Archive | September, 2009

That’s the topic of a recent article I wrote for America’s 1st Freedom, one of the NRA magazines. I argue that if “living Constitution” means “shared and evolving beliefs about rights and powers” rather than “the whim of the particular judge,” then the argument for a robust Second Amendment under living constitutionalism is very strong.

Here’s an excerpt, though read the whole thing: The question at the heart of one of the biggest Supreme Court cases this year is simple: What constitutional rights should corporations have? To us, as well as many legal scholars, former justices and, indeed, drafters of the Constitution, the answer is that their rights should be […]

Since the topic is in the news again, I thought I’d briefly repost — in a slightly modified form — this item that I blogged several years ago. A reader asked me to elaborate on my comment about corporations having rights; here are some general observations of mine on the subject. Note that the following […]

Based on his comment below, I worry that Randy might misunderstand my view on his exchange with Professor Jost. In light of that, I wanted to explain my position a bit more clearly.   I really don’t care whether we label what the Supreme Court says as what the Constitution “is,” or whether we use that […]

I agree with the predictions of my fellow conspirators: When deciding whether a Congressional mandate to buy private insurance is “constitutional,” the Supreme Court will likely ignore the Constitution. And since this mandate is unprecedented, their actions won’t be dictated by their precedents either, even if they were inclined to follow their precedents when they […]

A federal district court judge overturned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s decision to remove Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone area from the endangered species list. From the LA Times: In a strongly worded order, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy said that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s conclusion that the bears would […]

David Bernstein’s recent post raises the issue of how the political situation might affect the Supreme Court’s consideration of a case challenging the constitutionality of the Obama health care bill (should it be passed). I tend to agree with David that the Court is unlikely to invalidate any important parts of such a bill so […]

A new paper in The Economists’ Voice concludes that the costs of the “cash for clunkers” program exceed the benefits by approximately $2000 per vehicle. Meanwhile, September auto sales are plummeting, leading to estimates the monthly total will be the lowest in nearly three decades.

I suppose this should not be a surprise. If the federal government funds art and other expressive endeavors, politicization is sure to follow. UPDATE: More, including corrective actions being taken by the Administration, here.

Over the summer I pondered the fate of Connecticut v. American Electric Power, a case argued before the Second Circuit in June 2006. The case, a suit filed by several states against several utilities alleging their emissions of carbon dioxide contributed to the “public nuisance” of global warming, was of particular interest because one of […]

Here’s a letter from the Department of Health & Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to Humana, Inc., a leading health insurance company; the letter is apparently demanding that Humana stop sending this mailing. Dear Ms. Miller/Ms Kelly: CMS has learned that Humana has been contacting enrollees in one or more of […]

The Chicago Tribune [UPDATE: link fixed] reports: Last week [Kalona, Iowa’s] Chamber of Commerce and Washington County sheriff pulled over people with out-of-state license plates and offered them an all-expense paid visit … to the town of 2,300, about 20 miles southwest of Iowa City…. [L]ast Thursday chamber member Larry Moeller and Sheriff Jerry Dunbar […]

This strikes me as quite a bad reaction on UNC’s part, assuming the facts in the News & Observer story are correct: UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp shut down a campus anti-immigration group Friday after an anonymous flier targeted its faculty adviser, who then joked about his skills with a Colt .45. Activists put out the […]

Tony Mauro has coverage of a recent panel on the cert pool in which Mauro reports that several very prominent practitioners criticized the Supreme Court’s existing “cert pool” on the ground that the Justices defer too much to the law clerk’s recommendation.   I didn’t see the panel, so I can only comment on Mauro’s summary. […]

StrategyPage, which is always one of the best websites for information on military activities around the world, reports on the terrorist war going in southern Thailand: The Moslem south is turning into the Wild West. There are more guns per capita among the two million southerners, than anywhere else in the country. The 20 percent […]