Law and Legitimacy

Norm opens the first episode of the week with a monologue reflecting on the fifteen additional mass shootings that have occurred in the United States in the short days since the Uvaldi, Texas, elementary school shooting, and makes a call for congressional term limits.

He is then joined by Michael Boyer, the editor and producer of Law and Legitimacy, for a multi-varied discussion beginning with the forthcoming SCOTUS decisions regarding affirmative action.

Michael gives an overview of the two companion cases (Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. University of North Carolina et al.; and Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College) and the legal issues presented for the Court's adjudication.

Norm and Mike also discuss privacy, the second amendment, student loan debt and potential relief, and the Depp-Heard trial.

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday at 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC600 AM/107.3 FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm and Mike connect on a Sunday afternoon for a well-deserved long form episode.

Uninhibited by the Ad Man, the duo begin with the elusive topic of "justice" by debriefing one of Mike's recent case resolutions.

Norm asks Mike to unpack the basics of trademark law in view of the anecdotal facts attendant to the relevant case. The two discuss the procedural considerations, the pressure of keeping the best interests of the client at the forefront at all times of litigation, and how the cost of pursuing a worthy legal remedy can often impart a bad taste in the mouth of a client a la "justice deferred" either in whole or in part.

The two transition to a debrief of this podcast's recent evolution to daily radio!

Most of you are aware by now, but for the uninitiated, Law and Legitimacy is LIVE ON THE RADIO in the form of "the Norm Pattis Show" on connecticut radio WICC 600 AM/107.3 FM every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET, and streamed live online at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Norm is now a permanent fixture on the radio!

With some added versatility, LAL is poised to bring more impactful long form interviews that build on the core tenets of Law and Legitimacy and as informed by daily listener interest. We appreciate you subscribing to Law and Legitimacy, rating us 5 stars and sharing its treasure with your friends and family.

Find all of our links here: https://linktr.ee/PattisPodcast, follow us on social @PattisPodcast, and let us know your feedback. We appreciate YOU. Cheers!

Norm opens the second hour by getting reprimanded by an avid listener. He is also joined by Connecticut civil rights attorney, Mario Cerame, to talk about our coveted first amendment to the United States Constitution.

Mario is the self-described "nerd" at his firm, Brignole Bush and Lewis, practicing at the intersection of individual rights and government action.

How is a lay person supposed to know the difference between protected and prohibited speech?

The meaning of the freedom of speech is a difficult topic, and Norm and Mario agree that too often judges get a bit too creative with their respective interpretations of the first amendment's correct application.

The two bring the conversation full circle by discussing the merits of the notion courts might in the coming months or years begin to create a hate speech exception to the first amendment.

How realistic is that notion? And is there solid ground atop of which courts might build such an exception?

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens by recalling his whereabouts on the day of the Sandy Hook shooting, and what he saw this morning that brought him to a new low.

We get the government we deserve, but do we not deserve better than this?

We has become of service? What has become of honor? Law enforcement in Uvaldi have some explaining to do.

Norm points out the proposition that government has no duty to protect citizens against acts of private violence as SCOTUS held in DeShaney v. Winnebgo County DSS (1999).

Norm then pivots to the first hour's entree, Mr. John Maxwell, a former Wall Street professional and a long-time Norm friend.

What is the Federal Reserve Bank? Quantitative easing?

What about the current economic moment? John discusses the unique qualities of the current economic outlook and what factors are squeezing the average family financially.

If the Fed has explicitly stated that it is going to destroy demand in an effort to decrease inflation, how are rising interest rates therefore going to impact the market and the downstream economy? Locally? Globally?

Norm says it feels like a "giant shell game." Is it?

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC600 AM/107.3 FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#.

Norm continues eviscerating Beto O'Rourke in the second hour.

He then turns his focus to how we should go about the conversation of what to do about guns in America.

Norm's law partner, Kevin Smith, recommended to Norm that he read Nicholas Kristoff's piece in the New York Times. Norm admits that, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't take such a suggestion, especially given the topical nature of the subject matter.

But one of life's great pleasures is loving and respecting people who come standard issue with opinions incongruent to one's own.

Norm obliges and delivers an epic shadow cross-examination reminiscent of his long form episodes.

