The Times has an interesting story on Diane Ravitch’s abandonment of many strategies for improving education associated with “conservatives.” I support some of these strategies, like trying to inject markets and competition into the educational system, and oppose others, like national standardized testing, which I suspect may raise the lowest common denominator, but be the […]
Archive | March, 2010
Cross-Examining Frank Easterbrook
Something to be avoided in the best of circumstances, and a particularly bad idea here. Judge Easterbrook testified yesterday as a witness, as did Judges Posner and Bauer, in the threat prosecution of Hal Turner. Turner had written a blog post saying that Easterbrook, Posner, and Bauer should be killed for their panel decision holding […]
“Separation of Church and State”
The Des Moines Register reports: Dale Halferty, who has taught industrial arts at Guthrie Center High School for three years, was placed on paid leave Monday after he acknowledged to district officials that he told [a] student he could not build [a Wiccan] altar in class. “But this kid was practicing his religion during class […]
“How to Write Like John Roberts”
Excellent tips from Ross Guberman, with help from John Roberts. Thanks to SCOTUSblog for the link.
Al Qaeda Seven Unmasked!
It seems that the folks at Fox News have successfully unmasked the Al Qaeda Seven — you know, the terrorist-loving lawyers presently working for the Obama Justice Department. All had their names on the front page of public filings in prominent cases, which is how Fox was able to discover their identities. As far as […]
Feb. 29, 1900
Here’s something you don’t often see: Birth: Feb. 29, 1900 This was in a brief biography of a Nobel-Prize-winning poet. It was a Tuesday, I think. UPDATE: People who think I’m just pointing out an amusing typo underestimate my subtlety.
More on the McDonald Argument: A Reply to Randy
Given Randy’s earlier response to my initial prediction on how the Court might respond to Alan Gura’s Privileges or Immunities argument, I was hoping Randy might weigh in with his thoughts on the McDonald oral argument. I am pleased to see that he has. In this morning’s post, Randy writes: Hey Orin. Given that you […]
Government Denies That We’re at War, Federal District Court Disagrees
In July 2004, James Jonathan Kaufman tried to renounce his U.S. citizenship. The relevant statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1481, provides, (a) A person who is a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any of the following acts with the intention of relinquishing United States […]
Like I Always Say: Nothing’s Harder to Predict than the Future
Here, in case you were wondering, is Clifford Stoll’s explanation in Newsweek, circa 1995, for why the Internet will fail. “Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And […]
Hyphenation, Descriptivism, and Rules
Prof. Geoffrey Pullum (Language Log) has a post that strikes me as so apt that it’s worth quoting at length, though with some extra emphasis on my part (see the original for the links, reader comments, and some more text): See Plethoric Pundigrions for screen shots showing a version of Microsoft Word (I don’t know […]
Tyler Cowen in the Times Literary Supplement
My congratulations to Tyler Cowen on his lovely essay in the TLS of February 26, 2010, a review of John Lanchester, “Whoops! – Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay.” Behind the subscriber wall, alas, but it is an intriguing, elegant review and has caused me to go order the book. (IOU rather […]
Hey Orin
Yesterday, Orin wrote: But unless you believe, as does my co-blogger Randy, that the Constitution if properly construed mandates libertarianism o’er the land. . . . Hey Orin. Given that you insist you have no expert view on the original meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause, how do you know that Richard L. Aynes, […]
The Good Faith Exception and Changing Law: The Costs of the Exclusionary Rule, and Balancing Costs and Benefits
This is my third post in a planned series on why the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule does 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 […]
Chief Justice Roberts Denies Stay of D.C. Same-Sex Marriage Law
This evening, Chief Justice John Roberts, acting as the circuit justice for the District of Columbia, denied an application for a stay to prevent a law allowing same-sex marriage to take effect before there is a public referendum. Roberts’ opinion is here. More from Jan Crawford and SCOTUSBlog.
“Reasonable regulation” and McDonald
The following exchange took place during James Feldman’s oral argument today, on behalf of the Chicago government, in McDonald v. Chicago: JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Would you be happy if we incorporated it and said, reasonable regulation is part of the incorporation? And how do we do that? MR. FELDMAN: Well, there is the reasonable regulation standard, […]