually is offering First Amendment-protected virtual child pornography (which, by definition, involves no real children) instead. Read more...

BOOK REVIEW:

A REVIEW OF MARCI HAMILTON'S JUSTICE DENIED: WHAT AMERICA MUST DO TO PROTECT ITS CHILDREN
(Thomas P. Doyle) - FindLaw book reviewer, canon lawyer, and child abuse advocate Thomas P. Doyle reviews FindLaw columnist Marci Hamilton's new book, "Justice Denied: What America Must Do To Protect Its Children." Doyle praises Hamilton for writing a book that is straightforward and clearly written, and for painting "a vivid and shocking picture of child sexual abuse which should disavow the attitudes of those who think its limited to sinister looking street denizens in dirty trench coats." Read more...