Odds and Ends: Peace, Judges, and Sex

I discuss the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

There are three types of judges that are elected by New York City voters, rather than appointed by the mayor or governor. 

Supreme Court justices oversee state trial courts for felony criminal cases and some types of civil cases, including ones that involve large amounts of money. 

Civil Court judges in the city preside over consumer debt, landlord-tenant disputes and several other kinds of civil cases. 

Surrogates’ Court judges handle cases related to deceased people’s wills and estates.

I think judicial elections are dumb, partially since the average voter knows nearly nothing about the people on the ballot here. Here's a helpful explainer with links for information.

I still think they are dumb.

This is a book (over 500 pages) from early 2017, so it can do for an update. Then again, it ends with a reminder that the law and social norms repeatedly changed and could change again, especially with new SCOTUS personnel. 

It starts from ancient times. A quick read overall. It argues that morals legislation tends to overlap with religion, so it is a separation of church and state issue. As Justice Brennan realized with obscenity:

Like the proscription of abortions, the effort to suppress obscenity is predicated on unprovable, although strongly held, assumptions about human behavior, morality, sex, and religion.

The final sections cover sexual speech, reproductive liberty, and gay rights. It is not totally comprehensive (it should at least reference Mormonism and polygamy), but it covers a lot of ground. Good book overall. My copy had no cover.