Mensa is an organization for people with IQs above the 98th percentile. That translates to IQs above 132 on the Stanford-Binet IQ test (wikipedia). (It is, to borrow from John Bender, sorta social -- demented and sad, but social.)Lawyer is a typical occupation for people with an IQ in the 130s. According to the Michigan Bar Journal, "the mean, that is the mathematical average, IQ of attorneys

A reader sent me this link: Japanese Justice. In Japan, you can be detained by the police for up to 23 days without habeas corpus. "Forced signed confessions, still considered the "king of evidence" by Japanese courts, are often the result." No kidding -- if you have a guy in custody for 23 days and can't get him to confess to whatever you want, you've got no

I'm not the biggest fan (y'all might have detected this) of the idea of Kelly Siegler as Harris County D.A. It's time for a change at the DA's office, and unless Kelly starts telling us how she would institute real change at the Office, I'll be dubious about whether she will bring real change. But they tell me that change is not always good; they say that

From Earl Musick: The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association feels that the election of the next Harris County District Attorney is extremely important to our organization and to the citizens of Harris County. Because of the importance of this race, HCCLA has organized a debate involving candidates seeking this important position. The debate is sponsored by HCCLA, the South Texas College of Law and KHOU-TV. It will

Steve Gustitis at the Defense Perspective reminds us that "hidden head trauma may be linked to behavioral problems in society", which is of great import to the criminal-defense lawyer. Steve's post was inspired by an email from John Niland of the Texas Defender Service, who sent the Texas capital defense bar a link to a Wall Street Journal front-page article: That severe head injuries can lead to

Today (January 29th) I got a fax from the prosecutor on a misdemeanor case. The fax contained: A Motion to Disclose Experts; and An order granting that motion. The motion carried a certificate of service claiming that the motion had been served on me on the day the motion was filed or before. It had not been served on me before today. In fact, the prosecutor had

Phone Call from a Slave Ship Rupert File Why worry over frail Josie not knowing where I am When I don't even know where I am, but Judging through steel mesh, we're headed downtown Me and Major, just met, cuffed-up. "Got DAMN," Major goes, knee-pounding the DAMN, my left hand helping his right, having to. Me with problems too - frail Josie not knowing Where I am

In Texas, a "car" is a car. In New York, apparently, a "car" is what a fancy-pants criminal-defense lawyer calls a white stretch limo, which is what Scott Greenfield sent to pick me up from the airport when he found out that I was coming in to do some work on a cocaine conspiracy case in his stomping ground, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District

Scott Greenfield writes to "deconstruct" (whatever that means) the Boucher confusion on password and privilege. Scott and Orin Kerr and Gideon all presumed that Mr. Boucher had input the password at the border when agents asked to see what was on the computer. But the Boucher opinion doesn't actually say that Mr. Boucher input his password at the border. In fact, "Agent Curtis did not see Boucher

