Last September Hillary Clinton left a memorial observance for 9/11 in New York City and stumbled as she approached her car. She had pneumonia and spent the next few days recuperating. Not longer after, Donald Trump responded publicly with a mocking, tawdry response to her stumble. “She’s supposed to fight … <Read More>
The Anti-Rebellion Graffiti Heritage of 5Pointz
Graffiti has become much more than spray-painted tags and quickly disappearing pieces on train cars and underpasses. In some quarters it is now high art. The artists use their publicly visible, spray painted works to develop artistic credibility, publicity, designer contracts, and sales potential for works made on more traditional … <Read More>
President Trump and Respect for Law
As this semester began I taught materials in both Civil Procedure and Property related to the authority and power of courts to enforce their judgments. In Civil Procedure, the focus was on the law of contempt. We read the famous case of Walker v. Birmingham, 388 U.S. 307 (1967). A … <Read More>
Performance Rights in Pre-1972 Sound Recordings: Confounding Result in New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals has left the world of pre-1972 sound recording performance rights at sea. In the spring of 2016 the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit certified the following question to the state court; “Is there a right of public performance for creators … <Read More>
Property Ownership: Right or Duty?
In 2003, with ten other adult men, I became a b’nai mitzvah, a son of the commandments, at the age of 60 at Adas Israel in Washington, DC, where we lived until 2008. Both during and since that day, I have been trying to figure out the deeper meanings of … <Read More>
Gender, Stamina, and Politics
Hillary Clinton stumbled while departing early from a New York City ceremony marking the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11. She was in the midst of fighting off what turned out to be a mild case of pneumonia. Trump responded during a speech a short time later with a mocking display of … <Read More>
Remembering 9/11
September 12—fifteen years ago today—was the most difficult teaching experience of my forty-nine years behind a podium. Georgetown University Law Center, whose faculty I then served, elected not to cancel classes the day after the events of September 11, 2001. Though the city was still disrupted because of the events … <Read More>
Obergefell, Parenthood, and Property
On August 30, 2016, the New York Court of Appeals joined a growing list of state courts that have allowed unmarried, same-sex partners who agreed with their companions to create and rear a child to later seek custody and visitation when the couple separates. In the Matter of Brooke S.B. … <Read More>
Property, Politics, and Immigration
The ongoing political season has witnessed a plethora of anti-immigration rhetoric. The most notorious are Donald Trump’s statements about Mexicans: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those … <Read More>
Wall Street and “Contracts for Deed”
On April 18, 2016 the New York Times ran a story on the business page by Alexandra Stevenson and Matthew Goldstein entitled Wall Street Veterans Bet on Low-Income Home Buyers. They described how investment companies like Shelter Growth Capital Partners, Battery Point Financial, and Harbour Portfolio Advisors—largely run by … <Read More>