When George Bush left office he was deeply unpopular: in Bush’s last month, according to Rasmussen 43% strongly disapproved of the job Bush was doing, while only 13% strongly approved, for a staggering negative rating of -30%. Rasmussen’s Thursday release shows that after 14 months in office President Barack Obama has achieved Bush’s 43% of […]
Archive | March, 2010
The Good Faith Exception and Changing Law: Misunderstanding “Good Faith”
This is my 6th post in series of posts on why the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule should not apply when a police officer conducts a search that is lawful when it occurs that is later ruled unlawful before the conviction is final. This issue is being litigated all over the country right […]
Bloggers: Both side critical of party chairs. Disagree somewhat, but not entirely, on health care chances, and Obama as a one-term President
This week, the National Journal poll of political bloggers moves to a new spot on the NJ website, “The Hotline Blogometer.” Besides the weekly poll, the Blogometer contains a daily report on what leading liberal and conservative political bloggers are writing about the controversies of the moment. In this week’s poll, bloggers were asked “On […]
Court Throws Out Defamation Lawsuit Against Police Officer Who Noted License Plate That Was on a Terrorist Watch List
An interesting case, Syed v. Hamady (filed Mar. 12, 2010). Note that the plaintiffs’ lawyer apparently failed to timely file a response to the motion for summary judgment, and failed to promptly remedy that failure, so as a result the court decided the case without considering any such response: This Court has reviewed Defendants’ Statement […]
Does Marshall Field v. Clark Preclude a Challenge to “Deem and Pass”?
Is a constitutional challenge to the use of “deem and pass” to enact health care reform precluded by the Supreme Court’s 1892 decision in Marshall Field & Co. v. Clark? In that decision, the Supreme Court held that federal courts must accept the certification of the presiding officers of the House and Senate that a […]
Ninth Circuit Denies Rehearing in Al-Kidd v. Ashcroft
I blogged my reaction to the panel opinion, on the constitutionality of material witness detention for terrorism purposes, here: al-Kidd v. Ashcroft: Is Pretextual Use of the Material Witness Statute Unconstitutional?:. The opinions concerning the denial of rehearing are here. I think there’s a good chance the Supreme Court would agree to hear this case. […]
Challenge to High School Policy That Excludes from Extracurricular Activities Students Whose Out-of-School Speech “Reflects Discredit Upon [the] High School”
From T.V. v. Smith-Green Community School Corp. (N.D. Ind. Mar. 11, 2010); the opinion itself deals with only a preliminary procedural question (it refuses to certify a class action), but the discussion of the facts suggests that there’ll be an interesting dispute on the merits: T.V. and M.K. are sophomores at Churubusco High School in […]
Obama sends his praise for efforts on behalf of health care reform
This afternoon my conversation with a law student friend of my daughter’s was interrupted by a robocall to his cell phone pushing Obama’s health care bill. Then, after reading Ann Althouse, I noticed that, like Ann, I had received an email of praise — directly from President Barack Obama himself — thanking me for my […]
New Supreme Court Website and New URL
The new site is supremecourt.gov, replacing the old supremecourtus.gov. I like the new layout: It provides the info I’m likely to be interested in right up front, such as recent opinions and the argument calendar. Dropping the “us” from the URL makes sense, too, given that Congress has senate.gov and house.gov rather than senateus.gov and […]
$9 Million Alienation of Affections Damages Award
So reports the Greensboro News & Record: A jury in Guilford County District Court this week awarded $9 million to a former Greensboro woman, agreeing that her husband’s lover ruined their marriage…. In the lawsuit, Cynthia Shackelford said her husband began an affair with [Anne] Lundquist before the Shackelfords separated in April 2005. She said […]
No Righteous Gentile Awards, Please
I’ve refrained so far from commenting on the Liz Cheney – AQ7 ad, but I want to make one lengthy statement on it and, I hope, leave it at that. (Background to this kerfuffle. At this point, there is the initial AQ7 ad, then a group response letter drafted by Ben Wittes of the Brookings […]
Reminder about VC March Madness Tourney:
In case you missed it yesterday, we’re doing another VC March Madness Tournament this year. Brackets lock at tip-off of today’s first game. The bracket is available on cbssportsline (so you have to register if you haven’t already): http://volcon.mayhem.cbssports.com/e The password is “Volokh” (be sure to capitalize the V). One bracket per person, please. Note […]
Cheap lodgings near Princeton?
I’m going to be presenting my paper “Why Do Judges Read Statutes?” at the American Law and Economics Association meeting at Princeton this May 7-8. A preliminary version is here. Anyone have any information on cheap lodgings near campus?
Third Circuit Upholds Injunction of Threatened “Sexting” Prosecution
The case is Miller v. Mitchell, just handed down today, and it’s important but complicated. Please bear with me. [UPDATE: For more on this case, and how it could impose stringent constitutional limits on anger management classes, anti-drug/alcohol-abuse classes, or even traffic school offered as alternatives to prosecution, see this follow-up post.] Here are the […]
Larry Tribe to DOJ
This is from late February, but I don’t think I have seen it reported elsewhere (although I may have just missed it): Laurence Tribe ’66, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard, has been named Senior Counselor for Access to Justice in the Department of Justice, and he will lead a newly launched initiative […]