Archive | September, 2004

Today, September 7, is a special day for 3L gunners around the country. It’s the day that students can begin applying for federal clerkships that will start next summer. Good luck, VC readers! For the latest updates, The Greedy Clerks Board will probably be a good place to check.

My query about Stanford restaurants reminded me to put up my Guide to L.A. Living as a Law Student, which I distribute each year to incoming UCLA students — mostly restaurant recommendations, but also some delis, bookstores, shooting ranges, and other things I like and recommend. It doesn’t purport to be at all comprehensive; most […]

Many thanks to the over forty readers who sent restaurant recommendations — we’ve already tried Jing Jing, a Chinese restaurant, and quite liked it. I hope to merge all the responses soon, and when I come up with my master list, I’ll post it for the benefit of others.

My friend Mitch Sklar passes along this story: A new computer virus takes spying on victims one step farther than most worms — the malicious program is capable of switching on webcams, allowing the author to literally peek into victims’ lives. . . . I’m always skeptical about computer stories in the media, since they […]

In states where Bush won a popular majority in 2000, the average woman bears 2.11 children in her lifetime — which is enough to replace the population. In states where Gore won a majority of votes in 2000, the average woman bears 1.89 children, which is not enough to avoid population decline. Indeed, if the […]

The Real Times has a front-page story on the Democrats regrouping after the Republican National Convention. Noting the President’s double-digit poll leads, the Democrats argue that Kerry was not fast and aggressive enough in his response to the Swift Boat ads and controversy and this led to the fall in the polls. This could be […]

Interesting article in today’s Washington Post on the medical malpractice insurance crisis. It is one of the more in-depth news analyses I have seen on the whole issue. I am especially intrigued by a chart that accompanies it that shows the median settlements and jury verdicts in malpractice cases. Unfortunately, it appears that the on-line […]

It’s hard to believe, but the summer’s just about over. Almost as unbelievable, but in eight months of posting song lyrics, I don’t think I’ve posted anything by George Gershwin. To remedy that, and give one last nod to summer, here’s one of Gershwin’s most famous songs, recorded by crooners and rockers, rappers and balladeers: […]

A recently received email: “At this point I swear I will pay solid money in small bills to make the wine wars stop. Signed, A Fan” For all of you out there, I’ve pretty much finished up on the wine wars posts and I apologize if I bothered you with tedium. I decided to put […]

Justice O’Connor’s error here is quite profound. It is clear that she has simply failed to grasp the context within which the 21st Amendment was enacted. She has completely ignored that the 21st Amendment was enacted to effectuate the repeal of the 18th Amendment. The problem the 21st Amendment sought to address, therefore, was that […]

Justice O’Connor cites a litany of other Senators who she believes support her interpretation. Rather than beating a dead horse still further I will just offer a brief comment on each of these. “Still others emphasized the plenary power granted the States by § 2. Senator Walsh, a member of the Subcommittee that had held […]

So that brings us to Justice O’Connor’s last major figure, Senator Wagner. She quotes him at length: Senator Wagner was an especially vigorous opponent of the proposed § 3. In his view, it failed to “correct the central error of national prohibition. It does not restore to the States responsibility for their local liquor problems. […]

Amazingly, Justice O’Connor next turns to proposed §3, and states that the decision to delete proposed §3 demonstrates that §2 was intended to give plenary power to the states over interstate commerce. I have explained previously why this reading of proposed §3 is incorrect. Here, therefore, I will limit myself to explaining why Justice O’Connor’s […]

The first mention of legislative history that O’Connor points to is a floor statement by Rep. Lea of California. O’Connor writes, “Although neither the House of Representatives nor the state ratifying conventions deliberated long on the powers conferred on the States by § 2, but see 76 Cong.Rec. 2776 (1933) (statement of Rep. Lea of […]

Over the past few weeks (see August archives) I have explained why it thus seems clear to me that the Wilson Act, then the Webb-Kenyon Act, then the 21st Amendment, and still more recently the 21st Amendment enforcement act all manifest the same purpose—the enable the states to better enforce their long-standing police powers regarding […]