Blog

Between 2009 and 2020, Josh published more than 10,000 blog posts. Here, you can access his blog archives.

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Prop1 Class 11 – Estates II: Life Estate

February 24th, 2014

The lecture note are here. The live chat is here.

This diagram illustrates the life estate.

life-estate

Here is Jessica Lide’s will:

April 19, 1972

I, Jessie Lide, being in sound mind declare this to be my last will and testament. I appoint my niece Sandra White Perry to be the executrix of my estate.
I wish Evelyn White to have my home to live in and not to be sold.
I also leave my personal property to Sandra White Perry. My house is not to be sold.

Jessie Lide (Underscoring by testatrix)

Here is a picture of Jessica Lide’s home. Jessica Lide is on the right, Sandra White is in the middle.

white-house

 Here is the current life expectancy table. If you were born in 1984, your life expectancy is 74.56

Here is the will from the Weedon case:

Second; I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Anna Plaxico Weedon all of my property both real, personal and mixed during her natural life and upon her death to her children, ifshe has any, and in the event she dies without issue then at the death ofmy wife Anna Plaxico Weedon I give, bequeath and devise all of my property to my grandchildren, each grandchild sharing equally with the other.

Third; In this will I have not provided for my daughters, Mrs. Florence Baker and Mrs. Delette WeedonJones, the reason is, I have given them their share ofmy property and they have not looked after and tared for me,in the latter part ofmy life.

ConLaw Class 11 – Scope of Federal Powers II

February 24th, 2014

The lecture notes are here. The live chat is here.

Scope of Federal Powers II

Wickard v. Filburn

This is farmer Roscoe Filburn.

filburn

This is Secretary of the Agriculture Claude Wickard.

wickard

This is Wickard, flanked by New Dealers, in front of various charts and projections about the price of agriculture.

Wickard

Hearts of Atlanta Motel v. United States

The Hearts of Atlanta Motel, located at 255 Courtland Street NE in Atlanta, was owned by Atlanta lawyer Moreton Rolleston Jr. This was a segregate hotel. Rolleston represented himself all the way to the Supreme Court. The location is currently a Hilton.

hotel-pic

1960-aerial

moreton rolleston

 

 

pool

motel

brochure

Katzenbach v. McClung

This is Ollie’s Bar-B-Q, the site of Katzenbach v. McClung in Birmingham, Alabama.

 

 

And because I am insane, I purchased an entire case of Ollie’s Bar-B-Q sauce.

United States v. Lopez

This is Thomas Edison High School in San Antonio, Texas, the site where Alfonso Lopez, Jr., brought a gun to school in violation of the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.

lopez1

 

lopez2

I obtained these (blurry) photographs from Lopez’s high school yearbook.


IMG00188

IMG00189
IMG00184

 

IMG00185

The caption reads “Rushing down the field, Alfonzo Lopez warms up before the game.”

Gonzales v. Raich

This is Angel Raich, the lead plaintiff in Gonzales v. Raich.

Raich1

Here is a photograph of Raich using a marijuana vaporizer.

raich2

Right to Left: Robert Raich, Angel McClary Raich, (a younger) Randy Barnett, Diane Monson, and David Michael at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California.

raich-legalteam

Here is Raich finding out that the Supreme Court ruled against her cause.

raich-phone

 

What local D.C. Charity is Justice Sotomayor Volunteering For?

February 24th, 2014

Justice Sotomayor was awarded Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award. During her remarks, she noted that she recently started to volunteer for a D.C Charity.

Sotomayor noted that she continually keeps service at the forefront of her priorities by asking herself “Have I helped someone today?” and “What have I learned today?” She noted that she recently began volunteering at a local Washington, D.C. charity, which she said is something that she routinely looks forward to.

Anyone know what charity she is volunteering with? Good for her!

James Clapper on the “Magic of the Constitution”

February 23rd, 2014

A fitting (?) tribute to the Constitution in the waiting area outside Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s office:

Covering nearly an entire wall of the waiting area outside Clapper’s office is a wooden relief sculpture dedicated to the U.S. Constitution. It contains a flag, a rendition of the constitutional assembly, and a copy of the document itself. It also has a plaque that reads, “What is the magic of the Constitution? The magic is how it states: We, the people. For the first time in history, government was about the people, not about the leader.”

Lawyers often joke about the Constitution being wooden and inflexible to meet the demands of a changing society. Clapper is just trolling now.

Piers Morgan as King George III

February 23rd, 2014

You may have heard by now that CNN is booting Piers Morgan from his show. The Times has a lengthy breakdown of his dismissal, but it focuses in part on how Morgan, a Brit, was out of place focusing on guns.

Mr. Morgan’s approach to gun regulation was more akin to King George III, peering down his nose at the unruly colonies and wondering how to bring the savages to heel. He might have wanted to recall that part of the reason the right to bear arms is codified in the Constitution is that Britain was trying to disarm the citizenry at the time.

He regrets none of it, but clearly understands his scolding of “stupid” opponents of gun laws was not everyone’s cup of tea.

“I’m in danger of being the guy down at the end of the bar who is always going on about the same thing,” he said. He added that he was sure there were plenty of people in the heartland angry “about this British guy telling them how to lead their lives and what they should do with their guns.”

I wonder if the fact that a Brit was telling Americans to give up their guns made it even worse. Is our cultural heritage, and opposition to British disarmament that strong? Or is Morgan really that obnoxious?

I don’t watch any cable news, so his absence will not be missed.