Several days ago, Sweden issued an arrest warrant against Julian Assange for rape. Today, that warrant went global, thanks to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). While some in the media have reported that Interpol itself issued an arrest warrant, that claim is not precisely accurate. Interpol, which is based in Lyon, France, has no law enforcement powers, […]
Archive | 2010
Virginia is for Amicae?
A quick Westlaw SCT-BRIEF search found only 7 briefs titled briefs of amica curiae, the feminine version of amicus curiae (though I suspect that older briefs are underrepresented in that database). But it turns out that two of those were signed by professors at George Mason (a school with which I have very amicable relations) […]
“He’s big, he’s mean, and he kills lots of bad guys”: The DADT Report
The Pentagon has now released its 256-page report on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, called formally the “Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” I won’t hide the ball. After reviewing tens of thousands of questionnaires and polling data from active duty service members, interviewing […]
Adoption of Muslim Children
The AP has an interesting story on the subject (though I don’t know anything about Islamic law on this score, and thus can’t vouch for its accuracy). For instance, Traditional, closed adoption violates Islamic jurisprudence, which stresses the importance of lineage. Instead, Islam has a guardianship system called kafalah that resembles foster care, yet has […]
Book Blurbs
Amazon has published the blurbs for my forthcoming “Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights against Progressive Reform.” Blurbs obviously are subject to selection bias, but I still think these are pretty nice. “An exhilarating book full of interesting new perspectives. Rehabilitating Lochner will change the way people think about the transition from the late nineteenth century […]
Questioning Judge Reinhardt’s Impartiality
Over at Bench Memos, Ed Whelan argues that Judge Reinhardt is obligated to recuse himself from the Prop 8 appeal because his wife, Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, was consulted about whether to bring the case in the first place. Ed suggests that his wife’s role before the case was […]
Federal Judge Preliminarily Enjoins Oklahoma Anti-Sharia / Anti-Foreign-Law Constitutional Amendment
The decision is here. I’m skeptical about its soundness, for reasons I mentioned in my earlier posts about the temporary restraining order in this case (here and here). I hope to have more to say about this later, but I’m not sure when.
Effective Usage
[UPDATE: So far, the first eight commenters have all read the statement that I’m describing differently from how I read it. This suggests that my and my correspondent’s reading of the term “ingenuity” might well have been idiosyncratic, and that my misunderstanding may have been entirely my fault and not the fault of the author […]
Ah, Reinhardt
As Dale notes below, the randomly chosen panel of the Ninth Circuit that will be hearing the Prop 8 case includes Stephen Reinhardt, the most-reversed Court of Appeals judge in the land. I’m reminded of this famous line from Casablanca: Michael Hawkins is also on the panel, and in my experience he pretty reliably votes […]
Ninth Circuit Panel for Prop 8 Case
The panel hearing the Prop 8 appeal on December 6 will be Judges Stephen Reinhardt, Michael Daly Hawkins, and N. Randy Smith. It’s a good draw for opponents of Prop 8. The two issues on appeal are whether the Prop 8 proponents have standing to appeal and, if so, whether Judge Vaughn Walker correctly held […]
No Charges in Michigan for Burning Koran, Leaving it on Doorstep of Mosque the Night Before Sept. 11, 2010
The Lansing State Journal has details. (The decision not to charge the man happened in September, but I just heard about it now, and the newspaper apparently has extra details that weren’t available then.) The bottom line as to the charges: The man didn’t damage anyone else’s property. The Quran he burned was his own. […]
“Say it ain’t so, Matt”
Like millions of others, I’m a regular reader of the Drudge Report. It’s like having an alternative editor for the news; the “paper” Drudge edits is an entertaining complilation of tabloidish stories with a conservative/libertarian bent. Lately, though, I’ve begun to wonder about Drudge’s judgment. Because every once in a while, when I click on a Drudge […]
Football Injuries:
A couple of weeks ago, I moderated a panel at the Philadelphia Sports Law Conference, organized by a former student of mine, Ed Wasielewski, who’s been working as an NFL agent for the past several years. I don’t know a great deal about sports law, or even about the specific focus of the panel I […]
Supreme Court Relist Watch
A couple of important apparent relists today. First, a closely watched labor class action case: Wal-Mart v. Dukes, 10-277, from the en banc Ninth Circuit (over dissents by Kozinski and Ikuta), presents the questions (1) whether (and under what circumstances) claims for monetary relief can be certified under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(2), which petitioners […]
Did the TSA Back Down?
Here’s an interesting round-up of stories suggesting the Transportation Security Administration kept body-image scanners (and the associated aggressive pat downs) out of service over the holiday weekend. If so, it was a cynical effort to dampen growing concerns about the TSA’s new security measures — so the TSA could proclaim “Opt-Out” day had become “TSA […]