I’ve blogged on a number of occasions about the messy state of the law relating to the admissibility of “other bad acts” evidence (e.g., here and here). Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) indicates that other bad acts may not be used against a criminal defendant to show bad character or a propensity to commit crime. However, the Rule includes a number of exceptions, and courts have not only tended to interpret those exceptions expansively, but have also recognized an additional exception for evidence that is “inextricably intertwined” with proof of a charged offense.
Given the expansively interpreted exceptions set forth in Rule 404(b) itself, the inextricable intertwinement exception seemed to me an unnecessary and confusing addition to the law. The Seventh Circuit has now indicated its agreement with that view.
In United States v. Gorman (No. 09-3010) (Kanne, J.), the court held:
[T]he inextricable intertwinement doctrine has . . . become overus
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Ah, the wonderful careers we pondered when we were young. I can only recall ever having two career dreams for myself: when in elementary school, I knew absolutely that I would become an elementary school teacher when I grew up, and in high school I changed my mind and wanted to earn my degrees in physical therapy.
Practical and lacking incredibly in imagination, I know. What a lame kid I was. Didn’t I ever want to be a queen or a ballerina? Nope. I would have totally ganged up with the Dukes of Hazard, and in the fourth grade, during the 1984 Olympics, I spent a few months trying to work out how I could actually become Mary Lou Retton (cute, short, and all gymnastics-y, just like fourth-grade me).
The most impractical my real dreams and aspirations ever were: the bizarre number of graduate degrees I felt I needed to hold in order to follow my teaching/physical therapy paths. I was always certain that my working life would not begin until I had at east one PhD on my wall. Why? I
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Should universities teach students how to find a job? Are employment skills a necessary requirement for higher education to deliver today?
With so many new graduates each year, employers are spoilt for choice on who to give a job. If a company wants to recruit graduates, it’ll have no difficulty. If a company wants to recruit graduates with specific skills, the choice may be more difficult.
It’s like with A-levels. Universities find it increasingly difficult to work out which students to give offers to, because so many A-level students are receiving good grades. More unis are asking for at least one A* grade to help identify students of the highest calibre. But what happens when this grade fails to identify anything useful? And is this still a reasonable and effective method of finding the most able students?
There was a time when simply ‘being a graduate’ was enough to help you stand out from the crowd. Securing employment wasn’t as tough, because there were fewer graduates in the same position. Regardles
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I’ll be appearing tongight on Wisconsin Public Television’s Here and Now, discussing the Government Accountability Board’s new rule requiring groups and persons who spend more that $ 25 on something called “political communications” during a set period preceding an election to register, make certain filings and disclose the source of their funds. Joining me will be Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
My initial take on the rule is here. Apart from a statutory issue, there a few broad constitutional problems. The first is that, although the United States Supreme Court has upheld disclosure requirements in the case of what the Court calls express advocacy, the GAB rule applies more broadly to what the Court has held to be “issue advocacy” which criticizes or supports a candidate’s record or stance on the issues. It is not clear that the interest in disclosure is the same.
The second is the scope of the rule and the way in that may affect the state’s interest in requiring registration and disclosure. It is not limited t
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Like pet health insurance, travel insurance, or renters insurance, tuition insurance is just another insurance policy that you don’t think about until you need it. Tuition refund insurance, commonly referred to as tuition insurance, comes in mighty handy if your child needs to withdraw from college suddenly.
One of the most common reasons students withdraw from college is due to medical issues. If your son or daughter has a serious or chronic illness, tuition insurance might be worth looking into. Be forewarned though, that some pre-existing conditions require a 6-12 month “waiting period” before coverage kicks in, possibly negating the point of having a policy.
Because the vast majority of college age students are in excellent health, it often does not make sense to tack on the additional expense of tuition insurance. However, if you are paying for all or most of the tuition and other expenses out of your own pocket, tuition insurance can provide you with peace of mind.
So, what exactly is covered under these policies? Cover
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