Michael Lorton writes: According to my research, the oldest living Justice right now is John Paul Stevens. He was born in 1920, and at the time, the oldest living Justice was, of course, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., born in 1841 when the oldest living Justice was Gabriel Duvall. Duvall was born in 1752! He was […]
Archive | June, 2009
Eminent Domain Battle over Flight 93 Memorial Continues:
CNN has an interesting article describing the ongoing battle over the federal government’s plan to use eminent domain to acquire some 500 acres of private property for the construction of a memorial at the site where Flight 93 crashed on September 11, 2001. I previously wrote about this controversy here and here. As I explained […]
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis:
I had always assumed that this means something like “art can endure even after an artist’s death,” and others seem to take the same view. (I had considered and discarded “having a large arse is bad for your life expectancy.”) But my father reported to me that the original meaning of the quote — apparently […]
Three Highest-Selling (Partly) Black Authors:
Which three highest-selling authors — counting both during their lives and after — were at least partly black? Naturally, the definitions, both of best-selling and partly black, are necessarily vague. But I’m looking for people at least some of whose relatively recent ancestors were of the racial groups that we generally call “black,” and that […]
How Rhode Island Mostly — and Perhaps Inadvertently — Decriminalized Much Off-Street Prostitution in the Late 1970s:
An interesting article from the Providence Journal. As a federal district court ruled in 1980, “[T]he amendments appear to have decriminalized the sexual act itself, even when undertaken for remuneration. Thus, it appears to the Court that § 11-34-5 now outlaws only certain preliminary or preparatory activities (securing, transporting, receiving into a house or conveyance, […]
WaPo on Tom Goldstein and ScotusBlog:
Howard Kurtz has the scoop here, via Dan Solove. My favorite excerpt: White House officials had asked to consult Goldstein on the court vacancy, but by the time he returned from a weekend in Paris, Obama had made his choice. Determined not to miss the action, Goldstein canceled a meeting in Los Angeles with a […]
Bobbie v. Bies:
Last year, a number of posts here noted the 6th Circuit’s unusual decision in Bies v. Bagley, a 6th Circuit capital habeas case. The Sixth Circuit denied rehearing en banc,with the author of the original panel opinion stating that the original opinion was not only correct, but that it was “an easy case.” Judge Sutton […]
Broad domestic partnerships in Nevada:
The state legislature overrode the Governor’s veto. The vote was 28-14 in the state assembly, and 14-7 in the state senate, exactly the amounts needed in each house. The governor had argued that a 2002 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage precluded the partnership bill. While I haven’t seen the text of the Nevada bill, […]
The Economy is in Good Hands:
N.Y. Times: It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism. But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he […]
Prof. Ken Anderson Joining the Conspiracy:
I’m delighted to report that Prof. Ken Anderson of the American University Washington College of Law is joining our merry band. Ken specializes in the law of international human rights, of war and armed conflict, of terrorism, of nonprofit and charitable organizations, of philanthropy, of development finance and microcredit, and of international business and finance. […]
The 2009 Bradley Prizes:
On Wednesday, at a ceremony at the Kennedy Center with George Will as Master of Ceremonies, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy will receive one of 5 annual Bradley Prizes for outstanding achievement. The award will be made to its founders and president, former Sen. Spence Abraham, Professor Steven Calabresi, Leonard Leo, former […]
Judge Sotomayor’s 50 Most Important Opinions:
Over at The Right Coast, USD law prof. Tom Smith has this interesting list of Judge Sotomayor’s 50 Most Important Opinions. As I understand it, the algorithm he uses to collect the most important opinions — called PreCYdent — determines which particular opinions have been most influential in the development of the law. Interestingly, the […]
Bob Barr Defends Troy Davis:
Former Republican Representative (and Libertarian presidential candidate) Bob Barr has an op-ed in today’s New York Times calling on the Supreme Court to grant the habeas petition filed on behalf of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis. Mr. Davis is facing execution for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer in Savannah, Ga., even […]
S.C. Stimulus Fight in Federal Court:
Today a federal district court in South Carolina will hear arguments from attorneys for South Carolina Mark Sanford that litigation over whether the state legislature can force the acceptance of federal stimulus money over the Governor’s objection should occur in federal court. Two other lawsuits have already been filed against Governor in state court seeking […]