Archive | June, 2009

Let’s say you believe that the massive, unprecedented increase in the money supply in the U.S. is inevitably going to lead to significant inflation. Other than TIPS, what do you invest in? Canadian CDs? International mining companies like BHP? Companies like Coca-Cola that get most of their profits in foreign currencies?

As I understand the situation, as things stand now, secured creditors in the GM bankruptcy case are slated to get paid in full on their claims. In Chrysler they got about 30 cents on the dollar. Does anyone know why secured creditors are getting paid in full in one but not the other? Whatever the […]

Eduardo Penalver, a prominent property scholar, has written an interesting, but I think ultimately unsuccessful defense of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s ruling in the Didden case, which I described and criticized here, here, and here. As readers will recall, Didden involved a case where two businessmen’s property was condemned because they refused to pay $800,000 to […]

I blogged last December about the Fourth Circuit opinion (U.S. v. Whorley) upholding this conviction; yesterday, the Fourth Circuit denied rehearing en banc, with only one vote in favor of en banc review — that of Judge Gregory, who dissented from the panel opinion. Here’s most of his dissent from the denial of rehearing; I […]

Deng Yujiao, the hotel waitress whose case became a cause celebre in China, was released today. The Badong County People’s Court had found her guilty of causing “injury with intent” because she fatally stabbed one local Communist official and injured another. Ms. Deng explained that she used a fruit knife in self-defense when the men […]

My colleagues at Mayer Brown LLP and I are working on a pro bono amicus brief in the U.S. v. Stevens case — arguing in favor of striking down the speech restriction — and I wanted to ask readers who know about state hunting regulation for some help. The law being challenged is 18 U.S.C. […]

I’m off to Bozeman, Montana early tomorrow for a few talks and a conference, so there will be light blogging ahead. I’ll be back next week in time to give a talk before the Columbus Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society on Thursday, June 25 on “Judge Sotomayor, the Confirmation Process, and the Future of […]

SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein has an op-ed in today’s NYT on how Sonia Sotomayor has handled cases involving race on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Given my high opinion of Goldstein’s work, I found the article disappointing. Goldstein frames the article as a response to the charges that Sotomayor is biased or, […]

The Spokane Spokesman reports: Petitions were being printed Tuesday for Referendum 71, which asks Washington voters to overturn a new law granting same-sex domestic partners many of the rights of spouses. But those who sign the petitions may be in for a surprise. Some R-71 opponents have put up a Web site –

From my friend Kristina Johnson (Former Chef). Yum. And even if you won’t want to make it, check out the photos — beautiful; here’s one:

Is it ethical to try to admit a document you know is inadmissible, hoping either that the other side will fail to object, or that the judge will rule incorrectly? Is it ethical to try to remove a case to federal court that you know is not removable, hoping that the other players will be […]

Jeff Rosen will have another article on Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the July 1 TNR. This article focuses on her dissenting opinions and concludes that Sotomayor is, in fact, quite liberal, and could help push the Court to the left in economic and criminal law cases. Here’s a taste of the article: If Sotomayor’s majority […]

So President Obama has given notice that he’s firing Gerald Walpin, the Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates “AmeriCorps.” Walpin, in the midst of a “noisy departure” from his post, alleges that he was fired for sniffing out wrongdoing of a politically connected former NBA player who has gone […]

Republican divide and conquer the American public. Obama divides and conquers American Jews. Republican congressmen divide and conquer Democrats on cap-and trade. Chrysler and GM divide and conquer automobile dealerships. Interior designers divide and conquer small rooms to create an impression of more space. Marines are not dividing and conquering in Afghanistan. All of this […]

The WSJ money and finance page had a story on Monday, June 15, 2009, about the return of an old financial product in new clothing for the municipal bond market. That market has suffered as concerns about municipal and state finances grows while concerns about the guarantors, explicit and implicit, by banks and financial institutions, […]