The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to hold unconstitutional sentences of life-without-parole for juvenile offenders convicted of non-homicide crimes did more than invalidate a few outlying state sentencing provisions. According to Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion, “Thirty-seven States as well as the District of Columbia permit sentences of life without parole for a juvenile nonhomicide offender in […]
Archive | 2010
Justice Sotomayor, Graham, and International Law
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 22, 2010 10:28 am in International Law, Judicial Nominations, Supreme Court
At her confirmation hearing, Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared to renounce any reliance on the use of foreign or international law in constitutional decisions, walking back from prior statements. In response to a question from Senator Schumer, she said: “American law does not permit the use of foreign law or international law to interpret the Constitution.” […]
AG Blumenthal’s Record
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is in the news for misrepresenting his military record, but Fergus Cullen would like to focus on his record as AG. He reviews Blumenthal’s various efforts at legal grandstanding and regulation through litigation. This episode in particular caught my eye. In 2003, he sued Computers Plus Center for $1.75 million […]
Floyd Landis: An American Hero
That’s the banner at FloydLandis.com. Really [at least when I checked a few minutes ago — I assume they’ll be changing that pretty soon]. Under the “Athlete’s Rights” tab, it says: Floyd Landis brought the same competitive drive and focus he used to win the Tour de France to his anti-doping trial. Landis became the […]
President Calderon’s claim about “assault weapons”
Examined in this blog post by my Heritage Foundation co-author Ted Bromund. Our Background about the CIFTA gun control convention, which President Obama has urged Congress to ratify as a favor to Mexico, is here.
Concerns About Privacy In Financial Reg Bill:
This column by Brian Johnson has been getting a great deal of attention since it was published Wednesday (as of today it is still the fifth most widely-shared piece on the Washington Times website). With all the other problematic stuff in the bill, I haven’t focused in detail on the various privacy issues that Johnson […]
Pennsylvania Attorney General Withdraws the Twitter Subpoena,
reports Paul Levy of Public Citizen. UPDATE: More at Wired’s Threat Level; thanks to commenter Steve P. for the pointer.
Libertarianism, Federalism, and Racism
The firestorm kicked off by Rand Paul’s remarks has again rekindled the debate about the relationship between libertarianism, federalism, and efforts to combat racial discrimination. There is nothing unlibertarian about supporting federal efforts to combat racial discrimination by state governments. At the same time, however, libertarians (and others) should not assume that unconstrained federal power […]
“He Grabbed a Rifle, Held It Up, and Looked Right at Me.”
“He was chuckling but there was no smile. ‘If I put this up your — ha! — your butt — ha ha! — you’ll find out how effective this is!”” That’s Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, responding to a Chicago Reader reporter’s query about whether Chicago’s gun control has been effective. (The reporter states in his […]
Advice to Rand Paul re: Civil Rights Act of 1964
By Randy Barnett on May 21, 2010 2:24 pm in Civil Rights, Constitutional History, Fourteenth Amendment, Originalism
Read David Bernstein’s excellent blog post. Unfortunately, because the title of David’s post referred to Bruce Bartlett and not Rand Paul, some seeking a “libertarian” take on this issue may overlook his analysis. To David’s libertarian analysis I would add the following considerations pertaining to the original meaning of the Constitution: (1) The problem of […]
Charles Fried on the Constitutionality of the Health Care Mandate
In this recent op ed, Harvard constitutional law professor Charles Fried argues that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Comstock proves that the Obama health care bill’s mandate requiring individuals to buy health insurance is constitutional: A recent 7-2 Supreme Court decision affirming the constitutional power of Congress to allow the indefinite […]
‘The Rise of International Criminal Law’
If you are interested in deep academic discussions of international law, international criminal law, their development and practice, the European Journal of International Law blog is having an online discussion of an article of mine, The Rise of International Criminal Law, featuring Amrita Kapur and Brad Roth. (Highly theoretical and academic; not everyone’s cup of […]
No Habeas Jurisdiction Over Bagram Air Force Base
This morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit handed down its opinion in Al Maqaleh v. Gates. The opinion for the court, by Chief Judge David Sentelle and joined by Judge David Tatel and Senior Judge Harry Edwards, begins: Three detainees at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan petitioned the district court […]
More on the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Subpoena to Twitter, Demanding Identification of Anonymous Critic of Corbett’s
A Philadelphia Fox station’s Web site reports: Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s … [s]pokesman Kevin Harley … [said] the subpoena’s intent will be made clear when a former government aide, Brett Cott, is sentenced on Friday in connection with the Bonusgate scandal. Cott is one of three people who were convicted of public-corruption charges in […]
Bruce Bartlett’s Attack on Libertarianism
Bruce Bartlett, an economist whose work I’ve enjoyed reading over the years, and author of a book on the history of the Democratic Party and race, uses the occasion of Rand Paul’s controversial remarks about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to launch a weirdly ahistorical attack on libertarianism: As we know from history, the […]