Potpourri
Summer’s Here!
By LASIS Staff
The calendar would disagree, but for LASIS, summer has arrived. This Sunday our senior reporters will be graduating at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall (we look forward to a fine commencement speech by New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg). Junior reporters are finishing their final exams, and in the next week or two will begin working at human rights organizations, law firms, and media companies.
Which means, dear reader, that except for some short updates, perhaps, LASIS is officially on summer hiatus.
We look forward to resuming our legal reporting in the early fall.
Have a wonderful summer!
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Date 05/16/2013 |
Our Justice System, For Better and for Worse
By LASIS Staff
Two of our nation’s prominent defense attorney shine a light on what really goes on inside a courtroom in a new book titled tilted, “Mistrial.”
Written by Mark Geragos and Pat Harris, the book (getting lots of buzz) is a “searing and entertaining manifesto on the ills of the criminal justice system.”
LASIS has a copy of the new book to give away to one lucky reader.
Send an email with your name and address to legalassheisspoke@gmail.com before 5pm on Wednesday, May 1.
The winner will be chosen in a random drawing.
UPDATE, May 1, 2013: Congratulations to Veronica Guzman Willis of San Pedro, California on winning a copy of “Mistrial”!
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Tags Ann Coulter, Casey Anthony, Mark Geragos, Michael Jackson, Nancy Grace, OJ Simpson, Pat Harris, Winona Ryder |
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Date 04/25/2013 |
The Realities of Same-Sex Divorce
On March 26 and 27, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. Windsor — the case which addresses the constitutionality of Defense of Marriage Act. The question is whether Section 3 of the Act, which defines the term “marriage” as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife,” deprives same–sex couples who are lawfully married under the laws of their states (such as New York) of equal protection, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.
In 2007, Edith Windsor, a New Yorker, married her same–sex partner of over 40 years, Thea Spyer, in Canada. Dr. Spyer died two years after the marriage and left her entire estate to her wife — along with a hefty federal estate tax bill of $363,000 — a tax that Ms. Windsor would have avoided had she been married to a man.
And then there are problems for gay people on the other end of the marriage spectrum. New York Magazine recently published an article that addresses same-sex couples who are unprepared for the legalities involved in divorce.
LASIS further develops the consequences of both the marriage and divorce issues that lie ahead for same sex–couples.
Consider this: Boy from Alabama meets Boy from Florida (two states whose constitutions ban same–sex marriage) while vacationing in the Big Apple. The two fall madly in love and decide to get married right then and there. Is this even possible in light of the fact that both of them live out–of–state and are merely passing through New York? Yes! While New York may have been the sixth state to approve gay marriage, it was the first not to include any residency requirements for marriage. This means that any same–sex couple may travel to New York State and enter into a legally binding marriage. But this boy meets boy story isn’t over just quite yet…
After the vacation is over, boy and boy head back to their respective states, pack up all of their belongings and head for Texas (another state whose constitution bans same–sex marriage) to start their new life together. All is well during the honeymoon phase, but before long the boys realize that they rushed into their marriage, made a terrible mistake, and all things being equal, want a divorce. They rush down to the courthouse only to find that the doors are closed… Texas doesn’t recognize same–sex marriages and will not grant them a divorce.
The couple then hurries to the airport and hops on the next flight to New York.
Surely the state that married them will divorce them, right?
Wrong.
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Tags DOMA, New York Domestic Relations Law, no-fault divorce, Same Sex Marriage, same-sex divorce, till death do us part |
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Date 04/23/2013 |
The Great Maple Syrup Showdown
Did you know: one gallon of maple syrup sells in excess of $70 in the United States? In other words, that the stuff is liquid gold?
We’re guessing you don’t.
You may also not know that the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers has a huge impact on the price of maple syrup stateside. The Federation controls the cost of syrup much like the way the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) regulates the price of oil. In 2012, millions of gallons of syrup were stolen from a reserve facility owned by the Federation. Altogether, the stolen syrup is worth an approximate $18 million. That’s the largest agricultural theft in history. The shortage could mean a change in price controls governed by the Federation as well as higher prices for syrup in the United States.
Thankfully, the Lalonde family (my parents) tap their own trees and operate a small maple syrup business, the McIntyre Maple Company, in Northern New York during sugaring season – a period of four to six weeks between March and April when maple trees produce sap. Sap is a sugar water that, when boiled, becomes syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup. So far this season, my family has collected and boiled more than 2,400 gallons of sap. The process is extremely time consuming and is heavy on manual labor. It also calls on one’s ability to drive a tractor up steep hills and through epic amounts of mud without getting stuck. That alone takes talent.
I made the mistake of mentioning the family business in class one day. That’s when Mr. Ryan Morrison had the brilliant idea for a taste test and dared me that I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Aunt Jemima and the maple syrup I’d made with my own bare hands (mostly my Dad’s bare hands, I’m just taking most of the credit).
Big mistake, Mr. Morrison.
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Tags Aunt Jemima, Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, liquid gold, maple syrup, McIntyre Maple Company, sap |
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Date 04/12/2013 |
Life as a Six-Year-Old Body Double
From “Toddlers and Tiaras” to “Dance Moms,” we’ve seen parents subject their children to outrageous, and sometimes demeaning, situations. But in February, we read about a little girl who is used as a body double for Suri Cruise, TomKat’s uber-famous daughter, as she travels around New York City. This was taking things, we think, (more than) a bit too far.
The press reported that Katie Holmes and Suri hopped into an SUV heading downtown. Shortly after that, an SUV pulled up outside a Tribeca eatery, and out came an unknown woman carrying Suri, who was covering her face with her ubiquitous stuffed animal. The paparazzi snapped their shots, and everyone was happy. Until it turned out that little Suri was already downtown with her nanny, and Ms. Holmes met up with her daughter a bit later.
The news spread like wildfire. Suri Cruise – the most famous child on earth (at least until Prince William and his wife have their child this July) – comes fully equipped with a doppelganger.
I can (sort of) understand the obsession with security if your child is as famous as Suri Cruise. But what parent in her right mind would allow her daughter to serve as a body double? I mean, if Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were so worried for their daughter’s safety, why would parents subject their own daughter to any danger or threat that the real Suri Cruise was trying to avoid?
Is employing your daughter to act as a body double or decoy even legal?
The press didn’t say. LASIS will.
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Tags child labor, child neglect, doppelganger, Katie Holmes, New York Family Court Act, Suri Cruise, Tom Cruise |
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Date 04/04/2013 |