|
|
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
I Beg Your Pardon:
Presidential pardons historically have provided a critical safety valve in the federal criminal justice system. Today, though, that is no longer true. Throughout American history, Presidents issued pardons in a measurable chunk of federal criminal cases. (Statistics available here and here.) Back when only a few thousand federal criminal cases were charged each year, Presidents generally exercised their pardon power in hundreds of cases. In the early 19th century, for example, James Monroe pardoned 419 people. In the early 20th century, Woodrow Wilson pardoned 2,480 people. On a percentage basis, pardons have been becoming rarer over time. Even in the 1970s and 1980s, however, presidents have averaged about 400 or 500 pardons per Term. And of course, the federal prison population in absolute terms has gone way up since that time: according to Bureau of Prison statistics, the federal prison population has jumped from 20,000 in 1970 to about 150,000 today. Under George W. Bush, however, the pardon process essentially has come to a standstill. The Associated Press reports that the total number of pardons that George W. Bush has granted in his first Term in office is currently 31, jumping all the way from 27 with the addition of 4 new pardons announced yesterday. The only two Presidents who completed a Term in office with fewer pardons than Bush are the first two Presidents — George Washington and John Adams — and that was only because at the time there was no one around to pardon. Further, the four pardons granted yesterday are entirely symbolic. They all involve misdemeanor charges that resulted in probation, and in each case the probation was served and the case closed many years ago — and in some cases many decades ago. (The convictions were obtained in 1969, 1980, 1981, and 1990.) [UPDATE: It turns out that while all 4 crimes were minor and resulted only in probation, the convictions technically were felony convictions, not misdemeanors.] Presidential pardons can be politically risky; just ask Bill Clinton about pardoning Marc Rich. But it's the President's job to do the right thing regardless of what the pollsters say. There are currently 150,000 people in federal prisons, with another 50,000 or so on probation. Could it be that none of them deserve Presidential pardons? I have enabled comments.
19 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Mess Hall Attack in Mosul:
The New York Times offers an audio/video report here.
Academic Legal Writing
is now available on amazon.com, though they say it takes 1 to 2 weeks for delivery.
If you want personalized copies, follow the instructions here; I have only copy left right now (24 have been bought since I got the box Friday), but the publisher says that 30 more are on their way.
And remember, some people appreciate New Year's gifts as well as Christmas gifts. (I'm not making this up, that's indeed the way we always did it in my family.) And some people appreciate gifts on any day.
Seriously, one thing I mention in the chapter on getting on law review is that people should start preparing several weeks before the competition. So if the competition is in March (as it is at UCLA, for instance), it would be good for a student to have the book well before then.
Original Documents from Leading First Amendment Cases:
A really cool site for First Amendment junkies -- thanks to my former student Matthew Liebman for the pointer. Here's a list of what they have:
. . .
The "Conscription" cartoon in Masses Publishing . . .
The two-sided circular in Schenck . . .
The speech in Debs . . .
The circulars in Abrams . . .
The Left Wing Manifesto in Gitlow . . .
An article used as evidence in Near . . .
Examples of the documents in Herndon [v. Lowry] . . .
Transcript of the phonograph record in Cantwell . . .
The handbills in Valentine . . .
The speech in Terminiello . . .
Accounts of the speech in Feiner . . .
The leaflet in Beauharnais . . .
The advertisement in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan . . .
Photographs of the protest in O'Brien . . .
The letter to the newspaper in Pickering . . .
Examples of gender-segregated want-ads in Pittsburgh Press . . .
Transcript of the monologue in FCC v. Pacifica . . .
Photographs of the display in Lynch v. Donnelly . . .
Page proofs of the student articles in Kuhlmeier . . .
The "ad parody—not to be taken seriously" in Hustler v. Falwell . . .
Pictures of the displays in Allegheny v. ACLU . . .
The newspaper articles in Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. . . .
The city council resolutions and ordinances in Lukumi . . .
The anonymous leaflets in McIntyre . . .
A picture of crosses in the square in Pinette . . .
The school's student-activity-fee policy in Rosenberger . . .
Correspondence and the newspaper article in Boy Scouts v. Dale . . .
Transcript of the intercepted telephone conversation in Bartnicki . . .
Peremptory Challenges and Unanimous Juries:
Dirk Olin has an essay in Slate objecting to the practice of allowing peremptory challenges in jury trials. Peremptory challenges allow a lawyer to dismiss a small number of potential jurors from the jury pool without giving a reason. (The word peremptory means "precluding a right to debate;" the dismissals are called peremptory challenges because the opposing attorney normally cannot challenge them.) Olin begins by recounting his experience as a dismissed juror in a criminal case in Newark, NJ. Olin had "been called for a case involving two black guys accused of dealing drugs near a school," and the defense attorney exercised a peremptory challenge to get Olin off the jury. Olin, who describes himself as "a 40-something male mutt of Northern European extraction," suggests that his dismissal was an example of "discrimination against middle-aged white men" that should not be allowed: On occasion, it is likely that peremptories have been exercised by wise and well-intentioned advocates who used their intuition to keep a bigot or conspirator off a panel. But let's recall that England and Canada get along just fine without them. And in the aggregate, the common costs far outweigh the rare benefits. There's enough sub rosa racism in the system as it is. The peremptory challenge's effect is to disguise it, not minimize it. In reality, it's little more than an invitation to judge-approved jury rigging. I think Olin is overlooking something important, however. My sense is that peremptory challenges exist in the United States because juries have to be unanimous, at least in most jurisdictions. In a criminal case, every single juror has to agree for the jury to convict or acquit; a single juror can hang a jury and avoid either a conviction or acquittal. When a single juror can control the outcome of a case, it is reasonable to give parties the power to screen out jurors who they see (whether rightly or wrongly) as unrepresentative of the community at large. Peremptories can filter out unrepresentative viewpoints and leave a more accurate picture of core community values and attitudes. Of course, it would be ideal if people from all walks of life and all viewpoints could reach unanimous decisions. But part of the thinking behind peremptories is that jurors with unusual viewpoints may cause more harm than good. I'm not sure if I agree with the argument, but it seems plausible: While other jurors may benefit from exposure to the different perspective, the juror with outlier attititudes may also end up keeping the jury from reaching a unanimous verdict. In Olin's case, for example, a defense attorney might reasonably conclude that a white male in his 40s who is an editor of a prominent legal magazine would identify with the police much more than would most citizens of Newark. If the case hinged on the credibility of a police officer, which is not unlikely, it's not out of the question that Olin's views would have been outside of the mainstream among prospective jurors. Of course, that doesn't mean Olin wouldn't be a great juror; it's just that he probably isn't a typical member of the jury pool. Finally, Olin notes that England and Canada get along just fine without peremptory challenges. That may be true, but the key question is whether these countries require unanimous juries, as well. I couldn't find anything on whether Canada requires unanimous juries, but some quick research confirmed that England hasn't required unanimous juries since the 1960s. UPDATE: It seems the Slate article is simply wrong about Canadian practices. Reader Matt Horner points out that Section 634 of the Canadian Criminal Code permits peremptory challenges: 634. (1) A juror may be challenged peremptorily whether or not the juror has been challenged for cause pursuant to section 638.
(2) Subject to subsections (2.1) to (4), the prosecutor and the accused are each entitled to (a ) twenty peremptory challenges, where the accused is charged with high treason or first degree murder; (b ) twelve peremptory challenges, where the accused is charged with an offence, other than an offence mentioned in paragraph (a ), for which the accused may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term exceeding five years; or(c ) four peremptory challenges, where the accused is charged with an offence that is not referred to in paragraph (a ) or (b ). Notably, Canada also requires unanimous jury verdicts.
