California’s vaunted “next Obama” debuts to mixed reviews in the national spotlight. Prior to arriving in Washington earlier this year, Senator Kamala Harris was known, mostly just among her fellow Californians, as the two-term district attorney in San Francisco and two-term state attorney …
Month: June 2017
In Texas, a State Supreme Court Maintains Integrity, Despite Politics
Cautious and low-profile, it dodges election hazards to preserve the status quo. The Texas Supreme Court has a unique structure, reflecting the state’s stubbornly independent-minded culture. Most state supreme courts have jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases and have seven (or fewer) memb…
The Emersonian Jurisprudence of Oliver Wendell Holmes
Legal scholars are endlessly fascinated by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935). To some, he is “the great dissenter,” whose frequently quoted opinions were a harbinger of Legal Realism. Sympathetic biographers and playwrights have described him as the “Magnificent Yankee” and the “Ya…