Archive | June, 2009

A story in yesterday’s WSJ headlined “Nominee’s Criminal Rulings Tilt to Right of Souter” suggested that Judge Sonia Sotomayor could be more “conservative” than Justice Souter on criminal justice issues. While this is certainly possible, and I would not be surprised to see some differences between Sotomayor and Souter on criminal law issues, I am […]

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until the ABA denounces as “contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers” President Obama’s use of signing statements to voice constitutional concerns about legislation he signs into law. See ABA Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of […]

Today’s arrival of John Elwood at the blog happens to coincide with my departure: I have accepted a position as Special Counsel for Supreme Court Nominations for Senator John Cornyn for the duration of the Sotomayor nomination. The job starts on Monday, so I will be taking a break from blogging during the next few […]

that best explain the 20th century. Acceding to popular demand for a film list, and I’m also interested in non-US fiction. Some commenters pointed to several – The Man Without Qualities, The Tin Drum, etc. – but I would be interested in other suggestions from around the world. Apologies for tying up VC with something […]

I’m delighted to report that John Elwood will be joining us as a coblogger. John is a D.C. appellate lawyer, a former clerk for Justice Kennedy, and (for the last seven years) an Assistant to the Solicitor General and the senior Deputy at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The cognoscenti also know him […]

Ed Whelan has this very interesting post on whether Judge Sotomayor’s public support for Obama’s election as President was unduly partisan. Indeed, Whelan suggests the Sotomayor may have violated the canons of judicial ethics requiring judges to maintain the appearance of impartiality. I have to say that, when I was a federal judge, I certainly […]

Name in the comments the five works of fiction that you believe best explain – not define or symbolize or exemplify, precisely – but in some way explain the past century to (in Brecht’s phrase) ‘those who come after. I have been asked this question by some high school students and before responding I thought […]

Ed Whelan (National Review‘s Bench Memos) writes: In a May 2006 speech, Judge Sotomayor tells

Hysterical.

Ann Althouse, guest-blogging at InstaPundit posts about a failed consumer fraud lawsuit about “crunchberries”: Turns out there are no actual berries called “crunchberries” in Cap’n Crunch, but that’s not a problem, the judge ruled. (Who knew?) But she also asks, “AND: Did anyone ever sue Grape-Nuts?,” which is a great excuse to mention Nashville Syrup […]

This week’s National Journal Poll of political bloggers asked “Do you agree with President Obama’s decision to take General Motors to bankruptcy court?” One hundred percent of the Left, and 54% of the Right said “yes.” I was in the majority, albeit with a qualification: “Even better would have been bankruptcy according to established legal […]

Readers who are starting law school this fall — or nonlawyers just interested in the legal system — might be interested in reading my short guide to reading legal opinions: How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students. I’ve posted about this in the past, but I figure a reminder is […]

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Governor Marc Sanford must request stimulus money for education as directed by the state legislature. Gov. Sanford says he will not appeal.

The day it happened in 1989, I was at a human rights retreat organized by Henry Steiner and Philip Alston, a remarkable private meeting of human rights organizations, from north and south, on the island of Crete. Remarkable in that it was one of the first times that anyone had tried to sit down a […]

A quick practical example responding unfortunately belatedly to a student who, congrats, graduated a week or so ago and who asked, what was what with proposals from the Obama administration to tax US corporate income parked offshore? I ran across a short Bloomberg article giving a practical example of what’s at issue with respect to […]