SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein says the pick is coming tomorrow, and David Lat has reasons to think it’s Kagan (as Politico reported Friday). If Kagan is the pick, there will be no filibuster and she will be confirmed — perhaps even with 65 votes as Goldstein predicts — but there could be some bumps on the […]
Archive | May, 2010
Someone Like Me
In my experience, when someone makes an argument that a President should select a Supreme Court nominee with a particular experience or worldview, there is a very highly likelihood that the person making the recommendation has that exact experience or worldview. Yesterday’s New York Times op-ed page makes the point nicely. (It’s not true for […]
Former AG Dann Pleads Guilty
The Columbus Dispatch reports that former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has pled guilty to several ethics violations, but will avoid jail time. More from the Plain Dealer, which reports Dann answered “guilty” to the charges in a Columbus courtroom Friday morning. However, he maintained his innocence while also telling the judge he took full […]
Judge Scofflaw
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports on a judge that seems to have some trouble obeying the law and paying her fines. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold has not paid more than $1,000 in fines and late fees for city of Cleveland traffic and parking tickets issued since 2006, records show. She owes […]
Polling on the Court
Some liberal commentators have sought to portray the Supreme Court as radically conservative and out-of-step with the American people. Interestingly enough, the public does not appear to agree, and does not want a more “liberal” court. On April 30, the Washington Post reported on a new Washington Post-ABC poll: Even though Obama and the Democratic […]
Sunday Song Lyric
There are lots of songs about Mom — readers contributed a bunch here. For today’s lyric, I thought about “There’s Always a Mother Waiting at Home.” Here’s the chorus: If sickness overtakes you Or old companions shake you As through this world you wander all alone When friends you haven’t any In your pocket not a […]
A Creative Proposal for Reducing Prison Rape
Back in 2007, I wrote a post explaining why the massive problem of prison rape is the sort of issue that government is likely to handle poorly because of structural flaws: [T]he government’s failure to address the problem is not accidental. Government is responsive to those who have political power, and prisoners are the classic […]
Are Carbs Worse than Fat?
The May 2010 Scientific American has an article summarizing recent research suggesting that refined carbohydrates could be a greater health concern than saturated fats. It begins: Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily […]
Why the Arizona Law is Much Worse than the Federal Law It is Supposedly Based On
Rich Lowry, Jonah Goldberg, and other defenders of the recent Arizona immigration law often justify it by arguing that it does nothing more than use state law enforcement agencies to enforce a federal law. As Goldberg puts it, “[l]egal immigrants have been required under federal law to carry their papers for generations.” Unfortunately, the state […]
Affirmative Action and Racial Profiling Revisited
By Ilya Somin on May 8, 2010 12:39 am in Affirmative Action, Conservatism, Immigration, Racial Profiling
Back in 2006, I pointed out that most liberals and conservatives take internally contradictory stances on affirmative action and racial profiling: I have long been fascinated by the fact that most conservatives support racial and ethnic profiling for national security and law enforcement purposes, yet are categorically opposed to the use of racial or ethnic […]
Is Sarah Palin a “Victim” of Computer Hacking
Over at Sentencing Law and Policy last week, Professor Doug Berman had this interesting post on the recent conviction of a hacker who hacked into Sarah Palin’s Yahoo mail account. One of the intriguing questions that he raises is whether Sarah Palin would be considered a “victim” of the crime under the Crime Victims Rights […]
An Unusual Query
I just got a mass mailing, I think from some Republican Congressman’s office, that complained (more or less) that DHS has now “failed three times in a row to deter” terrorist attacks. I thought it might be worth a closer look, but I inadvertently permanently deleted it. If any of you did get the same […]
Closing in on a Court Pick
Politico‘s Mike Allen thinks so. Jan Crawford profiles the pros and cons of the final four — SG Elena Kagan, and Judges Diane Wood, Sidney Thomas, and Merrick Garland — while most of the buzz surrounds Kagan and, to a lesser extent, Wood. For what it’s worth, I remain skeptical that SG Kagan would be […]
A Great Law School Dean Doesn’t Have to be a Great Scholar
By Ilya Somin on May 7, 2010 3:55 pm in Academia, Baseball, Judicial Nominations, Sports and Games, Supreme Court
Conservative blogger Paul Mirengoff and liberal law professor Paul Campos argue that Elena Kagan is poorly qualified for the Supreme Court because of what they argue is a weak record of scholarship. Mirengoff expresses incredulity that “you could publish so little and still become the dean of a major law school.” I have a much […]
Support for Restricting the Speech of Students Who Wear American Flags to School on Cinco de Mayo
According to a local CBS TV station, About 85 mostly Hispanic students staged a noon protest march through Morgan Hill on Thursday, one day after five students at Live Oak High School were sent home after showing up in clothing with American flags on Cinco de Mayo. The protesters supported the school’s decision …. Kathleen […]