If you aren't a lawyer, chances are that you don't spend much time reading court opinions. However, it's a good idea to do so from time to time, if only to understand what's going on with your rights and your responsibilities as a citizen.

There have been a number of recent decisions at the local and national level that are worthy of your reading. First is, obviously, yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in Hudson v. Michgan (#04-1360, June 15, 2006), which allows the police to enter your home without knocking or announcing themselves, as long as they have a search warrant. To me, this is a somewhat disturbing ruling, because it violates our rights of privacy and freedom from unreasonable search as defined in the Constitution, not to mention many years of previous legal reasoning. You can read the ruling, and the vigorous dissent written by Justice Breyer, here: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=04-1360.

Another ruling worth the reading is that of Judge John Jones in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (Case # 04cv2688), which decisively shot down the mandatory teaching of, or reference to, "Intelligent Design" as an alternative to the theory of evolution. Judge Jones' eloquent, thoroughly-reasoned, and heavily footnoted decision clearly revealed Intelligent Design for what it is: a thinly-veiled effort to push a religious agenda in public schools in violation of the Constitution. As the judge makes clear, there are those who hold deeply held religious beliefs concerning Intelligent Design, and they are free to share those beliefs with themselves and others; nevertheless, as it is clearly an opinion rooted in religion, not science, it must therefore not be taught in public schools as if it were a tested and accepted scientific theory. No matter which side of the argument you come down on, this is an important ruling and very much worth your time in reading.

I'll have more to say on other recent court decisions in later posts. In the meantime, gird your mental loins, wade through the legalese, and read key court decisions, which are easy to find on the Internet. They establish the law under which you live.

Have a great weekend. More thoughts later.

Bilbo