LAL Live Part 2: The Fourth Wave of American Constitutional Law (NPS July 8)

Norm opens the second hour discussing a recent headline in the Connecticut legal community, the matter involving lawyer Carl Ferraro of Norwalk, Connecticut. In particular, Mr. Ferraro has been charged with 8 counts of first-degree larceny for the misappropriate of millions in client funds from the law firm trust account. 

One feature of this prosecution that bugs Norm is the court's requiring Mr. Ferraro to post a $2M bond in order to be granted pre-trial release. The Connecticut constitution is unique in that it grants Connecticut's citizens the right to a reasonable bond. Norm compares this bond assessment to one in connection with his representation of another client. What does a 'reasonable bond' mean? The result of not knowing that standard inures exclusively to the detriment of criminal defendants who are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. 

Norm then pivots to President Biden's recent comments about the Supreme Court of the United States's decision in Dobbs and the troubling implications of the executive branch undermining the legitimacy of the Court through responsive executive action. The popularity or lack thereof of the decision notwithstanding, President Biden's comments are more than a legal infirmity; they reflect a deference to political bias at the expense of our constitutional system. 

Later historians will come to know the fourth wave of American Constitutional law by the emergence of the 'Public Health State.' Norm breaks down the first three waves, and then discusses the troubling authoritarian trend of the fourth. What is federalism? What is the separation of powers? 

American government is premised on mechanisms that work in concert to diffuse power. Is a declining civics literacy blinding us to the growing consolidation of power we have seen on the back of the pandemic?

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