Here’s something you don’t often see: Birth: Feb. 29, 1900 This was in a brief biography of a Nobel-Prize-winning poet. It was a Tuesday, I think. UPDATE: People who think I’m just pointing out an amusing typo underestimate my subtlety.
Archive | 2010
More on the McDonald Argument: A Reply to Randy
Given Randy’s earlier response to my initial prediction on how the Court might respond to Alan Gura’s Privileges or Immunities argument, I was hoping Randy might weigh in with his thoughts on the McDonald oral argument. I am pleased to see that he has. In this morning’s post, Randy writes: Hey Orin. Given that you […]
Government Denies That We’re at War, Federal District Court Disagrees
In July 2004, James Jonathan Kaufman tried to renounce his U.S. citizenship. The relevant statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1481, provides, (a) A person who is a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any of the following acts with the intention of relinquishing United States […]
Like I Always Say: Nothing’s Harder to Predict than the Future
Here, in case you were wondering, is Clifford Stoll’s explanation in Newsweek, circa 1995, for why the Internet will fail. “Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And […]
Hyphenation, Descriptivism, and Rules
Prof. Geoffrey Pullum (Language Log) has a post that strikes me as so apt that it’s worth quoting at length, though with some extra emphasis on my part (see the original for the links, reader comments, and some more text): See Plethoric Pundigrions for screen shots showing a version of Microsoft Word (I don’t know […]
Tyler Cowen in the Times Literary Supplement
My congratulations to Tyler Cowen on his lovely essay in the TLS of February 26, 2010, a review of John Lanchester, “Whoops! – Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay.” Behind the subscriber wall, alas, but it is an intriguing, elegant review and has caused me to go order the book. (IOU rather […]
Hey Orin
Yesterday, Orin wrote: But unless you believe, as does my co-blogger Randy, that the Constitution if properly construed mandates libertarianism o’er the land. . . . Hey Orin. Given that you insist you have no expert view on the original meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause, how do you know that Richard L. Aynes, […]
The Good Faith Exception and Changing Law: The Costs of the Exclusionary Rule, and Balancing Costs and Benefits
This is my third post in a planned series on why the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule does not apply when a police officer conducts a search that is lawful when it occurs that is later ruled unlawful before the conviction is final. This issue is being litigated all over the country right […]
Chief Justice Roberts Denies Stay of D.C. Same-Sex Marriage Law
This evening, Chief Justice John Roberts, acting as the circuit justice for the District of Columbia, denied an application for a stay to prevent a law allowing same-sex marriage to take effect before there is a public referendum. Roberts’ opinion is here. More from Jan Crawford and SCOTUSBlog.
“Reasonable regulation” and McDonald
The following exchange took place during James Feldman’s oral argument today, on behalf of the Chicago government, in McDonald v. Chicago: JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Would you be happy if we incorporated it and said, reasonable regulation is part of the incorporation? And how do we do that? MR. FELDMAN: Well, there is the reasonable regulation standard, […]
“Cap-and-Trade Is Dead” — Long Live Cap-and-Trade?
Last week, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) declared “Cap-and-trade is dead.” There is no way the Senate will pass the Waxman-Markey climate change bill that passed the House. But Sen. Graham is working with Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) on an alternative proposal to control greenhouse gas emissions and promote the development […]
Married Women’s Property Rights and the Privileges or Immunities Clause
In the McDonald oral argument, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg implied that an originalist approach to the Privileges or Immunities Clause might justify protecting property rights for men, but not for married women. She claimed that “a large portion of the population at that time [1868] didn’t have those rights” and asked McDonald’s counsel Alan Gura […]
Liz Cheney and “The Al Qaeda Seven”
Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney, was recently invited to imagine how former Senator Joseph McCarthy would have used 30-second TV spots if here were alive today. Cheney gamely agreed to participate, and she submitted the following video: That seems quite accurate to me — although I would guess McCarthy would have […]
The Incorporation Doctrine
Since the incorporation doctrine is in the news today, I thought I’d share a relevant excerpt from Rehabilitating Lochner (forthcoming, U. Chicago Press, Spring 2011): The Supreme Court … gradually applied most, but not all, of the Bill of Rights to the states, on a case-by-case basis. To blunt criticism that they were emulating their […]
A Few Thoughts on the McDonald Argument
Based on a quick read of the oral argument transcript, a few things stood out: 1. The Privileges or Immunities arguments never really got off the ground. None of the Justices seemed in favor of that approach, at least based on the questions. (Justice Thomas, as is his custom, asked no questions.) Only about […]