All or Nothing:
I much appreciated Orin's post criticizing the "Nearly Half in U.S. Say Restrict Muslims" reporting of a recent survey. As Orin pointed out, here's what the survey actually measured, quoting this report:
1) Muslim civic and volunteer organizations should be infiltrated by undercover law enforcement agents to keep watch on their activities and fundraising.
2) U.S. government agencies should profile citizens as potential threats based on being Muslim or having Middle Eastern heritage.
3) Mosques should be closely monitored and surveilled by U.S. law enforcement agencies.
4) All Muslim Americans should be required to register their whereabouts with the federal government.
44% of respondents said yes to at least one of these questions.
To Orin's criticisms, let me add this one: Options 1 through 3 say nothing about under what conditions these procedures are to happen. People can have lots of views on them. Consider, for instance, option 1. Some people might say that all Muslim organizations should be infiltrated. Others might say that most should be. Others might say that the government should infiltrate those that it has some reason to believe are being used as recruiting centers for jihadism (that's my view). Still others might say that the government should never infiltrate any religious groups.
But the question lets people choose either "yes" or "no." So the count of those who would "restrict[] . . . civil liberties of Muslim Americans" would include those who would infiltrate all Muslim organizations, as well as those who would simply reject the extreme opposite position that any religious or political organization must be immune from surveillance. (Plus, of course, it's a judgment call whether one's "civil liberties" include immunity from government infiltration of groups to which one belongs -- there are arguments on both sides, but the Supreme Court has generally held that such infiltration doesn't violate either the First Amendment or the Fourth Amendment.)
The hypothetical proposal in "All Muslim Americans should be required to register their whereabouts with the federal government" would be pretty clearly a restriction on civil liberties; I'd reject it myself, and I share Orin's regret that it polled 29%. But it's also the only option that specifies "all," and that would clearly be unconstitutional.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Follow-Up on Gays and "What a Waste":
Reader Kieran Jadiker-Smith writes:
I am a gay man, and, on a few occasions, I've gotten the "what a waste" remark from straight women. I haven't found this offensive; generally it's said in a playful, joking manner, and is not meant all that seriously. I suppose if someone said it with wide-eyed seriousness, I would be a bit annoyed, but I've never encountered it in that context.
For the record, I do find the idea of my having sex with women quite disgusting. But somehow, when someone makes a joke like this, I don't feel compelled to conjure up some graphic and explicit image of heterosexual sex. I take it simply as someone saying, in a humorous way, that she finds me attractive.
It's possible to rationalize indignance at any kidding involving issues of identity, but I don't think it helps in a society where we increasingly expect people who are different from one another to get along and even be friendly with one another. I should also mention, at this point, that I am 20 years old and grew up in two highly diverse, cosmopolitan urban areas (Vancouver, BC and San Francisco) and my friends have always been a mix of races, religions, backgrounds, and, starting in high school, sexual orientations. In general — even in oh-so-PC San Francisco — I've found that people prefer being able to joke about these issues a little bit rather than walk on eggshells, afraid to say anything about them lest they give offense. I came out of the closet when I was 15, and I think the ability to joke about it — up to a point, anyway — helped ease tensions as friends and acquaintances (some of whom had never had a gay friend before!) adjusted to the idea.
This whole discussion — perhaps because it's that time of year — reminds me of an item you ran some time ago about whether Jewish people might take offense at being wished a merry Christmas. I, too, am Jewish. But, like you, I've chosen — sensibly, I think — to interpret "Merry Christmas" as something other than an act of hostility or a subtle suggestion that I should convert to Christianity. I very much doubt than many people — Christian or otherwise — intend it as such. I simply accept it as I think it's offered — as a wish for a happy holiday season, even if I'm not celebrating the holiday to which they specifically refer.
So, too, do I accept "what a waste" as it's intended — a lighthearted, joking compliment. I know this world is full of people who come pre-offended, but I don't think they — or people who cater to them — are really advancing the causes of respect, friendship, comity, civility, or tolerance.
For all the same reasons, I don't see a reason in the world straight men shouldn't adopt the same attitude if they hear the same thing from a gay man. The interpretation of context shouldn't be impaired by one's sexual orientation.
Well put, and I wish more people had this attitude. At the same time, since the purpose of "what a waste" seems to be a compliment, its users should realize that at least with some listeners — though not Mr. Jadiker-Smith — it may not be a very effective compliment. Related Posts (on one page): - Follow-Up on Gays and "What a Waste":
- "What a Waste":
PowerBlogs:
We've been using Chris Lansdown's PowerBlogs service for several months now, and I've been very pleased -- pleased enough that I wanted to pitch it to all of you. The interface has lots of nifty features: tools to help create tables, bulleted lists, and numbered lists, a way to link related posts together, support for hidden text, easy blogroll maintenance, and a bunch of other things. (Of course, it also has all the normal stuff, such as support for comments, delivery of posts by e-mail, RSS feeds, multiple bloggers, customized layout, and more.) The system has been extremely reliable. And the technical support has been excellent.
You can find more about the features here, and about the pricing here -- the cost is pretty reasonable, starting at only about $5/month, though it naturally goes up for higher-bandwidth or higher-space blogs. I highly recommend it.
Law School Song Lyrics:
The CivPro version of "99 Problems" is fun, but criminal law junkies might be partial to "Twas the Night before Booker" or "Take a Walk on the Blakely Side." I'm partial to the first one myself. Both items are courtesy of Begging the Question's Milbarge.
A VC reader with somewhat different musical tastes than my own, suggests that Jerry Garcia would be no less appropriate on a CrimPro exam than Jay-Z, and offers this bit from "Truckin'": Sittin' and starin' out of the hotel window.
Got a tip they're gonna kick the door in again
I'd like to get some sleep before I travel,
But if you got a warrant, I guess you're gonna come in.
Naming the Patriot Act:
One argument I occasionally hear from opponents of the Patriot Act is that the Patriot Act was unfairly named. "With a name like Patriot Act," the arguments runs, "How could anyone vote against it? No one wanted to be seen as unpatriotic in the weeks after 9/11." The suggestion seems to be that the Patriot Act's name, or at least the acronym its name creates, unfairly pressured legislators to vote for it.
There are two significant problems with this argument. The first is that the name was worked out fairly late in the Congressional negotiations over the bill, long after it was clear that the bill would pass. The second problem is that most bills proposed in Congress have a similar feel-good name. The name of a bill is often used to articulate an argument in favor of the bill, not to describe its contents accurately. For example, if someone wants to pass a tax break, the bill might be named the "Empowering the People to Make America Great Act." If someone else wants to do the exact opposite and undo tax breaks, the bill might be named the "Freeing Our Children From The Burdens Of the National Debt Act."
If you doubt this, go over to Congress's Thomas site and check out the names of some recent bills. I did this a week or two ago; I entered a query using the keyword "law" to keep it as generic as possible. (I don't know how the site chooses to order the bills, but I don't think it matters.) Here are the names of the proposed statutes that popped up first on the list:
(1) State and Local Law Enforcement Discipline, Accountability, and Due Process Act of 2003
(2) Preservation of Federalism in Banking Act
(3) UNITE Act
(4) Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act
(5) JTTF Enhancement Act
(6) Federal Law Enforcement Pay and Benefits Parity Act
(7) End Racial Profiling Act
(8) Handgun Licensing Act
(9) Officer Dale Claxton Bulletproof Police Protective Equipment Act
(10) Equity in Law Enforcement Act
If politicians felt forced to vote in favor of bills because of their names, then most bills would just have to become law. After all, how can you be against discipline, accountability, and due process? How can you be against safety? How can you be against uniting? How can you be in favor of inequity in law enforcement? Of course, I recognize that many politicians felt tremendous pressure to enact some kind of anti-terrorism law in the weeks following 9/11. But that pressure had nothing to do with name of the bill.
