my George Mason Law School colleague Jonathan Mitchell. Press release here.
Archive | 2010
World’s Oddest Copy-Protection Scheme:
In the entire catalogue of insidious digital rights management schemes – software that disables itself or your operating system, or that sends a message back to the distributor, if you try to make unauthorized copies — nothing beats this for intentionally inflicting emotional distress. We haven’t heard the last of vuvuzuela-based defenses, I suspect. [Thanks […]
A more correct Oxford English dictionary
About four and a half years ago, I wrote to the Oxford English Dictionary about the word “absent” in its prepositional sense (“absent X, we cannot do Y”). The word had been listed as “quasi-prepositional,” and the first recorded use was listed as 1944. I found a 1888 use, and questioned why “quasi.” I’m glad […]
Superman May be an Agent of the State Too
Senior Conspirator Eugene Volokh recently linked to a Law and the Multiverse post suggesting that Batman may be a state actor under current law. Back in 2006, I summarized a lot of evidence suggesting that Superman is a government agent as well. If so, the use of his x-ray vision and other powers to gather […]
White House Concedes Individual Mandate is Not Severable
Observers are anticipating a decision on the motion for summary judgment by Judge Henry Hudson in the Virginia AG’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act soon, perhaps next week — and perhaps in advance of Thursday morning’s oral arguments on the summary judgment motion in the 20 AG lawsuit in Florida. I will be attending […]
Good Tort Law Poetry (Specifically About Foreseeable Intervening Causes)
From Kipling: The careful text-books measure(Let all who build beware!)The load, the shock, the pressureMaterial can bear.So, when the buckled girderLets down the grinding span,The blame of loss, or murder,Is laid upon the man.Not on the Stuff — the Man! OK, only the first stanza is about tort law.
“Under the Age of Eighteen Years”
Ramon Duarte-Ceri’s mother became a U.S. citizen on his 18th birthday. Then-effective federal law “grant[ed] derivative citizenship to certain children whose parents are naturalized while they are still ‘under the age of eighteen years.’” Did Duarte-Ceri therefore become a citizen? (This became especially important because he committed various crimes that led the government to try […]
“Cultural Defenses,” Crime, and Mistakes of Fact
In light of the discussion on the cultural defense / de minimis statute thread, it might be helpful to think of another area where culture is relevant under existing law: mistakes of fact. Consider an example. Theft is often defined as taking another’s property, knowing that it is another’s property. If you take an umbrella […]
The Chinese dictatorship’s reaction to the Nobel Peace Prize
I’ll be discussing the topic on NRA News tonight, at 11:40 Eastern Time. The program will remain available for replay at the website for a few days thereafter. In the meantime, please feel free to provide your own thoughts and analysis in the comments.
“Cultural Defenses,” Crime, and De Minimis Violations
I just reread State v. Kargar, 679 A.2d 81 (Me. 1996), and was reminded how interesting and bloggable the case is (some paragrpah breaks added): Mohammad Kargar, an Afghani refugee, appeals from the judgments … convicting him of two counts of gross sexual assault in violation of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 253(1)(B) (Supp.1995) (Class A). [Footnote: […]
Law and the Multiverse
About time we had a blog that dealt with the really important problems. From the “Recent Entries” list: Supervillain Real Estate Resurrection Redux: Crimes, Punishment, and Debt Superpowers as Personal Property I’m not dead yet! Resurrection and Probate Law Immortality and the law Hearsay and Professor X Federalism and the Keene Act Superheros and alter-egos […]
“Cuba’s Jewish Hostage”
The Washington Post has this editorial about Alan Gross, “who passed the holiday in a Cuban military facility, where he has been imprisoned for a year without trial because he tried to help Cuba’s Jews. Mr. Gross, a 61-year-old specialist in international development, traveled to Cuba under a contract from the State Department’s Agency for […]
7th Circuit to Conrad Black: No Reply Brief for You!
Last Term, the Supreme Court vacated former executive Conrad Black’s conviction on the ground that the “honest services” fraud instructions given in his case were invalid under Skilling v. United States, and remanded for a determination whether the error was harmless. On remand, the Seventh Circuit (Posner, Kanne, and Sykes–under circuit procedure, the same panel […]
The Abolitionist Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment
After receiving comments from a number of people, and an insightful critical peer review report from an anonymous reviewer for Harvard’s Journal of Legal Analysis where it will appear next year, I have now posted to SSRN a substantially-revised version of my paper, Whence Comes Section One? The Abolitionist Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment (which […]
Perry v. Schwarzenegger v. Bush v. Gore
Mike Dorf has an interesting post on the strategy behind Perry v. Schwarzenegger — and its similarities to Bush v. Gore, another suit by David Boies — at Dorf on Law.