This morning’s Times has a lengthy story about how Ted Olson came to file a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Prop 8 and, by implication, all laws limiting marriage to one man and one woman. One interesting thing about the article is how few right-leaning commentators are cited as publicly criticizing Olson, a stalwart […]
Archive | August, 2009
Countering the Zombie Threat:
The BBC reports on important new research.
Rose Director Friedman, RIP:
Since I have been out of the country in Japan and Korea, I only just now noticed that Rose Director Friedman passed away yesterday. Rose was, of course, best known as Milton Friedman’s wife of 68 years. But she was also a successful economist in her own right, and coauthor of some of her husband’s […]
UPDATE–Swedish Newspaper Stands Behind Blood Libel:
Ha’aretz: Asa Linderborg, an editor of the newspaper’s culture section which printed the story, told Haaretz that the publication “stands behind the demand for an international inquiry [regarding Israel’s alleged body-snatching].” “We had many discussions on whether to publish the article or not, and to the best of my knowledge, there are no facts there […]
DOJ: A Law Office Working for Minority Plaintiffs
[Note to readers who have responded so thoughtfully to my previous posts. A number of issues raised will be addressed in this and my subsequent two posts. For instance, I do talk about the collaboration between the Republican Party and the civil rights groups in this post. In fact, I was the first — in […]
The Ballad of Subsequent Impossibility:
For those who remember Paradine v. Jane (1648) from your contracts classes; if I’m not mistaken, it’s still in some casebooks, or has been until recently: 1. What the parties said. Jane refuses his rent to pay. ‘I have no kine, nor corn, nor hay; Rupert the alien came my way, Cared not a button […]
Be Careful Relying on Ancient Sources:
An amusing passage from The Ancient Economy (by M.I. Finley): Even the rare figure to which an ancient author treats us is suspect a priori …. [W]hen Thudycides (7.27.5) tells us that more than 20,000 slaves escaped from Attica in the final decade of the Peloponnesian War, just what do we in fact know? Did […]
Sotomayor Joins Stevens, Breyer, and Ginsburg in Unsuccessful Effort to Stay Execution:
SCOTUSblog has the scoop. David Savage offers some context. UPDATE: I personally don’t see very much in this: Recall that one of Justice Alito’s very first votes was a vote against lifting a stay of an execution when the other conservative Justices voted to lift the stay. It makes sense that a new Justice with […]
Bob Novak, Dead at 78:
The news is here.
Hmong Law:
Readers who are interested in choice of law, and in the use of foreign law in U.S. courts, will likely be interested in this today’s Minnesota Court of Appeals decision in Ramsey County ex rel. Yang v. Lee. The conclusion: The county‟s assertion that the law of the Hmong governs is not implausible, but it […]
Swedish Blood Libel:
Ha’aretz: A leading Swedish newspaper reported this week that Israeli soldiers are abducting Palestinians in order to steal their organs, a claim that prompted furious condemnation and accusations of anti-Semitic blood libel from a rival publication. “They plunder the organs of our sons,” read the headline in Sweden’s largest daily newspaper, the left-leaning Aftonbladet, which […]
Yale University Press Buys Into the Blame-the-Speaker Approach:
Christopher Hitchens’ Slate column strikes me as quite right on this (emphasis and first link added): The capitulation of Yale University Press to threats that hadn’t even been made yet is the latest and perhaps the worst episode in the steady surrender to religious extremism — particularly Muslim religious extremism — that is spreading across […]
The Ninth Circuit’s Erroneous Analysis of Computer Searches in United States v. Payton:
The Ninth Circuit recently issued a remarkable decision on the search and seizure of computers in United States v. Payton. I suspect this case may go en banc, as the issue is pretty important, so it may not be the last we’ve heard about it. Still, I wanted to flag the many errors in this […]
Defending Joe Stork (A Little):
Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for the Middle East, has been attacked in the blogosphere for his anti-Israel views. Much of the attack is justified. Stork has spent much of his career attacking Israel, has made some rather vicious and inaccurate statements that he seems to have never recanted, is a current supporter […]
Jurisdiction v. Justiciability:
On Friday, in Oryszak v. Sullivan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected a secret service agent’s challenge to the revocation of her security clearance, and consequent dismissal. Judge Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion, but also wrote a separate opinion arguing that a case’s lack of justiciability does not necessarily indicate a […]