Pop Culture & Exams:
On the subject of inserting pop culture references into exams and other academic material, noted libertarian author Tibor Machan, who teaches business ethics at Chapman University, writes: Although I do not know enough pop culture to reference it routinely, I wish I did. At 65 I need every pedagogical device available to connect with my students. Fortunately, I am cool enough as is but in part it comes from being familiar with their lives through my 20, 25 and 26 year old kids. When one teaches not at the elite places where students have been prepped to be involved since their crib days, it is desirable to find some way to motivate them, to show them the stuff you are teaching is not unrelated to their lives. Ergo, I assume, the pop references. No doubt this is one reason some professors do it.
Update: Of course, trying to demonstrate one's "hip" quotient can pose risks as well. One professor e-mails this amusing anecdote: Using pop culture can backfire too though. I gave a multiple choice bonus in an undergrad criminal law mid-term. One of the answers was 50 Cent (the rapper - very hip natch). After the test, one of my students came up and said he liked the reference, but he could tell it was out of my daily experience. Apparently, this highbrow "artist" is 50 Cent - I put 50 Cents. I was too cool by half. 10 minutes watching MTV2 would've saved me a few moments of slight embarrassment. Now I stick to things I know - movies, the Simpsons, and the occasional Monty Python cast of characters for a hypo (but that's mostly just for me I fear).
Cousins Marrying:
My student Patricia Stringel -- who hastens to stress that her interest in this is purely academic -- passes along an interesting bit of trivia: In 19 states, including California, New York, and most of New England (so no Beverly Hillbillies jokes, please), first cousins are apparently perfectly free to marry.
While parent-child, sibling-sibling, and uncle/aunt-niece/nephew marriage and sex seem to be pretty broadly condemned in the U.S., there's much more disagreement on cousin-cousin relationships. Actually, it makes a good deal of sense, but it surprised me: I somehow assumed that cousin-cousin relationships were more broadly banned. (Note: The data is from a site dedicated to legitimizing cousin love, and I haven't checked it myself. I have no reason, however, to doubt its accuracy, since the site purports to provide helpful information for cousins and presumably wouldn't try to deceive them. The site also includes statutory language, which is another good sign, though it says it's only current as of 1999.)
Oh, and the most amusing part is the name of the domain -- "cuddleinternational.com," with the "cuddle" standing for "Cousins United to Defeat Discriminating Laws through Education."
Free to Tell the Truth About People's Past Crimes:
I'm pleased to report that a couple of weeks ago, the California Supreme Court held that people are free to tell the truth about others' past crimes. Thirty years earlier, the court had held, in Briscoe v. Reader's Digest, that when a crime was long enough in the past, it would be an "invasion of privacy" for others to publish information about the supposedly "reformed" criminal, and the criminal could sue for lots of money over that. (California courts had also held that much earlier, in the 1930s, and some other state courts had followed suit.) Now the California Supreme Court has overruled Briscoe, and concluded that recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions protect accurate accounts of public records — such as people's past criminal convictions — despite the passage of time.
To explain why I think this is an excellent decision — and why I'm strongly opposed to some "privacy" and "paid his debt to society" rhetoric in such cases — I'm taking the liberty to exhume an old item of my own, from my 2000 article on Freedom of Speech and Information Privacy: The Troubling Implications of a Right to Stop People From Speaking About You, 52 Stanford L. Rev. 1049 (2000):
[In Briscoe, Reader's Digest was held liable for revealing that Briscoe had eleven years earlier been convicted of armed robbery (a robbery that involved his fighting "a gun battle with the local police"). The court acknowledged that the speech, while not related to any particular political controversy, was newsworthy; the public is properly concerned with crime, how it happens, how it's fought, and how it can be avoided. Moreover, revealing the identity of someone "currently charged with the commission of a crime" is itself newsworthy, because "it may legitimately put others on notice that the named individual is suspected of having committed a crime," thus presumably warning them that they may want to be cautious in their dealings with him.
But revealing Briscoe's identity eleven years after his crime, the court said, served no "public purpose" and was not "of legitimate public interest"; there was no "reason whatsoever" for it. The plaintiff was "rehabilitated" and had "paid his debt to society.") "[W]e, as right-thinking members of society, should permit him to continue in the path of rectitude rather than throw him back into a life of shame or crime" by revealing his past. "Ideally, [Briscoe's] neighbors should recognize his present worth and forget his past life of shame. But men are not so divine as to forgive the past trespasses of others, and plaintiff therefore endeavored to reveal as little as possible of his past life." And to assist Briscoe in what the court apparently thought was a worthy effort at concealment, the law may bar people from saying things that would interfere with Briscoe's plans.
Judges are of course entitled to have their own views about which things "right-thinking members of society" should "recognize" and which they should forget; but it seems to me that under the First Amendment members of society have a constitutional right to think things through in their own ways. And some people do take a view that differs from that of the Briscoe judges: While criminals can change their character, this view asserts, they often don't. Someone who was willing to fight a gun battle with the police eleven years ago may be more willing than the average person to do something bad today, even if he has led a blameless life since then (something that no court can assure us of, since it may be that he has continued acting violently on occasion, but just hasn't yet been caught).
Under this ideology, it's perfectly proper to keep this possibility in mind in one's dealings with the supposedly "reformed" felon. While the government may want to give him a second chance by releasing him from prison, restoring his right to vote and possess firearms, and even erasing its publicly accessible records related to the conviction, his friends, acquaintances, and business associates are entitled to adopt a different attitude. Most presumably wouldn't treat him as a total pariah, but they might use extra caution in dealing with him, especially when it comes to trusting their business welfare or even their physical safety (or that of their children) to his care. And, as Richard Epstein has pointed out, they might use extra caution in dealing with him precisely because he has for the last eleven years hidden this history and denied them the chance to judge him for themselves based on the whole truth about his past. Those who think such concealment is wrong will see it as direct evidence of present bad character (since the concealment was continuing) and not just of past bad character. . . .
[W]hich viewpoint about our neighbors' past crimes is "right-thinking" and which is "wrong-thinking" is the subject of a longstanding moral debate. Surely it is not up to the government to conclude that the latter view is so wrong, that Briscoe's conviction was so "[il]legitimate" a subject for consideration, that the government can suppress speech that undermines its highly controversial policy of forgive-and-forget. I can certainly see why all of us might want to suppress "information about [our] remote and forgotten past[s]" in order "to change . . . others' definitions of [ourselves]." But in a free speech regime, others' definitions of me should primarily be molded by their own judgments, rather than by my using legal coercion to keep them in the dark.
So the new California Supreme Court's decision (Gates v. Discovery Communications, Inc.) is a victory for free speech. And to the extent that it's a defeat for "privacy," it's a defeat for a form of privacy that the law ought not recognize — a putative right to stop people from telling the truth about what you've done.
CrimProf Spotlight:
Every Saturday, the CrimProf blog shines their spotlight on a different criminal law professor. The goal is to "to help bring the many individual stories of scholarly achievements, teaching innovations, public service, and career moves within the criminal justice professorate to the attention of the broader criminal justice community." This past Saturday, I was in the hot seat; you can read the post here.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
99 Problems - CivPro Version:
In response to my posting an excerpt of Jay-Z's "99 Problems," a Harvard law student offers his take on the song, "99 Problems but 12(b)(6) Ain't One." This version was prepared for Professor Heather Gerken's annual Civil Procedure Poetry Slam, but neither me nor the author vouches for its legal accuracy. (CivPro professors take note: Here's more exam material.) Unlike my post below, this is not the radio edit.