He is then joined by Ira Judelson, Bail Bondsman to the Stars. Norm and Ira go way back. The two talk bail reform in New York, subway violence, and new trends in executive protection.

Like, share, and subscribe to the best in the business. Leave us a review. Norm is live every weekday on WICC600 AM from 12pm ET to 2pm ET. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is joined in the first hour by the godfather of 1983 litigation, the esteemed John R. Williams. John is a close friend and lifelong mentor for Norm.

Norm wants people to get to know John, who has been practicing in New Haven, Connecticut, since 1969.

Originally from North Dakota, John went to Harvard for undergraduate studies where he worked summers for a conservative republican senator who afforded John the opportunity to work for him while John attended law school and graduated from Georgetown Law in D.C.

John was recruited by Aetna, which was opening an in-house lobbying department anchored in Hartford, Connecticut. Pro bono work became immensely popular as a mechanism for big companies to demonstrate "corporate responsibility." It was this fortituous intersection that led to John's passion and widespread impact in the law.

Listen to hear the history of how 1983 litigation was pioneered, how qualified immunity emerged as a response, and where we are as a society now.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday on WICC600 AM from 12pm ET to 2pm ET. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm is joined in the second hour by former federal prosecutor, David X. Sullivan.

David retired from the U.S. Attorneys Office after 30 years and ran for Congress in Connecticut's 5th Congressional District in the 2020 election.

David ran on a platform that countered the burgeoning tide of what he viewed as socialism and disregard for the basic rule of law as seen through the Summer Riots of 2020.

Norm asks Dan to define "socialism" and offers his own definition of the term as it relates to the modern American moment.

Norm and Dan discuss the rule of law and the issues surrounding mass shootings. One thing is for sure: cool tweets won't save us.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday on WICC600 AM from 12pm ET to 2pm ET. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the show with a solemn monologue focused on the latest carnage in a Texas elementary school.

Something is broken. And we know to a moral certainty that the world we are living in is changing and our collective responses are what it requires to make it a better place.

Norm raises the question: why NOW in our history are all of these mass shooting happening? Why now for Columbine, for Sandy Hook, for Buffalo, for Robb?

Why NOW as opposed to the era of the civil war, or the Great War, or the 60's?

Something is broken in American culture and no one is talking about the true nature of the problems. 70,000 Americans are killing themselves each year, and we are seeing a drastic rise in the types of mass shootings we have seen this week at Robb Elementary.

America is now a strange place. Why are we not at home here?

America has a crisis of morale and community.

Like, share, and subscribe. Norm is live every weekday on WICC600AM from 12pm ET to 2pm ET. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the second hour reading an excerpt devoted to the life of P.T. Barnum from Robert Wilson's, "Barnum in American Life."

Norm is joined in the second hour by Kathy Maher, the Executive Director of The Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Who is P.T. Barnum?

Norm and Kathy talk about Kathy's path into her position with The Barnum Museum, her initial hestitation, and how she became overwhelmed with Barnum's influence.

They then transition to a long form discussion of P.T. Barnum's life and legacy, and how his purchase of the American Museum changed the landscape of American history and culture.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC600 AM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Norm opens the show discussing the shocking SCOTUS decision in Shinn v. Martinez-Ramirez, which curiously holds that evidence of bad lawyering such that a person is exposed to the penalty of death is insufficient to compel federal judicial intervention to preserve the life that might have otherwise been spared.

Norm unpacks federalism and the concept of habeus corpus. What is the latter? A remedy a person has against the government, usually seen through a "writ" which alleges the government is holding someone against their constitutional rights.

The United States Constitution's 6th amendment right to counsel—right to "effective assistance of counsel"—is one that is well known and understood in the criminal defense world. It is a fundamental right. Federal courts are there to vindicate such a right.

What gives SCOTUS the right to say that it does not care, that justice under these circumstances is inconvenient.

Capital murder defendants or otherwise, the Bill of Rights should never be too costly to defend.

Norm is then joined by Meg Turner of Whitlock Farms Book Store in Betheny, Connecticut. The old book store was started in 1948! Norm is the proprietor of Whitlock's and Meg is the lifeblood of its day-to-day operations.

Visit http://www.whitlocksbookbarn.com/?page_id=16 to discover Whitlocks.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/#. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.