So holds the Arizona Supreme Court; the Washington Court of Appeals held the same a year ago. The decision applies to whatever metadata is stored with the document, including creation, modification, and access dates, the identities of the creating, modifying, and accessing users, and so on (at least unless some exception to the public records […]
Archive | October, 2009
Lederman on the Constitutionality of Hate Crimes Legislation
Marty Lederman has this new post up at Balkinization on why he thinks the new hate crimes legislation is constitutional. (Okay, so technically it’s an OLC opinion signed by Marty Lederman that Jack Balkin posted over at Balkinization, rather than just a blog post. Same idea, anyway.)
Opinion on Fourth Amendment and E-mail — An Important Correction
I blogged yesterday about a new opinion on e-mail and the Fourth Amendment. I received a few requests for a copy of the opinion, so I formatted a version of it and have posted it here. In the course of re-reading the opinion to post it, I recognized that I was misreading a key part […]
Fat acceptance in NJ Governor Race
The Fat Acceptance Movement may have a new hero. Tubby Republican nominee Chris Christie is now pushing back against imperially thin Democratic Governor Jon Corzine’s campaign theme making fun of Christie’s heft. Christie criticizes Corzine for his recent, implausible, assertions that Corzine never raised the weight issue: “If you’re going to do it, at least man […]
Unsolicited Nice Words About My Academic Legal Writing
From Mike Gray, a Notre Dame student: I am a law student at Notre Dame. Recently, a paper that I wrote for Rick Garnett’s Freedom of Speech class was selected for publication in I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, an Ohio State journal. We used your freedom of speech book […]
Funny Sign
Thanks to John Burgess for the pointer. UPDATE: Just to make this clear, it seems to me extremely unlikely that this is an actual permanent sign — I assume it’s either a Photoshop or a temporary sign put up just for the photograph. If this was a real sign, it would likely be pretty unneighborly […]
Same-Sex Marriages, the Spousal Privilege Not To Testify, and Iowa vs. Federal Law
From the Des Moines Register: Marla Stevens married Phyllis Stevens in a civil union in Toronto, Ontario, in 2005. [EV adds: Stevens’s response to the motion to compel say they “were married pursuant to civil ceremony in Canada on July 26, 2003,” which sounds like an outright marriage, not just a civil union.] Marla Stevens […]
Crime and punishment, race and class
Not a melodrama, but a tragedy.
Debating Carbon Cap-and-Trade
I’ll be in Chicago tomorrow to debate the merits of a cap-and-trade carbon emissions control regime at the Northwestern University School of Law. It’s a noontime event sponsored by the student Federalist Society chapter. For a preview see some of my prior VC posts (1, 2) and articles from NRO (1, 2). I may also […]
UN Special Rapporteur Criticizes US Predator Program in UN Speech
By Kenneth Anderson on October 28, 2009 9:15 pm in International Law, Targeted Killing, War on Terror
Reuter’s reports on a speech given by Philip Alston at the UN, criticizing the US for its drone attacks or, at a minimum, for not being forthcoming on its drone attacks. Professor Alston (a friend of mine and well known to many VC professor-readers as an NYU law professor) is the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial […]
Bloggers agree: Congress ethics weak; public option likely. Disagree on nukes in cap/trade, and on 2d stimulus
Last week’s National Journal poll of political bloggers asked Left/Right bloggers “Are [Democratic/Republican] leaders doing enough to police congressional ethics enforcement in their ranks?” On the Left, 56% said the Democrats were not doing enough, and 60% of the Right said Republicans were not doing enough. I was among the “no” votes for Republicans, writing […]
Firing for Wearing a Personal Pin, When the Pin Says “One Nation Under God, Indivisible”
This AP story reports: A former cashier for The Home Depot who has been wearing a “One nation under God” button on his work apron for more than a year has been fired, he says because of the religious reference…. The American flag button Keezer wore in the Florida store since March 2008 says “One […]
District Judge Concludes E-mail Not Protected by Fourth Amendment (But See Correction)
The case is In re United States, — F.Supp.2d —-, 2009 WL 3416240 (D.Or. 2009), by District Judge Mosman. The issue in the case is whether the government must notify a person when the government obtains a search warrant to access the contents of the person’s e-mail account. Judge Mosman concludes that Rule 41 and […]
The Peerless Umpire
“Umpire,” the Oxford English Dictionary, stems from the word “noumpere,” which means “peerless, without equal, surpassing all others.” I did not know that.
The Judge-as-Umpire Debate, 118 Years Ago
From Ezra R. Thayer, Judicial Legislation: Its Legitimate Function in the Development of the Common Law, 5 Harv. L. Rev. 172, 198-99 (1891), an article that begins with “The phrase ‘judicial legislation’ carries on its face the notion of judicial usurpation,” and that aims to rebut that assumption: [Mr. Carter] likens the judge to the […]