Brickbat: This Bud's for You
Andrew Rausa and some friends were sitting on the steps of a New York City brownstone drinking beer and soda and celebrating July 4 when some cops pulled up. They cited the group for drinking in public. Rausa, a law student, quickly pulled up the state code on his iPhone and showed the cops that the law defines a public place as one in which "the public or a substantial group of persons has access." He argued that didn't cover a piece of gated private property. The cops still issued citations, which the group plans to fight.