If you're havin' claim problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but 12(b)(6) ain't one
[Verse One]
I got Cravath & Co. on the fact patrol
Foes that wanna make sure my claim is closed
Posner is sayin my pleading's all toast
I'm from HLS stupid what kind of tacks are those?
If you drew up your prose meetin' rule ocho
You think you gotta be more specific? No!
I'm like "check Conley; kiss my whole asshole"
If you don't like my pleadin' you can get turned-over
Got beef with judges if I don't pass them show
They don't permit my 'mendments where ain't undue prejudice WHOA
Them defendents all try 'n relate back
So clients can pin my Doe for real...losers
I don't know what you take me as
or understand the intelligence that Dean Kagan has
I'm from rags to Cambridge, Justice I ain't dumb
I got 99 problems but 12(b)(6) ain't one
Sue me.
[Chorus]
99 Problems but 12(b)(6) ain't one
If you havin claim problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but 12(b)(6) ain't one
Sue me
[Verse Two]
The year is '94 and in my trunk is raw
In my rear view mirror is the motherfuckin' law
I got two choices y'all pull over the car or
Bounce on the devil; dump due process on the floor
Now i ain't tryin to see no litigation with jake
and 1988's on my side i can fight the case
But I...pull over to the side of the road
And i heard "Son do you know why i'm stoppin you for?"
Cause I'm Vinnie Capasso and I got garbage to throw?
Do I look like a mind reader sir, I don't know
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo?
"Well you missed your last payment that malomar"
"License and registration and step out of the car"
"Are you aware of your rights? I'm sure a lot of you are"
I ain't steppin out of shit -- 14th amendment you bitch"
"Do you mind if I look round the car a little bit?"
Well you ain't got authorization and you ain't got no facts
And I know my rights so you don't got due process for that
"Aren't you sharp as a tack are you some type of lawyer or something?"
"Or some section 4 kid or somethin?"
Nah I ain't pass the bar but I know a little bit
Enough that you won't illegally replevin my shit
"We'll see how smart you are when your notice comes"
I got 99 problems but 12(b)(6) ain't one
Sue me
[Chorus X2]
[Verse Three]
Now once upon a time not too long ago
A student like myself had to hold a depo
This was not a depo like with a tape recorder
But a depo with my fist and a crowbar
I tried to 27(b) him, get him to talk
Pray for him, cause next time he ain't gonna walk
You know the type, pointin' to 26(b)(3)
Saying "that's privileged bitch, you gettin' nothing from me"
The only thing that's gonna happen I'm gonna get 'em on the stand
Gonna outdo what those retards in In Re Shell Oil can't
And there I go trashin' your privilege again
And if you don't go complyin' I'll 37(d) yo ass
In-house council on the floor cryin' again
Paralegals with they billables rackin' them
Judge goes and tries to bring up Control Group Theory
That's crap, but then I'd get your lower-level employee
All because these fools was harrasin' me
Tryin' to play this boy like he's in section 3
But ain't nothin sweet 'bout how i hold my Mont Blanc
I got 99 problems but this claim ain't one
Sue me
[Chorus X3]
You're crazy for this one Prof. G!
It's your boy
The things law students will do to procrastinate!
OLC Memo on War Powers:
The Justice Department's website has posted a copy of the Office of Legal Counsel's September 25, 2001 memo to the White House on the President's war powers post-9/11. From its first paragraph: [The White House has] asked for our opinion as to the scope of the President's authority to take military action in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. We conclude that the President has broad constitutional power to use military force. Congress has acknowledged this inherent executive power in both the War Powers Resolution, Pub. L. No. 93-148, 87 Stat. 555 (1973), codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1541-1548 (the "WPR"), and in the Joint Resolution passed by Congress on September 14, 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-40, 115 Stat. 224 (2001). Further, the President has the constitutional power not only to retaliate against any person, organization, or State suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks on the United States, but also against foreign States suspected of harboring or supporting such organizations. Finally, the President may deploy military force preemptively against terrorist organizations or the States that harbor or support them, whether or not they can be linked to the specific terrorist incidents of September 11. Thanks to Howard for the link to the Newsweek story on the memo.
Sunday Song Lyric CrimPro Exam Fact Pattern:
Ever notice how some professors who feel compelled to prove their hipness by inserting pop culture references into their exams? One of my professors used characters from Austin Powers for all the names in his exam, while another based the exam on a plotline from "Dawson's Creek," inserting a murder in the show's love triangle.
These efforts are often amusing, and occasionally a bit sad. Nonetheless, they can lighten the stress of taking an exam. In this spirit I offer a selection from " 99 Problems" by rapper Jay-Z, recently named President and CEO of Def Jam records: The year is '94 and my trunk is raw
In my rear view mirror is the ****** ******' law
I got two choices y'all pull over the car or (hmmm)
Bounce on the devil put the pedal to the floor
Now I ain't tryin' to see no highway chase for Jay
Plus I got a few dollars I can fight the case
So I . . . pull over to the side of the road
I heard "Son do you know what I'm stoppin' you for?"
Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hats real low
But do I look like a mind reader sir, I don't know
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo'?
"Well you was doin fifty-five in a fifty-four
"License and registration and step out of the car
"Are you carryin' a weapon on you I know alot of you are"
I ain't steppin out of **** all my papers legit
"Do you mind if I look round the car a little bit?"
Well my glove compartment is locked so is the trunk and the back
And I know my rights so you gon' need a warrant for that
"Aren't you sharp as a tack, you some type of lawyer or somethin'?
"Or somebody important or somethin'?"
Nah I ain't pass the bar but i know a little bit
Enough that you won't illegally search my ****
"We'll see how smart you are when the K-9 come"
I got 99 Problems but a ***** ain't one.
As to whether Shawn Carter knows the law, I'll defer to the Conspiracy's resident criminal procedure experts.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
ACLU Privacy Scandal:
Have you heard about the powerful international organization that engages in invasive, Big Brother-esque data mining; creates digital dossiers on people in violation of their own privacy policies; does all of this with no oversight and no judical review; and when challenged, tries to cover-up its practices? Would you believe that the organization is the ACLU? According to The New York Times: The American Civil Liberties Union is using sophisticated technology to collect a wide variety of information about its members and donors in a fund-raising effort that has ignited a bitter debate over its leaders' commitment to privacy rights.
. . .
Daniel S. Lowman, vice president for analytical services at Grenzebach Glier & Associates, the data firm hired by the A.C.L.U., said the software the organization is using, Prospect Explorer, combs a broad range of publicly available data to compile a file with information like an individual's wealth, holdings in public corporations, other assets and philanthropic interests.
. . .
Mr. [Michael] Meyers[, vice-president of the ACLU,] said he learned on Nov. 7 that the A.C.L.U.'s data collection practices went far beyond previous efforts. "If I give the A.C.L.U. $20, I have not given them permission to investigate my partners, who I'm married to, what they do, what my real estate holdings are, what my wealth is, and who else I give my money to," he said. The New York Attorney General is on the case: In a Dec. 3 letter, Mr. Spitzer's office informed the A.C.L.U. that it was conducting an inquiry into whether the group had violated its promises to protect the privacy of donors and members. How did the ACLU respond to scrutiny of its practices? Not particularly well, it turns out: [The ACLU's vice-president] objected to the practices, and the next day, the privacy policy on the group's Web site was changed. "They took out all the language that would show that they were violating their own policy," he said. "In doing so, they sanctified their procedure while still keeping it secret." I wonder, what is this "Prospect Explorer" datamining surveillance tool that the ACLU has hired the company to use? What are its powers? Can it be abused? Has it been tested for accuracy? Why has its existence been kept secret? What else is the ACLU trying to hide? Is Admiral Poindexter behind this? John Ashcroft? J. Edgar Hoover? Developing....
