Law | Ravin's Rantings

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How To Read A Letter From Your Lawyer

November 15, 2017

Here is the letter I just drafted to a client (redacted to remove private details of course): Dear Mr. Dude: This is to inform you that the Gotham City Court has continued your hearing in this matter to NEW BAT DATE at SAME BAT TIME. I was able to convince the Court not to issue […]

Doubt, a review

February 22, 2017

Okay, so thanks to Laverne Cox’s most recent appearance on the Daily Show last week, I went and checked out her new show, Doubt, which premiered on CBS last week. I was stoked. Laverne Cox is in a new show!!! It was mildly annoying that the show is on CBS, because it means going to their website to […]

Kansas Stomps on Fundamental Rights

January 28, 2014

It’s well established that when and how to have children is a private, individual decision protected by the Constitution. This news story shows how some states continue to burden that right, at least for anyone who wants to conceive with the help of a sperm donor and without the thousands of dollars of out of […]

Musings on fear and responsibility

July 3, 2013

Next month, at the beginning of the fall semester, I start work in a legal clinic. The clinic is exactly the type of work I hope to do once I am a full-fledged attorney. It’s neither easy nor thankless work, and with it comes a kind of responsibility I’ve never carried so directly before. It […]

A Yuletide Rant in Midsummer’s Wake

June 26, 2013

In 1984, the Supreme Court announced a decision upholding the Constitutionality of a winter holiday display that included, along with a big tree, Santa, toys, a sign that said “Seasons Greetings,” and a lot of lights, a creche scene. The case was Lynch v. Donnelly 465 U.S. 668. A majority of the court held that the […]

Personal Privacy and Autonomy: A Constitutional Amendment?

June 22, 2013

With all the news lately about the NSA and Facebook and Google hoarding gobs of info about everyone, and Microsoft introducing technology that shuts off video games if the player has an audience and monitors facial expressions, it seems to me it’s time this whole crazy mess is reigned in. The question is, how? Someone […]

FTC. v. Actavis, Inc.

June 19, 2013

FTC. v. Actavis, Inc. Here’s a Supreme Court case that makes me a little happy but mostly makes me want to rant. It started with generic drug company challenges to the patent held by the maker of Androgel, which is a topical gel containing testosterone, used for men with low testosterone, including some trans men. […]

Out of Hiatus with a happy rant

June 14, 2013

I’m taking Constitutional Law II this summer, a course which focuses on the non-criminal personal protections afforded by the Constitution. Because of this, I’ve been following the Supreme Court rather closely–if for no other reason than that I’m very excited about the marriage equality cases due to come out later this month. Yesterday, the […]

Don’t Pull the Rope!

February 5, 2013

Today in Evidence class, the discussion was of Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), which is all about reasons evidence of past acts may be admissible. Evaluation of evidence under this rule requires they first pass 404(a), which says you can’t admit evidence of other acts to establish the character of a person for the purpose […]