My law firm opened an office in Beijing a couple of weeks ago, and I went to the ceremonies, met with clients, and, most entertainingly, I spent half an hour being interviewed about cybersecurity on China’s English-language TV program, Dialogue. It was a bit weird. The pert interviewer managed to deftly combine the style of a Katie […]
Archive | May, 2010
Unconstitutional Prior Restraint in Wyoming?
[UPDATE: The judge dissolved the order today.] From the AP: In a rare move, a Wyoming judge has blocked two newspapers from publishing stories on an internal report about a college president’s trip to Costa Rica, saying the report was improperly taken and that releasing details could prompt the federal government to cut college grant […]
Max Stearns Talks About our Public Choice Book
here. (Video interview).
Clandestine Military Operations
By Kenneth Anderson on May 25, 2010 10:02 am in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Uncategorized, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
The New York Times, in a story by national security correspondent Mark Mazzetti today (Tuesday, May 25, 2010), reveals the contents of a September 2009 secret directive signed by General Petraeus ordering “broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other […]
News every parent can use
Eating dirt can make you smarter. UPDATE: Fixed broken link
Sex Education, Dirty Words, and the Due Process Clause
From Kramer v. New York City Bd. of Ed., 2010 WL 2010462 (E.D.N.Y. May 20) (Weinstein, J.): To a senior judge, father, and grandfather, educated in the New York City public schools, there appears to be no more daunting undertaking than discussing sex and HIV/AIDS with a class of female and male thirteen- and fourteen-year-old […]
DADT Repeal Soon?
A deal is in the works to add a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to this year’s Defense Authorization bill, the method by which it was originally made law. It’s not clear that the votes are there in the House to do it, and if they aren’t there this year they’re unlikely to be there […]
How Would an 18-to-20-Year-Old Go About Buying a Handgun?
As I read 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1), it’s illegal for an professional gun dealer — such as a typical gun store — to sell a handgun to an 18-to-20-year-old. But it’s quite legal for a nonprofessional to sell it to the 18-to-20-year-old, and for the 18-to-20-year-old to buy it, even if the nonprofessional knows or […]
“Tattooed Lip Leads Police to Assault Suspect”
How did you parse this headline on first reading? For more such crash blossoms, see the Language Log.
My Short Essay on Snyder v. Phelps, Part I: The Wisdom of Hustler v. Falwell
For more about the essay (for an online symposium), see here; to read the full 9 pages, see here. Over the next few days, I’ll post (and combine using the Snyder v. Phelps tag) more passages, on the proximity to a funeral / time, place, or manner restriction argument, on the Snyders’ religious freedom argument, […]
Another Item on the SEIU Protest
The Washington Examiner had reported that the SEIU protesters who picketed a Bank of America executive’s home — and possibly trespassed, or violated a Montgomery County residential picketing ban — were escorted by D.C. police, even though the picketing was outside D.C. I hadn’t noted that in my posts, but it came up in the […]
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty Interview with “Draw Muhammad Day” Group Administrator
It’s here; very interesting.
Public Opinion, Anti-Discrimination Law, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964
One of the most common rationales for anti-discrimination law is that it is needed to protect unpopular minority groups against exclusion from jobs and other opportunities. This conventional wisdom has a significant weakness: If the group in question really is unpopular with the majority, a democratic government is highly unlikely to enact antidiscrimination laws protecting […]
Freedom of Speech and the Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Tort
Cardozo Law Review‘s de•novo online supplement is doing a symposium on the forthcoming Snyder v. Phelps case, and I agreed to write a short (9-page) essay expressing my views. This is by design a short and therefore somewhat cursory treatment; I wouldn’t have had time to write a more detailed one, and in any event […]
The Bernardine Dohrn of the early 20th century: The terrorist professor at U of Texas law school
By David Kopel on May 24, 2010 3:56 pm in Academia, Congress, Constitutional History, Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, Economic LIberties, Education, Guns, History, Law Schools, Legal Professor, Militia, Rehabilitating Lochner
My DU colleague Thomas Russell, who used to teach at the University of Texas Law school, has a written a paper, available on SSRN, which urges the University of Texas Law School to rename Simkins Hall, a law and graduate male student dormitory named for William Stewart Simkins. Simkins taught equity, contracts, procedure, and related topics at UT for […]