Brian Leiter’s new “scholarly impact” rankings, measuring impact from 2005-2009, are here. Update (from TZ): Professor Leiter tells me via email that his report actually wasn’t intended to go live quite yet and that he is still editing it, so that there are expected revisions to come.
Archive | April, 2010
Standing and Ripeness in State Lawsuits:
Ilya notes the standing and ripeness issues in the health care suits. A few weeks ago, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli spoke at GMU law school (following a now-established tradition of having newly-minted AG’s speak at the law school). I asked him exactly these questions about Standing and Ripeness. With respect to standing, AG Cuccinelli […]
Destroying the Constitution’s Structure is not Constitutional
By David Kopel on April 2, 2010 3:38 am in Constitutional History, Constitutional Theory, Federalism, Fourteenth Amendment, Health Care, Militia, Taxes
Thus far, the argument among law professors over the constitutionality of Obamacare has been well represented by scholars who have made pro and con arguments over particular clauses in the constitution, such as the interstate commerce clause, or the tax power. In this post, I would like to examine an insight by Jonathan Turley, which […]
Standing and Ripeness Issues in the Lawsuits Against Obamacare
This is the first in my projected series of posts on issues likely to arise in the various lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Obama health care bill. To briefly recap, the lawsuits in question are one filed by 13 state governments challenging the individual mandate and various mandates and grant conditions imposed by the […]
A Better Question
In light of David K.and Ilya’s posts on the constitutionality of the health care mandate, let me propose a better question to ask. It’s a little more complicated, but I think it will be more illuminating. Here’s the idea. Instead of asking experts “Is the health care mandate constitutional?,” we should ask experts this question: […]
The Myth of an Expert Consensus on the Constitutionality of the Health Care Mandate Revisited
Back in December, I wrote a post debunking “The Myth of an Expert Consensus on the Constitutionality of an Individual Health Insurance Mandate.” Despite claims by some Democratic politicians and activists, there are numerous prominent constitutional law scholars who believe that the mandate is unconstitutional. I noted several of them in my post, including Richard […]
You Must Check Out Legal Theory Blog
You really must check out the new articles and abstracts posted on today’s Legal Theory Blog by Laura Rosenbury, Larry Alexander, Akhil Amar, Jack Balkin, and Ted Eisenberg and Michael Heise. Some truly incredible stuff worth well checking out.
A Strange Thing About the Controversy Over Jerusalem
President Obama is insisting that Israel cease building housing in East Jerusalem, purportedly to help lure the Palestinians into peace talks. (I say purportedly, because the way Obama has gone about it, creating a huge crisis in relations with Israel over building in Jewish neighborhoods that no one thinks are going to be returned to […]
Friday Speech on “Was Lochner Right?” in Richmond
In the press of affairs, I neglected to blog about my speech today at the University of Virginia School of Law. Tomorrow, Friday April 2nd, I will be speaking at the University of Richmond , T.C. Williams Law School. The speech will be at noon in Room 114. My topic: “Was Lochner Right? Natural Rights […]
Pretending that no law professors question Obamacare
Back in 1989, National Public Radio reporter Nina Totenberg attempted to portray the individual rights view of the Second Amendment as a fringe position with no academic support. She claimed that the National Rifle Association had been unable to provide her with names of any professors who thought the Second Amendment was an individual right. […]
Cool Online Civil Liberties Jobs Openings
I wouldn’t normally post about job openings, but I’ve seen two particularly cool openings recently for those interested in electronic privacy law: First, the national office of the ACLU has announced that they’re hiring for a new position of Director of the ACLU’s Project on Speech, Privacy, and Technology, based in New York. Second, the […]
Anonymous Comments and Modern Tort Law and Antidiscrimination Law
There’s been a lot of debate about anonymous comments. Some journalists are calling on newspapers to not allow anonymous comments, and I understand the sentiment — anonymity sometimes does encourage rudeness and worse. At the same time, modern tort law and antidiscrimination law can potentially make it very dangerous for people to comment under their […]
Error to Introduce Evidence of Defendant’s Intimate Relationship as Evidence of Motive to Lie for Covering for Her Lover?
The case is City of Kalispell v. Miller, 2010 MT 62 (Mar. 24), decided by a 4-3 vote; I agree with the dissent, for reasons you can see by clicking on the “continue reading” tag at the end of the excerpt below. Here are the facts, and the start of the majority’s view: On February […]
Something Is Different at Google Today
See here.
How Did the White House Pick Its Law Blogger?
Law blogs are abuzz this morning over the leaked news that the White House has selected Eric Turkewitz as the first official law blogger. You can find coverage here, here, here, and here. I looked into the story, and it’s legit: According to folks I talked to, there’s no small annoyance that Turkewitz himself leaked […]