f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

 

“The American Jury: We the People in Action” is the theme for Law Day 2005, which

falls on May 1st, but will be celebrated on May 2nd in many locations.  There will be no more

cynical stuff from me on the topic of Law Day for this year (unless extremely provoked).  As

Alexis de Tocqueville reminded us in his Democracy in America:

The jury, which is the most energetic means of making the people rule,

is also the most efficacious means of teaching it how to rule well… The jury …

may be regarded as a … public school, ever open, in which every juror learns

his rights.

If you haven’t celebrated Law Day yet with your kids (or your office mates), I suggest one of

the following activities:

  taking the ABA’s Law Day true-false quiz on juries and discussing the  

answers (advance preparation highly recommended);

  

 printing out the Michigan Bar Association’s Law Day official Coloring Contest 

picture — with jury, lawyer, judge and witness, plus a few questions — and sharing  

a fun learning experience; 

  discussing one or more of the MBA’s Law Day “Should” Questions about juries,

each of which has a link to a related U.S. Supreme Court Case;

 

  choose from the ABA’s Law Day 2005 Lessons  and brainstorm:

• K-6: Choosing an Impartial Jury
  
• 7-9: What Juries Should Hear and See
  
• 10-12: Juries: Cornerstone of Democracy
  
• Extra: Jury Resources

experiencing the jury selection process, with the Voir Dire Simulation by

Julie Van Camp.

 

The ABA’s Law Day theme page got it right about juries:

“The jury is the embodiment of democracy. We entrust juries—small

bodies of ordinary men and women—with decisions that involve the

liberties and property of defendants. In doing so, we confirm our faith

in the ability of people to make just and wise decisions, and that is the

very definition of democracy. We also see the jury system as an opportunity

to educate Americans in law, legal processes, and decision-making in a

democracy.”

 

In First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea (Oxford Press, 2005), Prof. Paul

Woodruff makes clear that no system of government is truly a democracy, if it does

not believe in the wisdom of its public to listen to and debate issues, and then make wise

decisions.  He asks some hard questions about whether we’re educating the American

public in a way that will ensure a citizenry that is informed and capable of such civic

wisdom.  That’s another good subject for Law Day. 

 

 

 

spring breeze–
the clay doll
gets some color

 

 

 

hands clapping
mother teaches her child
the dance

 

 

 

 

 

 

for the painted faced
maiden too…
spring dusk

 

Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue  

 

• 
  
  by dagosan                                               

she shows off her   

May Day drawing —

every pink crayon a nub

[May 1, 2005]   “crayonboxV”

 

Ken Standard, the President of the New York State Bar Association, stressed

judicial independence in his Law Day remarks on April 29th:

“At every opportunity, our bar association has sought to educate,

pointing out how essential is judicial independence to the effective

 functioning of not just our judicial system, but our society, too.

“Of our judges, we ask for consistent, evenhanded and impartial

application of the law to all cases that come before them… We ask

judges to maintain a delicate balance of decisional independence,

discretion, self-restraint and accountability.

“We ask the executive branch and lawmakers to refrain from and

reject proposals that would cut or freeze judiciary budgets or salaries.

We ask those who nominate, appoint or approve judges to select only

the competent, the diligent, the even-tempered and fair minded.

 “Mayday!” Mayday!”  Does anyone still use this international distress signal? It’s    

hard to believe that France used to be the source for terminology used around

the world (m’aidez!).   If radiotelephone terminology were derived from current

American English, what would the distress call be?  “Yo!” “Yo!” Expletive Included.

 

 

   In his NYT column today (May 1, 2005), Nicholas Kristoff wonders if we Baby

Boomer swill go down in history as The Greediest Generation.  Kristoff worries that self-

centered Boomers will use their political clout to demand more resources for themselves,

creating “fiscal child abuse” (a term borrowed from Laurence Kotlikoff, who, with Scott

Burns, wrote The Coming Generational Storm):

“In coming years, we’ll hear appeals for better nursing homes, for more

Alzheimer’s research and for more wheelchair-accessible office buildings,

and those are good causes. But remember that American children are almost

twice as likely as the elderly to live in poverty, and that you get much more

bang for the buck vaccinating a child than paying for open-heart surgery.

 

. . . Our top domestic priorities should be to ensure that all children get health

care and to get our fiscal house in order.”

 

tagging along

with an ice cream cone

the senior partner

 

                    Barry George, J.D.

 

 

custody hearing

seeing his arms cross

i uncross mine

 

                          by Roberta Beary, Esq.

                                 from A New Resonance 2