CELEBRITY LAW.Cases involving celebrities, or high profile events, create havoc in the justice system. Judges preen, lawyers prance, defedants pose, it all becomes a mess. The judge in the Kobe Bryant case is the latest example. Although he bound Bryant over for trial after the preliminary hearing, he took the occasion in his ruling to dump on the prosecution's case. Normally a judge rules without comment on such a matter. So why do it now? Just to be on the talk shows? If so, it worked. The morning shows were full of shots of the judge taking the bench. Is it for a future book deal, the "I told you so" book? Bad judge, bad judge.

Then you have the box cutter guy. He was on the news today also. I caught Diane Sawyer stumping for the guy. She needs a law license, she was working so hard to defend him. She castigated a federal official saying should they prosecute him for an act that was obviously "just civil disobedience". Just civil disobedience, Diane? Do we need a dictionary? Civil disobedience means breaking the law to make a point, usually a moral one. When you break the law, you get prosecuted. That is kind of the point of prosecution. And the point of civil disobedience is that you say you are willing to suffer the consequences because of your moral beliefs. This is what Operation Rescue does. The get prosecuted for trespassing at abortion clinics, trying to stop abortions. Then, the docs got a law passed that made gathering at an abortion clinic a crime. (This by the way is the golden rule. Those with the gold rule.) But, the resuce folks feel that abortion violates the moral law, so the break the law to protest it. It would be hard to imagine old Di defending them on national t.v. So, somebody get the poor girl a dictionary, maybe a copy of the Thoreau essay, and bring her up to speed. It is painful to watch her embarass herself. I'll make it a point not to do that in the future.