Law and Order

When Bureaucrats Fill in the Gaps

By Justin Katz | May 24, 2010 |

Experience in Rhode Island has left me much more sensitive to this dynamic: In section after section of the massive 1,560-page Senate bill, lawmakers leave much of the details for the regulators to figure out. These are the bank and market overseers — the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the…

Connecting the Dots: The PPD Drug Ring

By Marc Comtois | March 9, 2010 |

It’s been a few days since the main players were divulged, so–based on information gathered in various stories–here is an attempt to show the links between the known players in the Providence PD drug ring and others. These links aren’t to be inferred as an accusation against those not charged, but they are interesting in…

Cicilline’s Drug Test Head Fake

By Marc Comtois | March 9, 2010 |

In a press conference yesterday, Providence Mayor David Cicilline announced the implementation of a random drug-testing policy for the Providence police department. How does a random drug test policy help find drug-dealing cops? While one member of the PPD was a user, the rest weren’t (as far as I know, based on what’s been reported).…

Moving Money Around in Different Ways

By Justin Katz | November 18, 2009 |

This quote from John Derbyshire’s book, We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism, which I found via a review by Kyle Smith, in National Review, gave us opportunity for discussion and encouragement ’round the construction site: American parents are now all resigned to beggaring themselves in order to purchase college diplomas for their offspring, so that…

Anti-Prostitution Bill Passes House Judiciary Committee

By Carroll Andrew Morse | October 27, 2009 |

If I heard the roll properly on Capitol TV, Segal, Ajello and Driver were the only votes against.

Rhode Island as Prostitution Satellite

By Justin Katz | October 26, 2009 |

You may have noticed that “a compromise bill” has emerged on the prostitution issue that may actually have a shot at passage, this week. In response, A largely anonymous Web site (with the exception of Marc Doughty), Citizens Against Criminalization, has gone live (notably named in parallel fashion to Donna Hughes’s Citizens Against Trafficking). Look,…

If Not the Law, the Culture

By Justin Katz | October 16, 2009 |

Two well-placed articles — by virtue of their proximity to each other — in the September 21 National Review point to a necessary conclusion for a modern conservative political philosophy. The first item is an interior quotation by American Medical Association lobbyist William Woodward within a book review by Kyle Smith (emphasis added): The trouble…

Reasons for the Obama Justice Department to Prosecute ACLU/”John Adams” Project Lawyers

By Monique Chartier | October 11, 2009 |

Let’s hope that the Justice Department’s investigation (see Justin’s post) leads in due course to prosecution. If it does not, the United States may well be left blind, without an intelligence/counter-intelligence department because no one will be willing to take or keep such important jobs. And who could blame them? In the absence of prosecution…

If It Takes a Thief to Catch a Thief, Does It Take a Lawbreaker to Make a Lawyer?

By Monique Chartier | October 11, 2009 |

From yesterday’s Providence Journal. The Rhode Island Supreme Court has ordered that the Stephen M. Hunter’s license to practice law be suspended for one year. Hunter has been convicted of five crimes. One felony and four misdemeanors. And just one year later, Mr. Hunter will once again be able to practice law with the blessing…

From Husband to Landlord

By Justin Katz | September 23, 2009 |

Readers will no doubt recall the bizarre tale of Paul Kelly, whose ex-girlfriend moved into his house for a brief period while he prepared to depart for a Middle East war zone in July 2007 and refused to leave, claiming in court that they were married under common law. At last, Superior Court Judge Ojetta…