What Do 44% of Americans Believe?:
Newspapers and websites around the world are reporting what purport to be the results of a Cornell University poll on attitudes of Americans towards Muslims in the United States. The newspapers and websites are reporting that 44% of Americans say that they want to curtail the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Here is the summary from the Associated Press: Nearly half of all Americans surveyed said they think the US government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans, according to a nationwide poll.
. . .
The survey indicated that 44 percent of those surveyed said they favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted. These are extremely disturbing figures that will be accepted by hundreds of millions or even billions of people around the world. But there is something important that the press reports overlook: the 44% of people polled did not actually say that they wanted to curtail the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Rather, 44% of peple reported views that the Cornell University pollsters themselves categorize as being support for the curtailment of the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. I found the report on the poll here. It turns out that the pollsters asked people to agree or disagree with four statements: 1) Muslim civic and volunteer organizations should be infiltrated by undercover law enforcement agents to keep watch on their activities and fundraising.
2) U.S. government agencies should profile citizens as potential threats based on being Muslim or having Middle Eastern heritage.
3) Mosques should be closely monitored and surveilled by U.S. law enforcement agencies.
4) All Muslim Americans should be required to register their whereabouts with the federal government. For each of these statements, between 20 and 30 percent of the subjects agreed; most disagreed. Overall, the study reports, 29% of the subjects agreed with 2 or more of these statements, and 15% agreed with one of them. (Some of these numbers don't quite add up, I think, but see page 6 of the report for the figures.) I don't want to be nitpicky, but am I right in thinking that a certain amount of spin is involved in how this poll is being reported? The pollsters made a judgment call that if you agree with any one of these statements, you are in favor of curtailing the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Thus, the pollsters are claiming, and advocacy groups such as CAIR are trumpeting, that 44% of Americans are in favor of curtailing the civil liberties of Muslims. But is that really what the poll shows? Most of the questions are quite vague, and use lots of buzzwords. Take the statement: "Muslim civic and volunteer organizations should be infiltrated by undercover law enforcement agents to keep watch on their activities and fundraising." There have been many press reports of Muslim civil and volunteer organizations being used as fronts for terrorist financing schemes. If you believe these reports are probably true, or just may be true, you might reasonably want the FBI to investigate the organizations. You would then answer that you agree with the statement. Does that really mean you want to curtail the civil liberties of Muslims? Of course, this is not to say that the poll results are heartening. In particular, it is very disturbing that 29% of Americans would agree that "All Muslim Americans should be required to register their whereabouts with the federal government." I can imagine less damning explanations for this figure, but it is on the whole quite troubling. Nonetheless, the press reports around the world suggesting that 44% of Americans want to curtail civil liberties of Muslim Americans would appear to be at least misleading. UPDATE: I made some slight corrections to the original. Related Posts (on one page): - All or Nothing:
- What Do 44% of Americans Believe?:
Friday, December 17, 2004
Bad News for John Lott:
Back in 1997, John Lott wrote an article in the Journal of Legal Studies putting forward data that seemed to show that right-to-carry (gun) laws reduced violent crimes. That article, and the subsequent book "More Guns Less Crime" influenced me and many others -- including state legislatures that passed right-to-carry laws based in significant part on the assertion that this would reduce crime. I don't have any particular precommitments regarding guns (and I shot many a gun while hunting as a youth), so I am guided by the empirical evidence. If more guns produces net benefits to society, then let's have more guns; if it doesn't, then let's not.
Anyway, Lott's thesis has come under attack from a number of quarters. His bizarre behavior -- like writing emails as "Mary Rosh," a student who said "he was the best professor I ever had," etc. -- did not help his credibility, but it did not impugn his data. (He ultimately admitted he was Rosh.) His apparent fabrication of a study on which he relied was more serious, since it was part of his factual underpinnings, but the study was not central to his thesis. (By the way, co-blogger Jim Lindgren did excellent work ferreting out the details about the phantom survey.) The key question was, and is, whether his data are correct that right-to-carry laws reduce crime.
His core thesis, though, was called into doubt by a number of researchers, most prominently in a study (and reply, both complete with data sets) written by Ian Ayres and John Donohue, two top empirical economists. They concluded that the data did not support Lott's assertions regarding right-to-carry laws and crime. Lott helped to write and then withdrew his name from a response to Ayres and Donohue. He responded in other venues to them, but did not respond to some of their key assertions.
Perhaps he was waiting/hoping for vindication from the closest thing to a gold standard in academic review -- a report on the issue from the National Research Council. That report has been years in the making, and features some of the top researchers in the country. Well, the report has been issued, it contains bad news for Lott: It concludes that "There is no credible evidence that 'right-to-carry' laws, which allow qualified adults to carry concealed handguns, either decrease or increase violent crime." They discuss Lott's research at some length and find it wanting. Note that they do not say that right-to-carry laws increase crime. That may be a silver lining for those opposed to gun control who believe that in the absence of evidence of a benefit states should allow people to carry guns, but it doesn't help Lott very much: He staked his reputation on his claim that the data showed a decrease. So much for his reputation.
Spell-Checker Rewrites History:
My friend Rob Morris reports that Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee (Robert E. Lee's father), has been renamed:
[Lighthorse Harry] earned his nickname during the American War of Independence as commander of the Legion of Virginia. The nickname Lighthorse Harry has followed the man for over 200 years. Imagine dashing the dashing Lighthorse Harry, rallying his legionnaires as they complete the encirclement of Fort Watson in April, 1781. With a nickname like that, history remembers Lee as a man of action, forever in motion.
That is until spell-checking software anchored him on a rocky shore. It seems that "Lighthorse" isn't an English word spoken in Redmond, Washington (home of Microsoft Word) or Ottawa, Ontario (Home of Corel WordPerfect). Their spell checkers want to change it from "Lighthorse" to "Lighthouse," and they have.
Now various Web sites, including some at reputable locations -- the University of Houston Library, the Texas Archival Resources Online, and other places -- talk about Lighthouse Harry. As someone whose last name is changed by spell-checkers to Moloch, I empathize and protest.
Eighth Circuit Bush Appointees:
Howard links to this very interesting report about the Bush-appointed judges on the Eighth Circuit, the federal court of appeals that covers Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota. I particularly liked the description of Judge Colloton: Lawyers appearing in front of Judge Colloton have seen him take the bench with the appendices in his arms, with yellow tabs marking certain pages. Judge Colloton reportedly is active in oral argument, often aggressively pursuing a line of questioning to fully explore an issue. Collins said the judge is "formal, traditional, and scrupulously respectful of rules, process, and the dignity of proceedings." He also said the judge is "almost a virtual walking encyclopedia of the law, especially Supreme Court law."
. . . His opinions thus far do not so much reflect a conservative judicial philosophy, as might be expected given his background, but rather a strong interest in neutral, jurisprudential issues. In one commercial case, he dissented on the ground that the plaintiff had not sufficiently pleaded its principal place of business so as to create diversity jurisdiction.
Rules Versus Justice:
In an essay on judicial ethics in Legal Affairs, Judge Alex Kozinski raises an interesting hypothetical relating to whether judges should bend rules to reach particular results. [C]onsider this example: You are reviewing a criminal appeal where a young man has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. You examine the record and find that the evidence linking the defendant to the crime is quite flimsy. The only solid proof supporting the conviction is the testimony of an inmate who shared a cell with the defendant while he was awaiting trial, and who swears that the defendant confessed to the murder (a confession the defendant denies making). You read the snitch's testimony closely and find it transparently unconvincing.
