Archive | August, 2004

My friend Ilya Somin, a George Mason lawprof who filed an amicus brief in the case, has this op-ed praising the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision. He also points me to contrary view by Wayne State lawprof John Mogk, and passes along this response to Mogk: While it is possible to have reasonable disagreement over Poletown, […]

I sure hope this Jerusalem Post report is correct: It’s not so much what Zakariya Zubeidi, the fugitive leader of the West Bank Aksa Martyrs Brigades, says, but how he says it. Zubeidi speaks in the vacant tones of a ghost. And four years after he first picked up a rifle, this peace-activist-turned-local-hero-and-killer eulogized the […]

from my former student Michael Lopez. I’d particularly stress 1, 2, 4, 5, and 10.

According to empirical study, the benefits to consumers from direct wine shipment can be substantial, both in terms of variety and price. A study by the FTC http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/07/wine.htm published during my tenure found that found that 15 percent of a sample of popular wines available online were not available from retail wine stores within 10 […]

Over the next several entries, I will lay out my personal views on issues related to the interstate direct shipment of wine. As readers are probably aware, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument this term in two cases involving discriminatory bans to interstate direct shipping. In both the Michigan and New York cases, the […]

Liberty and Power have added two more libertarian intellectuals to its All-Star line up. This time it is the duo of Walter Grinder and John Hagel III. Walter and I go back to the Center for Libertarian Studies in New York City in the 1970s, of which he was the Executive Director, and he went […]

Dahlia Lithwick has her first guest column in the New York Times today. It’s a very thoughtful piece on the unintended consequences of rape shield laws. It is further proof that most of the Times’ guest columnists are better than the real thing.

The cards just weren’t hitting last night. Sometimes when my luck (or, let’s face it, my gambling acumen) isn’t quite where I’d like it to be, I wish I could gamble like Big Jule from Guys & Dolls – who threw craps with his own special dice. The spots were all worn off, but Jule […]

to know what to make of all the recent stories about ongoing terrorism investigations, this story from the NY Times suggests that there is a lot of important stuff going on right now. Some excerpts:   A Pakistani man whose arrest provided information about the reconnaissance of financial institutions in New York, Newark and Washington was […]

Classes will be starting up at law schools around the country in a few weeks, and that means there are lots of nervous incoming 1Ls out there trying to prepare themselves. Fortunately, the blogosphere has lots of good advice. GW Law blogger Ambivalent Imbroglio has started up Blawg Wisdom, a new blog that promises “advice […]

Florida potato farmers are growing low-carb potatoes. Developed to be disease-resistant, the HZPC potato has 30 percent fewer carbs than regular spuds. Another interesting tidbit, the Florida farmers wanted to sell the potatoes as “SpudLite,” but were afraid Anheuser Busch might sue. So instead the potatoes will be marketed under the name “Florida SunLite.” Update:Speaking […]

Radley Balko nails American Cancer Society board member David Seaman for an erroneous ad hominem attack against the Cato Institue’s Robert Levy for opposing FDA regulation of tobacco. It’s hard to charge the Cato Institute with being bought and paid for by Philip Morris (aka Altria) when the company takes the other side. (NRO’s Andrew […]

I’m not an expert on the subject, but I’ve long thought that current redistricting practices are outrageous. Jeff Jacoby has a nice piece criticizing them, though I’m not sure how well his proposed solution would work.

An interesting tidbit I just read, in an article on oral argument by the late California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk: A small community in California passed a local ordinance prohibiting fortune telling within its city limits. A fortuneteller named Fatima Stevens brought a lawsuit seeking an injunction against enforcement of the ordinance. Obviously there […]

I started a free computer crime case update service back in January, 2002. Whenever a notable new case is decided in the area of computer crime law, I send out an e-mail to listmembers describing the case, excerpting the key analysis, and offering some commentary. The service now has about 650 subscribers, and averages about […]