That’s the title of a new article which I have just submitted en masse to law reviews. [Note: the full text hasn’t yet appeared on SSRN. So here’s a link to the full text via Berkeley Electronic Press.] Here’s the abstract: Currently, the United Nations is drafting an Arms Trade Treaty to impose strict controls on […]
Archive | March, 2010
I can’t resist …
It’s almost like Christmas. I just got the cover design for Skating on Stilts, my policy memoir about DHS, terrorism, and technology. I found the artist, Mart Klein, on line and explained the basic picture I had in mind. Much credit to Hoover Press, though, for the font and cover design. Book covers, like everything […]
“Can a State Take Federal Land by Eminent Domain?”
That’s what my UCLA Law School colleague Professor Bainbridge asks, pointing to this AP story: Fed up with federal ownership of more than half the land in Utah, Republican Gov. Gary Herbert on Saturday authorized the use of eminent domain to take some of the U.S. government’s most valuable parcels. I don’t know of any […]
Was the Individual Mandate a “Republican Idea”?
Many commentators have noted that the individual mandate is an idea that some Republican politicians and right-of-center thinkers used to support. Over the weekend the Associated Press reported that many on the right once championed an individual mandate as part of a broader health care overhaul. Not only does the Massachusetts health care reform championed […]
Pro-Life Speech “Upsetting” and “Not OK” for the Duke University Women’s Center
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reports: Duke University’s Women’s Center has canceled an event about motherhood because the sponsor was engaging in pro-life expression elsewhere on campus. A Women’s Center representative told Duke Students for Life (DSFL) that “we have a problem” and an ideological “conflict” with the event, which was supposedly canceled […]
Did Chief Justice Roberts Prompt President Obama’s Recess Appointments?
There has been some speculation that the President’s willingness to make recess appointments, as he did last week, may have been prompted by the Chief Justice’s suggestion that such appointments could be used to fill seats on the National Labor Relations Board. Last Tuesday, in New Process Steel v. NLRB, the Court heard arguments questioning […]
Rehabilitating Pharaoh
Inspired by an Arnold Kling post, I’ve been thinking that we Jews, especially those who consider ourselves Progressives, have been way too hard on Pharaoh in our recounting of the Passover story. Consider Pharaoh’s achievements: (1) Green jobs: The Hebrews built the cities of Pithom and Ramses while emitting no greenhouse gases beyond their own […]
Inside Baseball on Obama Legal Team Deliberations on National Security
By Kenneth Anderson on March 29, 2010 8:05 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Libertarianism, Robotics, Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Over at Opinio Juris, Julian Ku points to today’s front page NYT story by Charlie Savage detailing secret memos and meetings among the leading lawyers seeking to address national security and terrorism issues, including detentions, drone strikes, the question of armed conflict, and other things. In my posts, I have been focused on the question […]
New York Times Forum: “Is the Health Care Law Unconstitutional?
The New York Times’ online forum Room For Debate has a remarkably fair and balanced discussion of the constitutionality of the health care bill by Jack M. Balkin (Yale Law School), Abbe R. Gluck (Columbia Law School), David B. Rivkin and Lee A. Casey (counsel in the Florida lawsuit), James F. Blumstein, Vanderbilt Law School, […]
European Libertarians and Federalism
In his post on American libertarians’ support for federalism, which I responded to here, NYU lawprof Rick Hills points out that American libertarian support for federalism may be at odds with the position taken by our European cousins. “European libertarians, to my knowledge,” he writes, “have never liked federalism much.” The divergence between American and […]
Kosher-for-Passover Beer
Yes, there is such a thing: Ramapo Valley Brewery’s Honey Beer, a “Passover Honey Lager.” I’ve never tried it, but the good folks at BeerAdvocate say it’s pretty terrible. Thanks to LeElle Krompass for the link.
Christopher Caldwell on the Pain in Spain
Christopher Caldwell, who writes for the Weekly Standard, the Financial Times, and elsewhere, has an outstanding piece in the WS this week on how the financial situation in Spain came about. His description of the Spanish economy and its reliance on housing construction certainly matches my complete wonderment – bewilderment – at the economy of […]
The Ongoing Debate Over Jewish Fantasy Literature
Jewish Studies Professor Michael Weingrad’s essay “Why there is No Jewish Narnia,” touched off a massive debate over the validity of his claim that there is no Jewish fantasy literature, including my own humble critique. Abigail Nussbaum has posted a helpful roundup of the debate. Weingrad himself responds to his critics here. Like Nussbaum, I […]
A Message from/to Rick Hills
By Randy Barnett on March 28, 2010 7:18 pm in Commerce Clause, Constitutional Theory, Federalism, Fourteenth Amendment
I thought Volokh readers might enjoy an email exchange I had earlier today with NYU lawprof Roderick Hills earlier: Hi Randy — I thought I’d send along a recent blog post at Prawsblog that gives you, Cato, Ilya, etc some flak in a good-natured way. (Brian Galle also has a post on health care federalism […]
Passover and the charination ritual
My law school friend David Markus wrote on Facebook that, as part of his Passover preparation, he had “charoset marinating.” A Facebook friend of his remarked: “Okay, so I haven’t been awake all that long, and I just spent a minute glancing dullishly at the screen wondering what a ‘marmoset charinating’ entailed.” As a service […]