District Judge Ann Aiken of the United States District Court in Oregon has just handed down a surprising opinion striking down parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and specifically 50 U.S.C. §§ 1804 and 1823, as facially unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. The opinion is here; I just printed it out and will be […]
Archive | September, 2007
Help Wanted:
The Republic of Palau recently posted this interesting job listing (hat tip: University of Missouri lawprof Danny Sokol): Description: The Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau is seeking an Associate Justice to preside over trial and appellate proceedings. Palau, a small tropical island nation in Micronesia, is renowned for its unspoiled natural beauty and […]
80s Videos on YouTube:
When I was in junior high school, in the mid 1980s, I spent a lot of time glued to MTV, which, back in the day, actually played music videos. So I hope I’m not the only one who feels nostalgic watching some of these videos via the magic of Youtube: Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings”, Michael […]
Wine Protectionism Returns:
In 2005 the Supreme court invalidated Michigan and New York state laws limiting direct-to-consumer sales by out-of-state wineries. In some states it appears that the benefits for oenophiles may be short lived. Here in Ohio, for example, the state legislature has just adopted a new law that will, once again, effectively prohibit direct-to-consumer sales by […]
“Tin Ear Award of the Week”:
From headsup: the blog (thanks to Language Log for the pointer): Today’s lesson: If something looks or sounds like nonsense, back up a second and see if the fault is on your end. This one appears to have slipped by in the urge to get in the latest and newest on Those Missing Boy Scouts: […]
The Case Against Public Restroom Hand Dryers:
Economist Glen Whitman has a good post criticizing one of my own pet peeves: public restroom hand dryers. I have to admit that my own objections to hand dryers primarily come down to the fact that “They fail at their primary function . . . And they take too much time in failing,” as Whitman […]
Wall Street Journal Website Reprints My Blog Post on National Service and the Young:
The Wall Street Journal online has chosen to reprint my blog post on the reasons my mandatory “national service” proposals tend to target the young, despite the fact that there are at least equally good reasons for focusing on the elderly or the middle-aged instead. See here. Unfortunately, the WSJ accidentally introduced a minor error […]
Ninth Circuit Dissolves Injunction Barring Defendant “from Making Any Comments That Could Be Construed as To Disparage [A Trademark]”:
I’ve blogged before about this case, Freecycle Network, Inc. v. Oey, which Mayer Brown — the firm with which I’m affiliated part-part-part-time — is handling pro bono, and on which I helped. The Ninth Circuit just dissolved the injunction; here are some relevant excerpts (some paragraph breaks added): [Tim] Oey initially supported TFN’s claim to […]
Publication lag:
A fascinating student note from the Minnesota Law Review, not so much for its subject matter as for how it came to be published. Here’s what the note is about. From its introduction (paragraph breaks added): This Note argues that because law is limited to placing external constraints on human behavior, religion, through its capacity […]
Guestblogging Dictionary Myths:
Part 2: The Myth of the Online Dictionary So (as several of you have asked in the comments, with varying levels of plaintiveness) why don’t dictionaries just go completely online, and include every word? There’d be none of this stupid in-or-out waffling on the part of the lexicographers; they could just muster the words in […]
GOP Field Lacks Reagan’s Energy:
In another NRO “energy week” article, the Cato Institute’s Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren take aim at the GOP Presidential field’s approach to energy policy. We’ve been hearing a lot about Ronald Reagan from the Republican presidential field of late, but there is little trace of him in the position papers issued by the […]
Little Rock — Fifty Years Later:
Fifty years ago today, federal troops escorted nine black students, through an angry mob, into little Rock’s Central High School. Shelby Steele looks back: On this 50th anniversary of Eisenhower’s troop deployment, the significance of the Little Rock crisis–its place in history–is much clearer. I believe it was the beginning of a profoundly different America. […]
The Right to Arms in the DC(!) Consitution
Today I was examining an on-line copy of the Washington, D.C., municipal code, and came across a startling item. The D.C. government has enacted a “Constitution” which it styles as the “Constitution for the State of New Columbia.” Apparently this was enacted in 1987, and presumably it supersedes the “Constitution of the State of New […]
“Rent-a-Cow”:
A cool intersection of law, language, and unintended consequences, three of my favorite topics, from the Double-Tongued Dictionary (thanks to Erin McKean for the pointer): [I]ndicating a situation in which livestock are deceitfully used to make a residential or commercial property qualify as a working farm or ranch in order to benefit from an agricultural […]
Leiter’s Tunnel Vision:
It would be too tiresome to reply to Brian’s Leiter’s rant about me point-by-point. So let’s just focus on one statement: “But how many times in the last 50 years have ‘liberal’ politicians and interest groups outside universities successfully mobilized to get someone fired or even threatened that person’s tenure because of ‘conservative’ views?” Well, […]