Applying the rules of appellate review in an objective manner, you would have to affirm the conviction. After all, the jury is the trier of fact, and it was entitled to return a guilty verdict based on the jailhouse confession alone. Yet what if you believe, to a moral certainty, that the confession is a fabrication and the defendant didn't do it? Must you affirm the conviction and let a young man you believe is innocent spend the next 60 years locked up like an animal in a 7-foot by 10-foot cage? I have enabled comments; I'm not sure that this is the kind of issue that will generate a good comment thread, but let's give it a try. Thanks to Howard for the link.
UPDATE: The comment function should be fixed now-- sorry for the inconvenience.
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel
has taken the view that "[t]he Second Amendment secures a right of individuals generally, not a right of States or a right restricted to persons serving in militias." The document is dated Aug. 24, 2004, but it has apparently just been put on the Web site very recently.
The opinion is long and detailed, and I suspect will be quite influential -- OLC opinions tend to be. I also hope it gets some media attention: Certainly this sort of reasoned opinion by the Justice Department office charged with opining on such questions ought to be pretty newsworthy.
Here's the closing paragraph:
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the Second Amendment secures an individual right to keep and to bear arms. Current case law leaves open and unsettled the question of whose right is secured by the Amendment. Although we do not address the scope of the right, our examination of the original meaning of the Amendment provides extensive reasons to conclude that the Second Amendment secures an individual right, and no persuasive basis for either the collective-right or quasi-collective-right views. The text of the Amendment's operative clause, setting out a "right of the people to keep and bear Arms," is clear and is reinforced by the Constitution's structure. The Amendment's prefatory clause, properly understood, is fully consistent with this interpretation. The broader history of the Anglo-American right of individuals to have and use arms, from England's Revolution of 1688-1689 to the ratification of the Second Amendment a hundred years later, leads to the same conclusion. Finally, the first hundred years of interpretations of the Amendment, and especially the commentaries and case law in the pre-Civil War period closest to the Amendment's ratification, confirm what the text and history of the Second Amendment require.
Good Gift for Any First-Year Law Student:
The second edition of my Academic Legal Writing textbook has just been published, and it now covers how to get onto law review — with, among other things, lots of tips on write-on competitions — as well as how to write the student articles that law review members (and others) write. Most first-year law students think about participating in law review write-on competitions; at UCLA, for instance, about 1/3 actually compete, and more seriously consider it. This means that your friends or relatives who just started law school would likely find the book to be a great present.
Of course, the book also continues to be helpful for second and third year law students, too, whether they're on law review, in a seminar, writing their mandatory upper-division paper, or working on an independent writing project. The book should be available from amazon; make sure you order the Third Edition (that's the link to which I just pointed).
For the Third Edition, the publisher is no longer sending me author's copies for signing and resale; but if you'd like me to send you a free personalized bookplate (basically just a label) to be pasted inside the book, just e-mail me at volokh@law.ucla.edu and tell me (1) the name and address to which you want the bookplate sent, and (2) the inscription you'd like me to use.
And you can still order a personally signed version from me (I just got 25 copies from the publisher) — just send to volokh@mail.law.ucla.edu a paypal draft for $27.99 [UPDATE: price revised to equal the amazon cost, including shipping], together with (1) the name and address to which you want the book sent, and (2) the inscription you'd like me to use. Or, if you prefer snail-mail, just send a check and those two all-important pieces of information to:Eugene Volokh
UCLA School of Law
405 Hilgard Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Unpersonalized copies are also available from Legal Books Distributing. The book is also available at amazon.com, but amazon threatens that the book will ship within twelve to fourteen days; Legal Books Distributing should be much quicker.
UPDATE: Eighteen books ordered; 7 still left. I'm sending them Priority Mail, which is usually 2 to 3 day delivery — at the post office, they told me that books sent today will almost certainly arrive by Christmas, and books sent Monday probably will but might not.
FURTHER UPDATE: The publisher has been great about sending me new copies of the book after I run out of the old ones (I've sold over 50 so far); so if you order one, there'll be no problem getting it to you.
Tort Reform and Federalism:
I thought I'd chime in with a few thoughts on Orin's questions below, which is whether conservatives, who tend to support state autonomy, are hypocritical for favoring tort reform.
1. Tort liability for commercial activity is a form of regulation of commerce. As economists have pointed out, tort liability is another way to regulate behavior. Congress can require that all fans have certain safety screens, and fine manufacturers who don't comply. (I mean the rotating fans that make breezes, not the basketball fans who want to get into fights.) Or Congress could empower the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enact regulations to this effect. Or states could do the same. Or state or federal courts could allow product liability lawsuits against fan manufacturers, which may lead to liability awards for fans that lack such screens. There are pluses and minuses for each approach. But all approaches are forms of regulation.
2. Conservatives as well as liberals believe Congress should have pretty broad powers. The debate isn't between 100% Congressional power and 0%; rather, it's more like between 100% and 95% (as a constitutional law matter) and maybe 60% and 30% (as a matter of what the policy ought to be). In particular, conservatives do believe that Congress should have and use the power to regulate interstate commerce — which includes the power to deregulate ("regulate" here meaning "make up rules," which may be more laissez faire than state rules). Many also believe that Congress should be able to keep states from regulating even intrastate commerce in ways that cause serious harmful effects in other states, though that is somewhat more controversial.
3. Product liability does have substantial interstate effects. The Ninth Circuit decision in 2003 holding Glock potentially liable for violating California law by its sale of products in Washington State is a great example. California law was applied in a way that would lead reasonably cautious distributors to have to change their behavior throughout the country, not just in California; California law was thus in effect regulating commerce in other states. (The federal court was purporting to apply California law, since in this case the court's jurisdiction stemmed only from the parties' being citizens of different states, not from the lawsuit's being based on federal law.) It thus makes sense for Congress to step in, in order to keep state law from having such extraterritorial effects.
The same is often true in other product liability cases. First, product distributors can often be held liable in state A based on sales in state B. Second, local juries may prefer to redistribute wealth from out-of-state corporations to in-state consumers, which also interferes with interstate commerce.
Now this argument doesn't always work. The case for federal regulation is weaker as to medical malpractice, for instance, since much medical care is provided intrastate. Likewise, some hard-core federalists would argue that Congress should only preempt product liability when the lawsuit is based on out-of-state sales (or possibly when the lawsuit is against an out-of-state distributor). But softer-core federalists might conclude that it's enough that product distribution is generally a national business, just like transportation and communications (which are primarily federally regulated) are national businesses, and that it therefore makes sense for the regulations of the entire sector to be basically federal rather than state.
4. Federalists don't care just about federalism. As I mentioned, even people who care about maintaining state autonomy do think that Congress should have some power, and should exercise some of the power that it has — they just take a narrower view of it than people who don't care as much about state autonomy. This means that, so long as Congress has the constitutional authority to enter a field, federalists care both about state autonomy and about other values that might lead them to favor federal action.
One of the values that conservative federalists tend to like, alongside state autonomy, is relative deregulation of economic transactions (not zero regulation, but generally less regulation). They might not be wild either about administrative regulation of product features or about jury regulation. Another value is the rule of law, in the sense of having relatively clear and predictable rules about what people ought to do. This might make them conclude that if any regulation is proper, it should indeed be clear rulemaking by the legislature or by administrative agencies, and not ad hoc application of vague "reasonableness" standards by juries.
So some conservatives might reasonably say: "We do prefer state autonomy over federal power. But when Congress has the constitutional power, as it does with regard to interstate commerce, and even as to commerce generally, given the current state of constitutional law, we may conclude that the values of deregulation and legal clarity should trump state autonomy."
Incidentally, principled people on all sides of the political debate sometimes have to make such judgments. Liberals may care both about liberty and equality, and so long as they think the Constitution allows certain restraints on liberty, they may favor such restraints (for instance, on freedom of association) in the name of equality. They may be morally mistaken in doing so; but they may well be quite true to their principles, even when they err in figuring out how to reconcile those principles.
