From New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB: The Taft-Hartley Act, enacted in 1947, increased the size of the National Labor Relations Board from three members to five. Concurrent with that change, the Taft-Hartley Act amended §3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act to increase the quorum requirement for the Board from two members to three, […]
Archive | 2010
Cross-Over Sensation, Justice Stevens
Today’s New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB lineup is Stevens plus four of the conservatives versus Kennedy plus the remaining three liberals. (“Cross-over sensation” line borrowed from John Elwood.)
The Newspaper Crisis, Cont’d:
“Internet Is Set to Overtake Newspapers in Ad Revenue.” PriceWaterhouseCoopers gives the most recent ad revenue numbers as: online ads: $24.2 billion in 2009, print advertising $24.82 billion. Given the different directions of the two trajectories, it’s not exactly going on a limb to project that online ad revenue will exceed print revenue soon (if […]
Privacy Fail #1
Lots of readers have wondered why I unload so heavily on the privacy lobby in these posts and the book. It’s simple. I think they’re exploiting our natural, if Luddite, resistance to new technology, and they’re promoting solutions that are almost always bad ideas and in some cases are going to get a lot of people killed. Of course […]
That Explains It
Washington Times:Pornography normalizes sexual harm, Dr. Cooper said. It shows children a lack of any kind of emotional commitment or relationship between two consensual partners, shows unprotected sexual contact and visual examples often of violent rape. “When a child sees this image of adult pornography, the mirror neurons that are in their brain will convince […]
Soccer Rules:
Richard Epstein — whom I believe, if memory serves me, is quite persuasive when it comes to articulating the reasons why the common law has evolved towards greater and greater efficiency over time — is apparently unwilling to extend that line of reasoning to the rules of soccer. He’s got some suggestions for changing the […]
A Musical Interlude:
Loyal readers of the VC know that my son Sam is a very accomplished young pianist — “brilliant” and “magnificent,” I’d say, but then again I’m his dad and, though it’s true (!), you’d probably discount it pretty heavily. Sam’s studying with James Giles at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern Univ., and last […]
The Iceland of the Internet, Cont’d
Several months ago I posted an item about efforts underway (organized by some of the folks at wikileaks.org) to “put together what sounds like a reasonably serious proposal to prepare a jurisdictional “safe haven” for information on the global network, a set of highly-protective laws for anonymity protection, free expression, immunities for information providers, and […]
Guns + Medical Marijuana
From Willis v. Winters, decided today by that wild and crazy Oregon Court of Appeals: Respondent, the Jackson County Sheriff, appeals a judgment of the circuit court that ordered him to renew a concealed handgun license issued to petitioner, a medical marijuana user. The sheriff concedes that petitioner met the requirements for issuance of a […]
Preventing the Next Oil Spill with Liability
The University of Chicago’s Richard Epstein argues against liability limits for environmental accidents, like BP’s Gulf oil spill in today’s WSJ. Tort remedies are essential to protect people (and their property) who do not have contractual relations with defendants from harms such as air and water pollution. The legal system should never allow self-interested parties […]
Two New OLC opinions; OLC Overrules 1993 Emoluments Clause Opinion
Two OLC opinions were published today, both quite recent, and both concerning bread-and-butter issues for that Office (note the capital “O,” from force of habit). 1. Emoluments Clause. It is hard to make the Emoluments Clause sound interesting or important, particularly because most people think an “emolument” is something you put on a rash. But […]
Essay on Libertarianism and Antidiscrimination Law
I’ve written an essay for Cato Unbound, which the editors have titled “Context Matters: A Better Libertarian Approach to Antidiscrimination Law.” Over the next few days, Sheldon Richman of the Foundation for Economic Education, Jason Kuznicki of Cato, and Jeff Miron of Harvard will write comments, and then we’ll have some back and forth. Should […]
My Only World Cup Post – Stolen from Chris Borgen at Opinio Juris …
… and dedicated to Tod Lindberg and his daughter Abbey. Tod is editor of Hoover’s Policy Review and a foreign affairs guru and both Lindbergs are soccer fanatics. I, on the other hand, can only say – further to the very interesting discussion from Ilya, et al. – that I know as little about soccer […]
Prop 8 Trial Closing Arguments
Like the trial, the closing arguments in the Prop 8 case are not available by video. But you can read a live transcript of the arguments here. It will continue into the afternoon.
The Most Boring World Cup Ever?
That’s a matter of opinion, but so far it has the fewest goals and most ties. One hypothesis is that there is more parity among the teams than in the past, which might produce fewer goals and less definitive outcomes than in earlier eras that featured a larger number of first round mismatches.