William Saletan (Slate) has an interesting and thought-provoking article on the murder of abortion provider George Tiller; worth reading, it seems to me, whether one is pro-life or pro-choice. I should say, though, that the argument in the closing paragraph is too glib: The reason … pro-life groups have held their fire [in arguing for […]
Archive | June, 2009
FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Part V: A digression on what it takes to change a policy.
I haven’t had time to post lately, but now let me return to my series of posts discussing the background of the Supreme Court’s “fleeting expletives” case from last month, FCC v. Fox Television Stations. Click here to see the whole string of posts, including this one, on a single page, in chronological order. (As […]
Can Lethal Self-Defense, Even Against Threats of Death, Serious Bodily Injury, Rape, and Kidnapping, Be Made a Crime?
The Seventh Circuit’s Second Amendment non-incorporation decision so suggests: Suppose a state were to decide that people cornered in their homes must surrender rather than fight back — in other words, that burglars should be deterred by the criminal law rather than self help. That decision would imply that no one is entitled to keep […]
Seventh Circuit Rules That, Under Supreme Court Precedent, the Second Amendment Is Not Incorporated Against the States:
The case is NRA v. City of Chicago, the challenge to the Chicago handgun ban. The core argument: Cruikshank, Presser, and Miller [v. Texas] [late 1800s Supreme Court precedents -EV] rejected arguments [for applying the Second Amendment to the states -EV] that depended on the privileges and immunities clause of the fourteenth amendment. The Slaughter-House […]
What New Bond Covenants Would You Demand
as protection against political risk following the government’s pressures on senior and secured creditors of Chrysler? In my development finance work in the developing world, I have undertaken a lot of negotiations with businesses (mostly media companies) in places ranging from South Africa to Guatemala to Serbia looking to borrow money. The nonprofit private equity […]
Empathy for the Unseen:
John Hasnas had a very good op-ed in the WSJ a few days on empathy, the “seen” and the “unseen.” Here’s a taste: Compassion is defined as a feeling of deep sympathy for those stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering; empathy is the ability to share in another’s emotions, […]
Where Cheney Is to Obama’s Left:
From today’s Washington Post: Cheney, whose youngest daughter has a longtime lesbian partner, said at the National Press Club that “people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish.” He added, however, that he does not support a federal role in the matter. “Historically, […]
Why Obama Voted Against Roberts:
Today’s WSJ reprints portions of then-Senator Obama’s explanation for his vote against the confirmation of John Roberts to be Chief Justice.
Sotomayor vs. the Second Amendment, Part II:
As I detailed in a previous post, Judge Sotomayor co-authored two opinions which denied that the possession of a firearm is a fundamental right. The first case can defended as based on what was, at the time, still-valid dicta. The second case is indefensible. The first case was United States v. Sanchez-Villar (2004). For the […]
Computer Crime Law Casebook, 2nd Edition:
The second edition of my award-winning* Computer Crime Law casebook will be coming out this fall, and it will be available for use in the Spring 2010 semester. The book is keeping the same format and length, but it has many new cases and covers the statutory changes since the 1st edition came out in […]
Judge Sotomayor & Race Cases:
Judge Sotomayor’s participation in Ricci v. DeStefano (the New Haven firefighters case), and her “wise Latina justice” speech have fueled speculation about her approach to cases involving race. To address such concerns, SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein reviewed all of the cases involving race in which she participated on the Second Circuit. His conclusion: In sum, in […]
Ken Anderson Signing In:
My thanks to the Senior Conspirator for the invitation to join the Merry Band – I have long been a fan and admirer of the Volokh Conspiracy and I am honored to take part. Some of the band I have known – Eric Posner, Ilya Somin, several others, but I was delighted to meet Eugene […]
Event Planning Tips for Federalist Society Student Chapters
(though probably adaptable to many other groups): Debates seem to get more of a turnout than lectures. If you can’t set up a head-to-head debate, for instance because local professors (see below) aren’t confident that they’ll entirely disagree with the visitor), set up a two-person panel, or a talk-plus-commentary. Events that involve a local professor […]
Talk in Philadelphia:
Tomorrow at 5:30pm I’ll be speaking to the Philadelphia Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society on the topic “Is the Roberts Court Conservative? Do the Court’s Opinions Support Its Critics?” I’ll be talking about the current Court and, as one might expect, a little bit about the possible impact of Justice Souter’s replacement. RSVP and […]
Interesting 1818 Blasphemy Case:
I haven’t seen it published anywhere, or cited in any articles or books on blasphemy, so I thought I’d pass it along, since it seems to be one of the few available early decisions on blasphemy. I should note that I’m passing this along solely in case people are curious about it, and in case […]