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 9.7.1.1503 mQENBEebgPMBCADLXGPW79Zzes5UURVKbOA11Sq5dcNHyAOY+73DT93Z9LNpqG05 l7lt/0FSyOazi6xfJW4CVNunjL9kBLb0/0ehYUlh+27eycZ3QFMpuF2Mx8t3ZtU8 pgQkpn94tH2qF3Y2C+R9TM49OJ2YVDeVByXB6thoymbB0QkvniicqbaNzgpOBDCO 9QHkO0hQTbZ3WgD6HENTQU1qstCt5btklph8MaPp1PdjFT+Rv38yI4AEIwcyIKPE 7QkKbOB0yvztVoFhG7UGCa/sL/kcaeDTD/69XGcAFzkGcHP1MNKndbrbbA0+GwPp csF7p9UXC+xfcx2O7feLPST9dStCuxyAQ39hABEBAAG0JE1hcmsgQmVubmV0dCA8 bWFya0BGaWdodFRoZUZlZHMuY29tPokBhwQQAQIAcQUCR5uBCzAUgAAAAAAgAAdw cmVmZXJyZWQtZW1haWwtZW5jb2RpbmdAcGdwLmNvbXBncG1pbWUHCwkIBwMCCgIZ ARkYbGRhcDovL2tleXNlcnZlci5wZ3AuY29tBRsDAAAAAxYCAQUeAQAAAAQVCAkK AAoJED7Q/QmqSjE46nAH/0OkmdDWe5pZ6EdmcSLsnMhc+InbzyKp9gybgbnKzhcU xkUCaw96j0cIPcd10ENfGqYj7YKafcPHu2roNxBSWTT9AIzDBp8u1oQ4O0rVLlZ0 mRctq7Awn2I7xC9im+EQSLa+dWK4QnTL8nz/rsIA50+OmglJcwGaj03J7i1mh3rp Af9rY+7E2vfROGz19Pf12V6UFeYawqWILJOfIsBTAjWXNQm1QSCREGMUB+kUA5uP Is9+Lcq4GdUYo+fgaPPzMtXnkAYKpWpGThaR5fYrNfi365XCUdTc3U3Cp1AqRXhG Dh5Ily8NPpXqLRqoz7wndaZPVyVljq00CrnZBGSsX4W5AQ0ER5uA8wEIAPLfh+Rr 29OCMVIYYurjANoBm4JwAoNwBEFvqInqmeI+YEBkTggLXvf4YoSStC6e/LacHmKD 20QkTt9qMhk3MhHkxx8pZlab19tRs95bmfP1GQfiYyWcA4UbTGqM1O+IDCR2bu0Q lfsnoHZ0SDyKd8gREQPyhzXvKmjN2Vw0YyiGnnG+H2LBOWjSWaJEwjVdQJq+wbhn 627FPYHookSwRpYrpJ2DdowTeZHPWKl2J3n9EqYRbX5/19AdTbeV8XNMIjOhXn7c GL4znhwrR9jTigvttEir2M9ZQ2TsDxhlbP1Y4nYcyhDndUQN3oIxeoOJSTzz2TtM FpO9rWkGIiKnyd0AEQEAAYkCQQQYAQIBKwUCR5uA9AUbDAAAAMBdIAQZAQgABgUC R5uA8wAKCRAueKRDt703DGrNB/98A8ck0cXCjrEf4OqIE4DIK+8Zqj6qyvfNaxDE LRo8LL5aSrIZM1IzWXmpITB9gABi0/CA2RGeoahGWs9T1cWDfPch8lTJuUMyeSCX 6TMKEkxRe6uEN9mkxoMAbkJMFqhA1Wzt/Q8m5v7go0MKvhswz8bmfJigZAhkuKMf Y+YqZbVecxN+1gVK7H3wW2Qqj2yJqGOrxXq/SkMeUFjC/4geGHMiqZuaIh/YzT85 vGQ+d6Gd5GPagxgQGXwNfGrxjAfz8CiudMWTDqfijfuHEVxdgekRmMeCqcvT5QA7 nEVB0i1wDP3FofKCKI2k3e+RGMXj0RAjGslk5/7q2kAdcAS3AAoJED7Q/QmqSjE4 LX4IAMgs6BhfqcDm7p3/+PD+Kf9N2Edi+52fZzkzv0B2PFWyg14mLMZoyRiyIS9N tStqwJtGiPc2aXABF1sWDcBjtLWlnSHw7OcRU1aK15V85/01BnZFp9nGr4NcoZOD wV5LZq6UhEUa9xsn3DMAWrQldrdrP/L4fPhx6fdSl5dgVQqO0gWctri2Vw11Y0UA o7QaBwOxjhhYCvERXoxn/m7xV0EWASE1eeyLwIUHbCgw2wISn6NQMqSC5EmAw9Vr ykx7YsJxCEjzAlBx68Suh5438nLjgvuZ6KLeHQeSFbIp0gJ3f0p/h4piXWUSEUXV Z0d+O/If5+e//eMq4nrjqp0+rZU= =UVwX -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----