So for all those reasons, I think there's ample justification for conservative calls to limit product liability, since this would generally involve Congress changing the regulatory scheme for interstate commerce to make it less restrictive and more predictable. There is less justification for conservative calls to limit medical malpractice liability, but there is still some, given that medical care does have important interstate dimensions. I agree — as one who does value state autonomy quite a bit — that it would be good if all these preemptive schemes were crafted to minimize the effect on purely intrastate commercial transactions. But the big picture project of restricting the regulation of interstate commerce imposed by the tort liability system strikes me as quite proper for federalist conservatives. Related Posts (on one page): - Tort Reform and Federalism:
- Federalism and Tort Reform:
"What a Waste":
Andrew Sullivan writes:
DEAR PRUDENCE: Slate's often diverting advice columnist answers a gay correspondent who's offended when someone finds out he's gay and says: "What a waste." Here's Prudence's reply:
Prudie believes you are misinterpreting the remark. Rather than implying that the gay person has "no sort of life of their own," Prudie finds it to mean, "You are GORGEOUS." (And it's the straight person's loss that you bat for the other team.) It is meant both as a compliment and a lighthearted statement. As you may have divined, Prudie has made this comment, herself, and always to a big smile in response.
Well, almost. The key way to figure this out is to reverse roles. If it emerges in conversation that a man is married to a woman, would he be offended if a gay guy were to say, "What a waste"? I think he would. Or am I wrong?
Here's my take: If a straight man is offended by a gay guy's saying "What a waste," I suspect that it's because the straight man is a bit put off by the idea of the gay guy being attracted to him. Remember that "what a waste" here would be shorthand for "what a waste that you [a man] are having sex with women, rather than having sex with men." The straight man isn't being insulted as such — there's nothing pejorative about the statement. Rather, he's being asked to confront a mental image that he may find (rightly or wrongly) somewhat disgusting.
Are gay men likewise disgusted by the mental image created by "what a waste that you [a man] are having sex with men, rather than having sex with women"? Do they think "sex with women, yuck, I wish I wasn't led to think about that"? If so, then I can see why they'd be offended, though again it's a "disgusted" sort of offense rather than an "insulted" sort.
But if not — if, for instance, gay men are more used to (and thus less bothered by) the mental image of men having sex with women, because it's more pervasive in society, than straight men are to the mental image of men having sex with men — then there doesn't seem anything much offensive about it. The question might or might not have a different answer for lesbians.
At the same time, it's not clear to me that "what a waste" is likely to be particularly charming -- even if not offensive -- in either context. Compliments on one's sex appeal are pleasant in part because one likes the idea of being appealing to people like the complimenter. Even if a straight woman is happily married, she likes to know that men find her attractive; even if a straight man is happily married, he likes to know that women find him attractive. But I suspect that many gay men aren't as interested in knowing that women think them to be hot (though I might be mistaken); it's just kind of pointless, so don't expect the gay man to be especially thrilled by such a compliment.
On the other hand, here's something we can all agree on: If a woman says to a man "what a waste," after being told that the man is straight, then the man isn't going to be thrilled.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Federalism and Tort Reform:
On the Greedy Clerks board, AWC raises an interesting question: are conservatives hypocritical for favoring federal tort reform? After all, conservatives are usually in favor of limited federal goverment. When it comes to tort reform, however, many conservatives sing a different tune: suddenly they switch to talking about the dangers of state regulation and the need for federal protection of businesses. Are these conservatives just a bunch of hypocritical fair-weather federalists who want to protect businesses but not people? Or are pro-plaintiff state courts effectively creating inconsistent state regulatory schemes — exactly the kind of problem that the Commerce Clause power was designed to address? I have enabled comments. Related Posts (on one page): - Tort Reform and Federalism:
- Federalism and Tort Reform:
Tom Palmer on "Libertarians" Defending the Bad Guys in Eastern Europe?
Tom Palmer has several posts on this (see here, here, and here). Thanks to Jacob Levy for the pointers.
Incidentally, I'm not opposed to helping foreign bad guys on occasion -- consider helping Stalin against Hitler, or helping dictators against Communists. (Sometimes this may have been mistaken, but often it was not; the South Koreans are, I suspect, much better off because we supported their leaders against the North Koreans, even though for decades South Korea was indeed ruled dictatorially.) But that you sometimes have to choose a lesser evil against a greater evil is no excuse for choosing the greater evil against the lesser. I am not an expert on Eastern Europe, but from my lay perspective, Yushchenko et al. are surely better than their rivals; and it's a shame that some Americans are backing those rivals.
"No-one Is Trying To Take Away Your Guns":
I've often heard that line from gun control advocates, who are trying to pooh-pooh people's concerns that some seemingly modest gun controls are just the prelude to much broader gun bans. Well, here's what the AP reports reports:
San Francisco supervisors want voters to approve a sweeping handgun ban that would prohibit almost everyone except law enforcement officers, security guards and military members from possessing firearms [I assume they just mean handguns -EV] in the city.
The measure, which will appear on the municipal ballot next year, would bar residents from keeping guns in their homes or businesses . . . .
Under the language of the measure, the ban would not apply police officers, security guards, members of the military, and anyone else "actually employed and engaged in protecting and preserving property or life within the scope of his or her employment." . . .
So in Washington, D.C., handguns are generally banned, and people may not even keep rifles or shotguns loaded and ready for self-defense. In Chicago, handguns are generally banned. San Francisco is trying to do the same. And no-one is trying to take people's guns?
Of course, some might argue to pro-gun-rights people living in (say) Texas or Florida or Virginia, "no-one is trying to take your guns — only those of people in more pro-gun-control places, like San Francisco." That, though, presupposes that gun rights activists are only interested in their own rights. Why should anyone assume that?
I take it that abortion rights activists in California wouldn't be persuaded by anti-abortion activists' arguments that "Oh, don't worry, we won't ban abortions in California, since obviously we wouldn't have the votes; we're just trying to ban them in Texas." Presumably the abortion rights activists would say that they care about what they see as the fundamental rights of people all over the country. Likewise, I would think, with gun rights activists.
(It's possible that courts will conclude that the ordinance is preempted by state law, as they did with a similar San Francisco ordinance passed in 1982, and backed by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein; but given recent developments in state law, including the upholding of a West Hollywood ban on sales of so-called Saturday Night Specials, it's not clear that the courts would indeed do so.)
UPDATE: The ordinance is even broader than it sounded like at first -- it would ban the sales of all firearms and ammunition, including shotguns and rifles, though it would only ban the possession of handguns. Of course, this wouldn't keep people from buying them out of town, but presumably its backers would like to see similar law enacted in other cities, too. Here are the operative provisions: [2.] Within the limits of the City and County of San Francisco, the sale, distribution, transfer and manufacture of all firearms and ammunition shall be prohibited.
[3.] Within the limits of the City and County of San Francisco, no resident of the City and County of San Francisco shall possess any handgun unless required for professional purposes, as enumerated herein. [The law then exempts various government employees, armed forces members, and professional security guards doing their jobs.] . . .
