I learned recently that my law school classmate Michael Weston was one of the DEA agents killed last week in Afghanistan in the helicopter crash following a drug raid that killed all ten on board. Here’s a story about him from his hometown paper. I wanted to say a few words about Mike. He was […]
Archive | November, 2009
The California versus Texas Model, and Public Choice
By Kenneth Anderson on November 2, 2009 9:27 pm in California, Economy, Housing, Politics, Regulation, Voting With Your Feet
William Voegeli, a contributing editor at The Claremont Review of Books, has an excellent essay in Manhattan Journal comparing the economic performance of California and Texas. (I believe a short opinion page version appeared recently in the LAT.) Among other things, the article provides a good example for how a public choice analysis can be […]
Lobster, Artichoke, and Avocado Salad
An impromptu recipe from dealing with leftovers this past weekend: 1. Combine — in roughly equal amounts — pieces of steamed lobster, chopped steamed artichoke hearts (not marinated), and chopped avocado. 2. Add a bit of mayonnaise. 3. Mix and serve. Worked quite well, I think.
The Origins of Security Screening at Airports
Some readers may be familiar with the origins of airport security screening. I wasn’t, however, and the history is pretty interesting. In the 1960s, airplane hijacking became surprisingly common: The first skyjacking of a United States airliner occurred in May, 1961 with Cuba as the destination. Thus, a reverse flow of refugees from non-Communist to […]
Duties to Report, and Duties to Testify
I note below one argument against duties to promptly report crimes that you’ve witnessed. (I speak here about such duties imposed on the public at large, rather than on particular professionals.) More broadly, I generally don’t support such duties. I should note, though, that such duties are not conceptually far different from duties to testify […]
The Second Circuit Dismisses Arar Rendition Case, En Banc
By Kenneth Anderson on November 2, 2009 6:42 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Law, War on Terror
My Opinio Juris colleague Julian Ku comments on the dismissal of the Maher Arar rendition case by the Second Circuit in an en banc decision, 7-4. (Arar is the case of the Canadian who was detained by the US and subjected to extraordinary rendition to Syria.) Like Julian, and perhaps more strongly, I think the […]
Duties to Rescue (or Report) and the Anticooperative Effects of Law
The horrific Richmond gang rape incident has led some people to ask again whether the law should punish people for refusing to report a crime (which is what most “duties to rescue” end up reducing to, given that risky rescues are never required, and that intervening in a crime is almost always rescue). In light […]
How Statistics Get Distorted — An Example
On a legal academic discussion list, someone said — quoting the Brady Campaign that “In two thirds of battered women’s households that contained a firearm, the intimate partner used the gun against the woman, usually threatening to shoot/kill her (71.4 percent) or to shoot at her (5.1 percent).” Given that there are a lot of […]
Funny Only to People Who Have Read a Certain Children’s Book
But for us, very funny: Alexander the Great and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day. The opening paragraphs: I left the battle with blood in my helmet and now there’s blood in my hair and when I got out of my armor this afternoon I tripped on a dead solder and by mistake […]
Will the Arms Trade Treaty provide effective embargos on human rights violators?
By David Kopel on November 2, 2009 12:41 pm in Guns, International Human Rights Law, International Law
Reversing the position of the Bush administration, the Obama administration recently announced support for the global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which is currently being drafted by the United Nations. The leading voices for the ATT are the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA, funded by George Soros, and run by the Open Society’s former gun control […]
IJ’s Bone Marrow Case: An Intro
Thanks Eugene for letting me guest-blog this week about the Institute for Justice’s latest case: the first ever constitutional challenge to the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOO2kQZbqB0[/youtube]We’re asking the courts to enjoin the Attorney General from enforcing the provision of NOTA that makes it a serious crime to compensate bone marrow donors. I’ll use […]
Jotwell
Prof. Michael Froomkin (Discourse.net) is launching a new project that sounds extremely helpful: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots) — JOTWELL — invites you to join us in filling a telling gap in legal scholarship by creating a space where legal academics will go to identify, celebrate, and discuss the best new legal scholarship. […]
What Kind of People Affiliate with Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division?
This kind: Helena Cobban is on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division. In a recent blog post, she took exception to the Weekly Standard’s Michael Goldfarb criticizing her because “she likes to compare Israel to Hamas.” (H/T: Richard Landes) Cobban was offended not because Goldfarb was wrong, […]
Does the UN Human Rights Council cause states to treat their citizens better than they otherwise would?
Continuing our exchange, Henry Farrell says that the answer is likely yes, noting that “there is good evidence that the HRC’s predecessor, the even more widely excoriated UN Commission on Human Rights did have a measurable, and arguably positive, effect in punishing notorious human rights violators, despite its many flaws.” He cites two empirical papers […]
Jeff Rowes Guest-Blogging This Week on the Bone Marrow Compensation Case
I’m delighted to report that Jeff Rowes of the Institute for Justice will be guest-blogging this week on the lawsuit I blogged about Wednesday. As I mentioned, quoting the press release, Filed Monday, October 26, 2009, in federal court in Los Angeles, Flynn v. Holder challenges the federal ban on compensating bone marrow donors. Represented […]