Articles Posted in Authors of Articles

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Introduction

The search for truth occupies a central place in both the legal system and the literary arts, yet each pursues that goal through fundamentally different means. Courts promise truth through structure, rules of evidence, burdens of proof, and sharply defined issues designed to resolve disputes while safeguarding liberty. Literature, by contrast, seeks truth through expansion, probing motives, identities, and moral consequences that resist neat resolution. This tension between procedural certainty and narrative depth lies at the heart of an illuminating conversation between Professor Rodger Citron and the author and attorney Victor Suthammanont, whose professional life bridges these  two worlds: See Citron, Roger. Law Literature, and the Search for Truth, VERDICT (Justia) 11 December 2025.

Drawing on his background in drama, his experience in high-stakes legal enforcement, and his debut novel Hollow Spaces, Suthammanont offers a compelling framework for understanding how law and literature approach truth differently, and why both are necessary. Trials, he observes, are not designed to uncover the totality of what happened, but to adjudicate specific claims within carefully constrained boundaries. Fiction, however, can inhabit the “hollow spaces” left behind: the unspoken contexts, the internal lives of participants, and the broader social forces that shape legal outcomes. Together, these perspectives suggest that truth is not singular but layered, emerging most fully when legal judgment and literary insight are read not in opposition, but in dialogue.

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Introduction.

The “big three” credit reporting companies, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian, hold highly sensitive consumer financial data that can affect people’s access to credit, housing, employment, and insurance. Their data security posture depends not only on resisting large-scale hacking events, but also on preventing “low-tech” account takeovers that exploit customer service processes.

This post is based on  Shira Ovide’s article, “It Wasn’t Hard to Highjack Trans Union Credit Reports, I Did it Myself.  published  in Tech Friend , a publication of the The Washington Post on December 12. 2025. In her article, drawing on months of testing by the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Ovide describes a vulnerability in TransUnion’s customer service hotline that allegedly allowed callers, with minimal identity proof, to reset passwords and change account contact information, potentially enabling account takeover and unauthorized access to credit report details. TransUnion reported that it updated protocols after being contacted, and PIRG later found that additional verification was requested in most retests.

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Introduction:

In his December 10, 2025 column for Justia VERDICT, legal commentator Akshai Vikram argues that growing public concern over what many view as executive overreach under Donald J. Trump’s second administration is fueling calls for a stronger, more assertive Congress. Verdict

Widespread Disquiet Among Voters

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An Update from the Congressional Budget Office. *

INTRODUCTION:

The Congressional Budget Office’s November 2025 update shows that rapidly changing tariff policies have significantly reshaped federal budget projections. As of mid November, the effective U.S. tariff rate is about 14 percentage points higher than a year earlier, and CBO now estimates that tariffs implemented in 2025 could reduce federal deficits by roughly $3.0 trillion over the next decade, including lower interest costs. The report explains why these estimates are smaller than earlier projections, highlights exemptions and policy shifts affecting major trading partners. It also underscores the considerable uncertainty surrounding the long term fiscal and economic effects of today’s unprecedented tariff levels.

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This posting provides a concise analytical summary of several key explanations for why the United States, despite more than two centuries of democratic development and expanding opportunities for women in public life, has yet to elect a female president. A curated selection of relevant reference sources follows, intended to enhance context and support further inquiry into this persistent political phenomenon.

OVERVIEW:

1. Historical and Structural Barriers

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Judge shopping, the practice of attempting to steer a legal case toward a particular judge perceived as favorable, raises serious concerns in criminal justice. While often discussed in civil litigation, its consequences in criminal cases are profound, influencing bail, evidentiary rulings, trial outcomes, and sentencing.
This posting examines how judge shopping occurs, its impact on judicial impartiality and constitutional protections, and the efforts taken to curb it. Ultimately, judge shopping undermines equal justice, disproportionately benefits well-resourced litigants, and weakens public trust in the courts. Reforms such as randomized case assignment, multi judge divisions, and stricter refiling rules remain essential to preserve judicial integrity. Judge shopping can significantly impact court decisions in both civil and, to a lesser but still important extent, criminal cases by allowing litigants to steer their cases toward judges they anticipate will be more sympathetic to their position or issue more favorable rulings, thus undermining the principle of judicial impartiality and affecting case outcomes. 

How Judge Shopping Influences Criminal Decisions

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INTRODUCTION:

Antifa is a decentralized, far left political movement that participates in protests and counter-protests, with some individuals engaging in criminal and violent acts. While specific incidents of violence have been attributed to individuals identifying with the movement, analysts and law enforcement agencies note that the most significant and lethal threat of domestic terrorism in the U.S. has historically come from right-wing and white supremacist extremists. 

WHAT IS ANTIFA AND ITS ORIGIONS?

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The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has introduced  Body of Information,(BoK), an innovative information tool designed to serve as blueprint for fostering the career development of information professionals. It defines the the domains, competencies and skills todays legal information professionals need for success.  BoK is future-focused and sets the stage for continued development; regular reviews and updates which will maintain BoK’s relevance as shifts in the profession occur.

AALL’s Body of Knowledge (BOK) Competencies Self-Assessment  is an innovative tool that “will help you gauge not only where there is alignment with the BoK, but also where opportunities exist for improvement and enhancement. This tool is self-scored with no right or wrong answers. Use the results to make a professional development plan and complete the competencies tool at desired intervals to measure growth over time. Receive a curated list of AALL educational resources based on your individual responses.”

For more information, click here

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OVERVIEW:

In their opinion feature “‘The wrong hill to die on’: 3 writers discuss the government shutdown”, Benjy Sarlin (Assignment Editor), Robert Gebelhoff (Editorial Board), and James Hohmann (Deputy Opinion Editor) dissect the unfolding government shutdown standoff. The authors explore the tug of war between Democrats’ demand to extend health care subsidies and Republicans’ insistence on passing a clean continuing resolution,  all while President Donald Trump threatens to fire rather than furlough federal workers. The Washington Post

Together, they engage in a frank conversation about whether Democrats have picked the wrong political battlefield, who currently holds leverage, and how the high stakes of this shutdown could reshape the broader narrative over health care and governance.

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In their provocative and urgent reflection, Austin Sarat and Steve Kramer confront what they view as one of the most dire questions for America today: what happens the spectacle of a public assassination becomes another battleground for opinion and outrage? In “After the Death of Charlie Kirk, America Needs to Take a Pause,” they examine the violent death of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk not merely as an isolated tragedy, but as a moment pregnant with national significance. Drawing on historical analogies, social media analysis, and a hard-eyed reading of our polarized public sphere, they call on Americans to resist the accelerating drift from deliberation to reaction, from democracy to demonization.

Sarat, a scholar of jurisprudence and political life, and Kramer, a seasoned legal practitioner, bring complementary lenses to this inquiry. For them, the more pressing danger is not just that a life was lost, but that the social response,  rushed judgments, political exploitation, binary narratives,  may deepen fractures in a democracy already saturated with distrust. Their central claim is if we fail to slow down, to “take a pause,” we risk letting the crowd, and the algorithm, decide not only the meaning of death but the future of public life. In their posting in JUSTIA/VERDICT,  Sarat and Kramer unpack the patterns of reaction, the structural forces amplifying them, and the modest but essential act of collective restraint they urge in response.

To see Sarat and Kramer’s complete posting in JUSTIA/VERDICT, click here.

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