The Washington Post reports: After the Supreme Court declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to funding political campaigns, the self-described progressive firm [Murray Hill Inc., a small, five-year-old Silver Spring public relations company] took what it considers the next logical step: declaring for office. Behind the stunt, I take […]
Archive | 2010
Eleventh Circuit Decision Largely Eliminates Fourth Amendment Protection in E-Mail
Last Thursday, the Eleventh Circuit handed down a Fourth Amendment case, Rehberg v. Paulk, that takes a very narrow view of how the Fourth Amendment applies to e-mail. The Eleventh Circuit held that constitutional protection in stored copies of e-mail held by third parties disappears as soon as any copy of the communication is delivered. […]
Cato Program, “Did Lack of Consumer Protection Cause the Crisis?”
I’ll be participating in a program tomorrow at noon at the Cato Institute on the question, “Did Lack of Consumer Protection Cause the Crisis?” Info is here. Participants include Janis Bowdler, National Council of La Raza; Thomas Durkin, Former Economist, Federal Reserve Board; Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG; and myself. Moderated by Mark A. Calabria, Director, […]
“It May Be Clever, but It Is Not Constitutional”
Former federal judge Michael McConnell, of Stanford University, considers the constitutionality of the so-called “Slaughter Solution” — a proposal to allow the House to pass both the Senate health care bill and proposed reconciliation amendments in a single vote. To become law—hence eligible for amendment via reconciliation—the Senate health-care bill must actually be signed into […]
How Many Rounds of Edits Are Best, and What Kinds, for Law Review Publications?
The process of publishing a law review article usually involves rounds of edits. After the article is accepted, the author will submit the article to begin the editing process. The journal will suggest changes; the author will respond; the journal will suggest more changes; the author will respond, etc. Journal editors and authors […]
EEOC Concludes Company Should Have Reasonably Accommodated Employee’s Felt Religious Obligation to Wear a Headscarf
According to the Complaint in EEOC v. Pollard Agency, filed last week, the Pollard Agency fired an employee for “wearing a headscarf to cover her hair, which is a sincerely held religious belief as required by her faith.” The EEOC argues that this violates the duty of religious accommodation under Title VII of the Civil […]
Pi Day
A quibble about an item from the Pi Day site, which I’ve seen quoted in a few places: Pi is an irrational and transcendental number meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating. That pi is an irrational number does mean it will continue infinitely without repeating. For all rational numbers, and only rational numbers, the […]
Happy Pi Day
March 14, Pi Day. 3.141 … also, of course, the return of daylight savings time. I regret the lost hour, and the sense of weird jet lag, and it would be great if there were any sun rather than a third day of rain, but still, light in the evening! Life can go on. I’m […]
Justice Thomas and Judge Reinhardt
Today’s L.A. Times print edition carries an article with the headline, “Challenging a judicial norm,” and the subhead, “A justice’s wife may test impartiality standards by starting a ‘tea party’ group.” (The online version has a different headline and a slightly different subhead.) The article is about Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice […]
Is Justice Stevens Planning to Stay Another Term?
Over at BLT, Tony Mauro has this interesting report of a forthcoming New Yorker interview in which Justice Stevens says he hasn’t made up his mind yet whether to retire at the end of the Term.
Sunday Song Lyric
Do songwriters understand behavioral economics better than law professors? They might. Liam Delaney and Alex Tabarrok have been suggesting songs for “the behavioral economics songs hall of fame.” Delaney nominates “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” by the Flaming Lips. Tabarrok suggests Chris Smither‘s “Hey, Hey, Hey” for these lyrics: Pretty soon you’re gonna ask me, […]
Iran and the Shortcomings of International Human Rights Law
Hadi Ghaemi and Aaron Rhodes of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urge the United Nations Human Rights Council to take a stand against the blatant repression undertaken by the Iranian government. But they acknowledge that so far the UN has done more to support the Iranian government than its victims: The new […]
Is the Slaughter Solution constitutional?
Can the House vote to adopt a rule which “deems” that a particular bill has been passed, even if that particular bill has not been passed? If so, are there any limits to the adoption of House rules which eliminate voting on bills? For example, could the House at the start of a session adopt […]
G.K. Chesterton, The Apostle of Common Sense:
For the past year or so one of the more enjoyable and enlightening television programs I’ve stumbled across is Dale Alquist’s “G.K. Chesterton, The Apostle of Common Sense” on EWTN (the Catholic television network). I note it now because according to what has been showing up on my dvr over the past few weeks it […]
The Second and Sixth Amendments
A puzzle for constitutional law buffs: I just read a recent case which explored the interaction between the Second Amendment and part of the Sixth Amendment. What is that interaction? I realize, of course, that one can dream up all sorts of theories for how any two constitutional provisions might interact — but I’m looking […]