Here I expressed confidence that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will eventually straighten out the law on what makes a regulation content based, putting various speech-restricting statutes that intermediate Texas Courts have found not to be content-based regulations back on the table. Why the confidence? Because I'm right. Okay: Also because while the Court of Criminal Appeals can dodge the issue procedurally for a while, they

Situation excellent: On Wednesday the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the Beaumont Court of Appeals in Leax v. State. When the Court of Criminal Appeals granted discretionary review on Leax, I thought it would be the culmination of almost four years of fighting that began with this post after I realized that section 33.021 of the Texas Penal Code, in which the Texas Legislature created a constitutionally valid

When Texas first passed its nondisclosure statute, it allowed some people with successfully completed deferred-adjudication probation to seek an order of nondisclosure effectively sealing the public records of their arrest. Nondisclosure had to be "in the best interest of justice," so it was effectively at the trial court's discretion. Since then the right to nondisclosure has been broadened. Section 411.074 General requirements for Nondisclosure To be eligible

The client is the job. Without the client, you are not an attorney. You are an unemployed person with an expensive law degree. You exist as a lawyer for the benefit of those whom you represent. The job is taking care of the client. Not "social justice." Not "justice." Not even "clients." The job is the client, singular. Usually, if you are a criminal-defense lawyer, the job

Article 17.151 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides: A defendant who is detained in jail pending trial of an accusation against him must be released either on personal bond or by reducing the amount of bail required, if the state is not ready for trial of the criminal action for which he is being detained within … 90 days from the commencement of his detention

… and the sadist says "No." It is hard not to pay attention to people who are screaming for your attention. It's hard to manage your own attention in the best of circumstances; sages have for thousands of years been directing our attention to attention, and still we are easy marks for those who would control our minds by misdirecting our attention. We pay attention: The metaphor

Trump offers a submissive palm-up hand to Putin. "Trump 'won' Putin handshake: body-language expert." Erm. No. Submissive dogs reveal their throats. Humans show their palms. . . . . The opposite of the dominant handshake is to offer your hand with the palm facing downwards … symbolically giving the other person the upper hand, like a dog exposing its throat to a superior dog." .

I took Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg to task here for not stepping aside from the decision whether to retry David Temple for the murder of his wife. I saw it as a disappointing example of implicit corruption in the Harris County criminal justice system — behavior that a spocklike visitor would recognize as corrupt, but that we don't see as corrupt only because it's the way things have

"I’m what you’d call a true believer in the First Amendment,” Rowland announced. “It’s foundational. I've criticized the staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project before for giving up the First Amendment struggle too easily. So when I saw that she claims to be a true believer, ((You are the inheritor of a rich legacy of protecting speech. You damn well ought to be a

In hypnosis, there are two basic styles of inducing trance: the direct, or "authoritarian" style, and the indirect, or "Ericksonian" (named after Milton Erickson) style. The direct: "Close your eyes." The indirect: "You might find yourself wondering whether you can go into trance, and thinking about your doubts you might discover a time when you could feel more relaxed than possibly at any time before you go into