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Talking to a group of relaxing Soldiers former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld reiterated that you have to go to war in what you’ve got. Military.com, 22 May 2009. “Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage,” Rumsfeld Robert Gates said, adding that Specialist…

Wife Doubts PTSD Bigamy Excuse, Military.com, 22 May 2009. A Missouri woman whose husband was cleared of bigamy said she does not believe his claim that post-traumatic stress disorder made him forget his marriage.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Repeal, Don’t Defend: In today’s WSJ, Brian Hughes, a former Army Ranger twice awarded the Commendation Medal, makes a powerful case for ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Volokh Conspiracy.

Welcome to the real world. Earl Kelly, Academy Justice Tilted Toward Women: Double Standard in Mid Sex Cases During Rempt Era, The (Annapolis) Capital, 17 May 2009. This issue is not limited to the Naval Academy. This is a natural all too predictable outcome of the pendulum shift. But the pendulum can swing too far,…

Wisconsin (five days before Weaver) finds GPS tracking reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, but it is troubled by it and urges the legislature to limit it. State v. Sveum, 2009 Wisc. App. LEXIS 343 (May 7, 2009). FourthAmendment blog.

The New York Court of Appeals decided Weaver v. People, No. 53 (May 12, 2009), holding that the NY Constitution prohibits the use of GPS transmitters on vehicles without a warrant, following other state courts analyzing the issue under their constitutions. FourthAmendment blog.

How To Write Your Brief So That The Judge Will Hate You

The University of Pennsylvania PENNumbra has an interesting dialogue about plea bargaining, the unlimited unregulated powers of prosecutors, and those who might be innocent, but plead guilty anyway. There are three points of view. Of the most interesting seems to be that innocent accused’s may plea guilty to avoid a wrongful conviction and increased sentence…

We talk a lot about appellate issues and whether they should be raised. Of course in the military we have United States v. Grostefon. There is also talk about changing the post-trial process and possibly placing more responsibility on the trial defense counsel to initially raise appellate issues (a broadening of Palenius). So here is…

Andrew Taslitz has a comment on Concurring Opinions today: Government Lawyers’ Ethical Obligations and the War on Terror. This piece could apply equally to trial counsel and staff judge advocates, as well as defense counsel. The comment is about the current call(s) for action against the Bush administration lawyers and torture memos. These stories stress…