In today’s Wall Street Journal, Gail Heriot and Peter Kirsanow of the US Commission on Civil Rights have an interesting op ed criticizing the Akaka Bill, which I myself criticized on federalism grounds in this post: Last week, the House of Representatives, in a largely party-line vote, passed the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Popularly […]
Archive | 2010
My Father Called Today To Wish Me a Happy Birthday,
but it isn’t my birthday.
Philip Hamburger Responds on the Original Meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause
I asked Philip Hamburger if he wished to respond to Friday’s blog posts here at the VC about his new draft article, Privileges or Immunities. He graciously agreed to respond. I have reposted his response below: *************** I am grateful to Jim for linking my paper, to Orin for starting the conversation, and to Randy […]
Are More Intelligent People More Likely to be Atheists?
In this post, I criticized psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa’s widely discussed recent article claiming that more intelligent people are more likely to be politically liberal. Kanazawa also claims that his data shows that more intelligent people are more likely to be atheists. This claim is better supported than the article’s argument about political liberalism. Nonetheless, the […]
Jim Huffman to Challenge Wyden for Oregon Senate Seat:
Jim Huffman, former Dean of Louis & Clark’s law school, is going to challenge incumbent Ron Wyden for a U.S. Senate seat from Oregon. I’ve known Jim for years and all I can say is that the entire country would be incredibly blessed if the people of Oregon show the good judgment to elect Jim […]
Predators over Pakistan, My New Weekly Standard Essay
By Kenneth Anderson on February 28, 2010 3:47 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, International Human Rights Law, International Law, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Terrorism, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Well, “polemic” is probably closer to it. Regular readers have been hearing about this piece for a while, and I have posted various arguments from it (concerning targeted killing and Predator drones and the CIA and armed conflict and self-defense, and my general concern that the Obama administration has embraced a policy that its lawyers […]
“Fourth Amendment Seizures of Computer Data”
The final version of my most recent article has been posted online: Fourth Amendment Seizures of Computer Data, 119 Yale L.J. 700 (2010).
Sunday Song Lyric
Carly Simon is releasing a new version of her 1972 hit, “You’re So Vain,” renewing speculation over who the song is about. For years, many assumed the song was about Warren Beatty — indeed, that’s what Beatty himself said. Other speculation is summarized on the song’s Wiki page. The new version of the song adds […]
Reid Won’t Support Disciplining Bybee
Via How Appealing comes this article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid believes Congress should defer to AAG David Margolis resolution of the OPR inquiry into the “torture memos.” The Nevada Democrat was “disturbed” by the memos that gave a green light to CIA interrogators to employ waterboarding and […]
John Mauldin: “The same market forces that work in Illinois can work in Greece”
A few weeks ago at Minyanville, John Mauldin wrote: The EU is backed into a corner. They have this treaty that says governments will act in certain ways. Greece is flaunting that treaty. Everyone acts as if Greece defaulting on its debt would be the end of the EU. Will the EU force Greece to […]
Are More Intelligent People More Likely to Be Liberal?
This new article by psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa concludes that more intelligent people are more likely to be politically liberal [HT: Ronald Bailey]. It has gotten a great deal of media attention, for example from CNN and Time. In reality, the article doesn’t actually prove any such thing. It has several significant methodological flaws. I. Conflating […]
Why United States v. Miller was so badly written
Before District of Columbia v. Heller, the 1939 decision United States v. Miller was the Supreme Court’s leading decision on the Second Amendment. Miller was, to put it mildly, obliquely written. As Michael O’Shea has detailed, the opinion seems mainly concerned with whether the gun in question was a militia-type weapon, which would suggest that […]
Luban v. Taylor on Torture
In a recent column on the Yoo-Bybee OPR report and Margolis memo, the National Journal‘s Stuart Taylor suggested that “the kind of waterboarding that the agency proposed in 2002 was not illegal torture.” David Luban critiqued Taylor’s article at Balkinization. “Goodbye, poor judgment — hello, legalization.” Taylor has a repl, appended as an update to […]
Greener Grid, Fewer Jobs
There may be lots of good reasons to develop a “smart grid” for electricity transmission, but as Sunil Sharan explains, job creation is not among them. Automating functions to increase energy efficiency can be worthwhile, but it will tend reduce the need for labor. So, for instance, installing smart meters nationwide could produce a few […]
Is there Really No Jewish Fantasy Literature?
Jewish Studies professor Michael Weingrad claims that Jewish fantasy writers are “strikingly rare” and tries to explain their absence. Farah Mendlesohn, a prominent academic scholar of fantasy literature, points out that there are in fact quite a few prominent Jewish fantasy writers. Israeli science fiction and fantasy critic Abigail Nussbaum has other objections to Weingrad’s […]