Law and Legitimacy
506 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★ - 57 ratingsLaw, politics, crime, and culture—in a word, "conflict".
If you have trouble telling the good guys from the bad guys, Law and Legitimacy is your podcast.
Norm Pattis is a trial and appellate lawyer focused on criminal defense and constitutional rights. Norm is also a long-time newspaper columnist and the owner of one of New England's oldest bookstores. A contrarian by nature, he believes that no group is quite so frightening as a self-righteous mob.
His objective? To make you think. Welcome to Law and Legitimacy.
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Episodes
LAL #006 — In re: Alex Jones: There's No Such Thing as Hate Speech
April 15, 2021 13:24 - 26 minutes - 36.7 MBQuery: What scares you more? Speech you can ignore, or the censor who decides what you can see? The United States Supreme Court rejected a petition we filed on behalf of Alex Jones of Infowars on April 5, 2021. It signals yet again that the Court is ripe to consider recognizing a hate speech exception to the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. When Mr. Jones offered a reward on his widely broadcast show "Infowars" for the identity of the person or persons who sent his stu...
LAL #005 — Reparations? Not In My Constitution
April 14, 2021 20:07 - 20 minutes - 28 MBThe reparations bandwagon is gathering steam. Are you ready to pay race-based transfer payments or to allocate public goods on the basis of race? What about equal protection of the law? The Age of Reparations is upon us. More than 150 years after the abolition of slavery, a century after the dismantling of Jim Crow, and 60 years after comprehensive state and federal civil rights legislation was passed in the United States, we are now told it's time to pay people of color for the sins o...
LAL #004 — The Chauvin Trial (Part II)
April 14, 2021 19:32 - 21 minutes - 30 MBAfter two days of trial in the Derek Chauvin case, folks kept asking me: What's going on? Why isn't the defense objecting to the "expert" testimony of the mixed martial arts (MMA) fact witness, Donald Wynn Williams? I explore trial strategy and tactics in this podcast. I won't pretend to know what is on the mind of Derek Chauvin's lead counsel, Eric Nelson. But I will say this: Nelson is a pro. Odds are, he's letting the state set a scene that helps provide further support for the argumen...
LAL #003 — I Crashed My Father's Funeral
April 14, 2021 19:32 - 23 minutes - 33.1 MBThe truth is that I have issues with authority, and I am a contrarian. That's why I write about law and legitimacy; it's also why I represent unpopular people. I suspect I'd do the same thing in paradise, should I ever get there. In this episode I peel back the curtain and give you a glimpse of why these issues are so important to me. This is a deeply personal and revealing piece, and I doubt I could have done it without the benefit of a decade or more of psychoanalysis. Yes, I spen...
LAL #002 — The Chauvin Trial (Part I)
April 14, 2021 19:31 - 23 minutes - 32.3 MBFocus on the Causation. Did police officers actually cause the death of Mr. Floyd? If so, how? And if officers did, were their actions justified? No one has been charged with intentional homicide here. The legally significant questions are what did Mr. Chauvin know and when did he know it? Mr. Floyd was complaining that he couldn't breathe long before Mr. Chauvin kneeled on him. Don't be surprised if Mr. Chauvin is acquitted once a jury hears all the evidence. At worst, expect a c...
LAL #001 — Welcome to Law and Legitimacy
April 14, 2021 18:49 - 21 minutes - 29.7 MBDo you ever wonder about the difference between a police officer and a gang member? Both might be armed with a gun. Both can ask for your wallet. Odds are, you will give your wallet to both but feel differently about the reasons for compliance. The small difference between complying out of fear and complying out of a sense of duty is Legitimacy. LAL #001 introduces the concept of Legitimacy and what German sociologist, Max Weber, had to say about it. I'm persuaded we are living i...