Habeas Jurisdiction in Saudi Arabia:
The Bush Administration's claims of legal authority relating to the war on terror have been taking a beating in the courts recently. The latest round is a decision by Judge John Bates of the U.S. Distict Court for the District of Columbia finding federal court habeas jurisdiction over claims by a U.S. citizen held in Saudi Arabia by Saudi authorities, although at the direction of U.S. officials: [T]he Court holds that the United States may not avoid the habeas jurisdiction of the federal courts by enlisting a foreign ally as an intermediary to detain the citizen. The instances where the United States is correctly deemed to be operating through a foreign ally as an intermediary for purposes of habeas jurisdiction will be exceptional, and a federal court's inquiry in such cases will be substantially circumscribed by the separation of the powers. Nonetheless, the executive's authority over foreign relations has never in our nation's history been deemed to override entirely the most fundamental rights of a United States citizen — the right to challenge as arbitrary and unlawful his detention allegedly at the will of the executive. This authority likewise has never been held to eliminate the essential remedy against such unlawful detentions — the Great Writ of habeas corpus. At first blush, I don't think the case has far-reaching consequences. The petitioner was a citizen, and very few detainees are. Still, it's interesting to note that the opinion uses some pretty strong language, and was written by a judge nominated by George W. Bush.
"Record Sentence" for Computer Crime:
Several people have asked me what I think about the AP story, Hacker Gets Record Sentence for a Computer Crime. The story reports: One of three Michigan men who hacked into the national computer system of Lowe's hardware stores and tried to steal customers' credit card information was sentenced Wednesday to nine years in federal prison.
The government said it is the longest prison term ever handed down in a computer crime case in the United States. It's hard to be sure based on the press reports, but my sense is that there really isn't anything interesting about this case. First, a technical point: this is not the longest prison term ever handed down in a computer crime case. It's probably the longest for a computer intrusion crime, but there are lots of computer crimes that don't involve computer intrusions. For example, there have been many longer sentences for Internet-related child sex offenses. In terms of the sentence, it seems that Salcedo pled guilty to wire fraud and hacking. His sentence would be determined like any other sentence for a white-collar crime; the law treats all white-collar crimes as the same (this is an enormous overgeneralization, but should work for these purposes). I don't know the details of the plea, but assuming the Court applied the sentencing guidelines the range of punishment would be determined by the dollar value loss of the crime attempted. When a hacker is picking up credit card numbers, he can get a lot of card numbers; a lot of card numbers means lots of damage and a higher punishment. That's what explains the 9-year sentence. According to earlier press reports, there was a possible cooperation deal, but I gather it fell through. Hard to know more without really digging into it. Thanks to Scott and the little law.com blurb thing over to the right for the link.
CRACKS IN THE LAWYER CARTEL?
A number of interesting occurrences over the past few days with respect to the efforts by lawyers to maintain and expand our cartel.
First, this interesting paper by Mario Pagliero on the effects of professional licensing in the US market for lawyers finds that the structure of lawyers' cartel entry-restrictions and rules is better explained by a capture theory of regulation, rather than a public interest theory of regulation. The author concludes that licensing "increases annual entry salaries by more that $20,000" and that this implies a total transfer from consumers to lawyers of 36% of lawyer's wages and a total welfare loss of over $6 billion.
Meanwhile, efforts by lawyers to increase those figures continue apace. Fortunately, the FTC has had two recent successes in trying to roll back overzealous efforts by lawyers to expand their cartel through expansion of Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) regulations, to try expand the definition of the "practice of law." In Ohio this effort was defeated, as the state Supreme Court has just ruled that one need not be a lawyer to represent someone else in a proceeding before the state workers' compensation board. This ruling is especially important, in that lawyers appear to have staked out state workers' compensation systems as a new frontier for expanding lawyers' exclusive control. In fact, of course, the whole point of workers compensation systems was to have an informal mechanism for processing these sorts of claims, thus it is especially ironic that lawyers have tried to expand their reach into this area.
In West Virginia the state Supreme Court of Appeals overturned an opinion of the state bar's unauthorized practice of law section which had attempted to require that lawyers perform many functions in real estate closings that are currently performed by title insurance companies and lay closers. The effort of lawyers to expand their monopoly on real estate closing services if, of course, a longstanding one and as the FTC reports in its submission, empirical evidence indicates that consumer real estate closings costs substantially more in states where lawyers are required to conduct the closing than in states that allow "lay closings," with no discernible change in quality.
These sorts of results explain the value of the FTC's competition advocacy program as I have explained in a forthcoming article on "The Theory and Practice of Competition Advocacy at the FTC". Lawyers always have a narrow and parochial interest in expanding the domain of human activity subject to their cartel. This is especially dangerous in a situation such as UPL rules, where the rules are usually set by the state supreme court, rather than by a legislature. As Pagliero concludes, lawyers have been quite successful at this and the result has been a substantial wealth transfer from consumers to lawyers. By commenting on the competitive consequences of these sorts of regulations, the FTC can shine the light of economic reasoning on these self-serving laws. While not always successful, as the successes in Ohio and West Virginia indicate, they are often successful in preserving the benefits of competition and consumer choice for American consumers.
Of course, strong kudos to the Supreme Courts of both the states of Ohio and West Virginia are also appropriate, as their willingness to stand up to their colleagues in the bar and do the right thing for consumers in these cases is crucial.
Update:
And this from the FTC and DOJ, hot off the presses this afternoon. From the press release:
The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division today released a joint letter urging the Massachusetts Bar Association to narrow substantially or reject a proposal by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that would unnecessarily reduce or eliminate competition between nonlawyers and lawyers to provide many services. The FTC and the Department said that the proposal likely would lead to higher prices and a reduction in competitive choices for consumers.
According to the letter, signed by FTC Chairman Deborah P. Majoras and the Department's Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust R. Hewitt Pate, the proposal, a model definition of the practice of law, could be interpreted to prevent real estate agents from explaining smoke detector or lead laws to clients; prohibit software makers from selling will-writing and other software; and prevent many advocacy organizations and individual advocates from competing with lawyers to provide citizens with information about legal rights and issues and to help them negotiate solutions to problems. The proposed definition also could prohibit income tax preparers, accountants, investment bankers and other business planners from providing advice to their clients that includes information about various laws.
Russia and America:
In State v. Aloi, Connecticut Appellate Court, Dec. 14, 2004,
Officer Jay Salvatore approached and advised the defendant that [a witness] had complained that the defendant was trespassing and possibly had damaged [a] fire truck. Salvatore requested that the defendant produce identification. The defendant did not immediately hand over his identification. The defendant also stated that he did not need to produce identification, that he was on public property and that "this isn't Russia. I'm not showing you any . . . ."
The defendant was convicted, based on these actions, of interfering with a police officer, but the Appellate Court reversed. Refusing to identify oneself and saying "this isn't Russia. I'm not showing you any [identification]" was perfectly legal under Connecticut law. Though Connecticut might have enacted laws that require certain people to identify themselves (though not necessarily to show an identification document) when told to do so by the police -- see the Supreme Court Hiibel case from several months ago -- the court concluded that Connecticut law didn't require this, and that in any event the "this isn't Russia" line wasn't threatening and thus wasn't criminal obstruction. (The defendant's convictions for actually damaging the fire truck were upheld — as best I can tell, the defendant was indeed guilty of that.)
Or, in the words of Judge Kozinski, quoting a Russian,
There are places where, until recently, "everything which [was] not permitted [was] forbidden. . . . [W]hatever [was] permitted [was] mandatory. . . . Citizens were shackled in their actions by the universal passion for banning things." Yeltsin Addresses RSFSR Congress of People's Deputies, BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, Apr. 1, 1991, available in LEXIS, Nexis Library, OMNI file. Fortunately, the United States is not such a place, and we plan to keep it that way.
BEST COUNTRY SINGLE OF THE YEAR:
I don't listen to country music much, but was amused to see the title and lyrics to one of the Grammy Nominees for best Country Song, "It's Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long," by The Notorious Cherry Bombs (written by Rodney Crowell & Vince Gill).
Update:
A reader pointed me to the Wal-Mart website for a sample of this romantic tune (the bad word is edited out) and I f |