Focal Points
Cases on the bench.
Each case on FocusBench is a self-contained body of analysis on a specific structural feature of the U.S. legal system — a conflict-of-interest rule that fails to reach the condition it was written to address, a foundational doctrine that rests on an editorial insertion rather than a court holding, or some other defined gap in how the rule of law is built and maintained.
The format is the same across every case: an overview that names the focal point, the documentary anchor pages (statute, opinion, court record, primary source), the analytical reasoning that connects them, and an explicit remedy framework where one applies. Claims are tagged throughout as Documented, Contested, or Open so the reader always knows which kind of statement they are reading. The full convention is laid out under methodology.
What gets added over time
Additional focal points are anticipated. Each new case will follow the same format and the same editorial line. Candidate areas include:
- Cross-cutting structural-protection analysis — patterns that recur across jurisdictions in how legal-system actors are insulated from accountability.
- Specific prosecutor and judge investigations — on a case-by-case basis, where the public record supports a structural read.
- Further jurisdictional-theory work — deeper into admiralty, equity, the federal-state divide, and the legal-fiction grammar that runs through commercial law.
The site grows by case, not by topic. A new entry appears only when the documentary work is in place and the structural claim can be stated cleanly. Pace over volume.
Currently on the bench
Texas Bar Ethics Opinion 666
A post-Obergefell language gap in the Texas Bar conflict-of-interest opinions, the parallel gap in ABA Model Rule 1.7, and the remedy framework that would close it.
Admiralty Jurisdiction & Corporate Personhood
The historical expansion of admiralty jurisdiction beyond ships, the persona / legal-fiction distinction, and the 1886 Santa Clara headnote that founded American corporate personhood.
Social Media Platforms as Public Utilities
Whether dominant social media platforms have reached infrastructure scale sufficient to warrant common-carrier obligations — the statutory landscape, live constitutional questions, and the five available reform paths.
