mario nicolais
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Nicolais: Does ‘Making a Murderer’ bring injustice to light or just boost ratings?
I admit it. I got hooked on the podcast Serial last year and binge-listened to all 12 episodes in one weekend. Really, if you aren’t one of the 68 million people who downloaded the podcast already, go do it now. When you’re done, just remember to write a letter of appreciation to my editor. Given…
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Nicolais: Merry Kwanukah! The holiday season legal conundrum
When Thanksgiving gives way to December, frantic shopping expeditions, decorative lights, relatives at airports, office parties and an extra 10 pounds due to gift baskets and cookies, the legal community often looks back fondly to the gift that never stops giving: debate over the place for religion in the public square. On one side is…
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Nicolais: In Wake of Planned Parenthood attack, both sides prepare for coming court battle
As Coloradans remain shocked and saddened by the deadly attack that took place at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, the women’s health care provider most directly associated with abortion services is bracing for bigger headlines during the coming Supreme Court session. While law enforcement sifts through the crime scene and undertakes what will…
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Nicolais: Jury nullification movement in spotlight in Colorado
“God gives air to men; the law sells it to them.” — Victor Hugo, Les Miserables Such is the disdain proponents of jury nullification feel toward laws and prosecutions they believe to be unjust. Generally the province of a small but passionate and vocal few, jury nullification found itself in headlines and on editorial pages…
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Nicolais: Colorado studies letting techs practice law
Q: What do you call 1,000 lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean? A: A good start. Every lawyer knows this old joke. Frustration with lawyers, legalese, and attorney fees lead many non-lawyers to agree with the sentiment – or even ask how they can help. But for many people in our state,…
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Nicolais: Specialty courts meet specific needs
Unless you are a regular in Colorado courts — offender, attorney or judge — walking into a modern courtroom might leave you with a sense of chaos and confusion. The sensation can be amplified in criminal courts as prosecutors and public defenders shuffle through case files they saw for the first time just five minutes…
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Nicolais: Dwyer ruling won’t resolve K-12 funding debate
Earlier this week, the Colorado Supreme Court waded into the political battlefield of K-12 education funding. Long the domain of complex legislative fights, the interplay between the state’s budgeting process and education funding mandates always seemed destined to end in court. Beginning with passage of Amendment 23 in 2000, the state has an obligation to…
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Nicolais: Death penalty needs debate
The outcomes in the Aurora Theater Shooting and the Fero’s Bar & Grill trials brought Colorado’s death penalty to the forefront over the past few months. The process and eventual sentences of James Holmes and Dexter Lewis have been scrutinized, reviewed and opined upon everywhere from water coolers to the editorial pages of almost every…
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Nicolais: Cynical, ‘politicist’ readings of Constitution substitute sound bites for consistency
Donald Trump stumbled across another political powder keg last week and couldn’t help himself from lighting a match. Again. In an interview with Bill O’Reilly, Trump challenged the 14th Amendment provision that makes anyone born on American soil a U.S. citizen. Almost 150 years after Republicans pushed through passage of the amendment, the current Republican…
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Nicolais: Real justice at risk of being sacrificed to mob rule
“The mob is the mother of tyrants.” – Diogenes As true today as it was in the Greek philosopher’s time 2,500 years ago, the exponential increase in communication during the digital age has created an environment where instances of mob justice occur almost weekly. The growing prevalence threatens to undermine the formal judicial system. The…