May 27th, 2021
By Geoffrey Huchel
Politician and attorney John Warner died May 25, 2021, from heart failure, in Alexandria, Virginia. He was 94.
Warner was born on February 18, 1927 in Washington, D.C. Upon graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, he enlisted in the United States Navy in January 1945, serving as the United States Secretary of the Navy. In 1950 he joined the Marines and served as a ground aircraft maintenance officer with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. He continued in the Marine Corps Reserves, eventually reaching the rank of captain. He is a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War.
During his years in politics, he served as Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee from 1995-1999 and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1999-2001 and again from 2003-2007. He was a five-year term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979-2009.
Shakespeare gives us one example of a young man who is originally considered a lightweight but grows in office into a serious-minded leader who is respected even by his enemies:
By
Dinsmore & Shohl LLP issued the following announcement on May 17,
Dinsmore & Shohl LLP is pleased to welcome Brendan McCommas as its newest attorney in Washington, D.C. The former United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Chief of Staff and White House Special Assistant to the President will practice with the firm’s leading national Intellectual Property department, which manages the portfolios of multiple top-25 Fortune 500 companies.
McCommas counseled senior White House staff and cabinet officials on a range of intellectual property-related issues, including initiatives targeting the influx of counterfeit goods that damage American businesses. While at the USPTO, he was director Andrei Iancu’s chief advisor in the management of the agency s 13,000 employees and its $3.3 billion budget. McCommas was also a key contributor to the agency’s Section 101 guidance, along with numerous rules for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and he participated in the prepa
For decades eyewitness identification was considered the gold standard when it came to evidence used to gain a conviction.
In the famous courtroom drama â12 Angry Men,â rated by the American Bar Association as one of the 25 greatest legal movies of all time, juror No. 8, played by Henry Fonda, earnestly advocated for a not-guilty verdict.
Fonda started out as the only not-guilty vote. The turning point of the deliberations occurred when an older juror recalled that the stateâs prized eyewitness, who had observed the murder through her window as she laid in bed, had red marks on her nose left from wearing eyeglasses. The older juror asked a reserved bespectacled juror, âDo you wear your glasses when you go to bed?â The bespectacled juror responded, âNo, I donât. No one wears eyeglasses to bed.â
Guest column: Seven problems in the police culture
Your turn
The news headlines, stories, and commentaries in recent weeks have described many unsavory examples of police misconduct, charges of excessive force and ultimately criminal trials. Media pundits have weighed in from sociological, psychological, medical, legal, criminal justice, historical and even biblical perspectives. The U.S. is truly divided on the question of systematic racism in our institutions.
Rosa Brooks’ excellent book “Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City” (2021) is partly autobiographical and partly a playbook for improving the image and functioning of the police. The latter part is based on her direct experiences and observations of policing in action. The problems described are indeed complex and cannot be solved swiftly or simply.