Daniel Henninger, over on WSJ.com, has some interesting observations on “the scrum inside the [Citizens United] decision between Justices Stevens and Scalia, over the status of corporations in America.” I think he’s on target in suggesting that the decision, and the debate swirling around the issues raised (both in the warring opinions and in the […]
Archive | 2010
Of Snowstorms and Privately Enforced Property Rights
The massive “Snowmageddon” snowstorm is a good time to consider this interesting 2001 article about snowstorms and parking space property rights by Northwestern University law professor Fred McChesney [HT: Alex Tabarrok]: Before snowfalls, a parking space belongs to the one who occupies it: you leave it, you lose it. In wintertime Chicago, however, excavating one’s […]
United States v. John and the Meaning of “Authorization” to Access a Computer
The federal computer crime statute criminalizes accessing a computer “without authorization” or “exceeding authorized access,” with the important caveat that no one seems to know what it mean to access a computer “without authorization” or to “exceed authorized access.” See 18 U.S.C. 1030. The concepts are particularly tricky in the case of a written restriction […]
Did South Carolina Pass a “Subversive Activities Registration Act” Last Year?
That’s what Raw Story reports, but I don’t think that’s right. According to Westlaw, the cited statute dates back to 1951, when a lot of anti-Communist statutes were enacted nationwide. Please let me know if there is some factual evidence I missed.
What Should My Teen Daughter Charge for Snow Shoveling?
Super important practical follow up to Ilya’s post. My teen daughter and perhaps a friend are thinking of doing exactly what Ilya mentions – going door to door in our neighborhood in Spring Valley Washington DC neighborhood and offering to shovel out walks. This is near American University campus. How much should they charge and […]
Snowmaggedon and Snow-Shoveling Entrepreneurship
During the last massive snowstorm in the DC area in December, George Mason University economist Bryan Caplan wondered why there weren’t any teenagers going around door to door offering snow-shoveling services. In reply, I pointed out that kids in other parts of the country do in fact do this, and that it wasn’t happening in […]
Why the Issue of Secession Isn’t “Settled”
In a recent post, co-conspirator Eugene Volokh argues that the Civil War did not settle the issue of the constitutionality and moral defensibility of secession. I made a detailed argument to the same effect in this 2008 post. I’m not going to restate all my analysis here. But I will say that I don’t think […]
“Do You Mind If I Look?”
Here’s an interesting Fourth Amendment case in which video likely makes all the difference. A police officer stops a driver named Williams for a traffic violation. After checking out his driver’s license, the officer asks the driver for consent to search the car: That solicitation continued over a period of about a minute and included […]
Stir Crazy
Those of us on the East Coast may be feeling a little stir crazy trapped inside with all this snow. But where does the phrase “stir crazy” originate? According to the Online Etymology Dictionary and other sources, the term refers to mental imbalance caused by long-term detention in prison. “Stir” was a slang term for […]
Professors as Politicians
Any thoughts on how professors — and again I recognize that Obama was not a career academic in the sense that many professors are — have generally done as elected politicians in America? I understand that Woodrow Wilson, who I think is the only President to have been an academic, is pretty well-regarded by historians, […]
Professor Obama
I’m hardly a foe of professors, or a friend to casual disdain for the academy. Professors tend to be very smart people, and deeply knowledgeable in their areas of expertise. There are exceptions, of course, but I’m comfortable saying that this is the rule. It’s uncontroversially so as to many disciplines; few people doubt it, […]
Calling Obama a Professor is “a Thinly Veiled Attack on Obama’s Race”
From Inside Higher Ed: [Prof. Charles J.] Ogletree, founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, says he sees the “professor” label as a thinly veiled attack on Obama’s race. Calling Obama “the professor” walks dangerously close to labeling him “uppity,” a term with racial overtones that has surfaced […]
Is It Unconstitutional to Have Different Tariffs for Men’s and Women’s Gloves?
Totes-Isotoner Corp. v. United States (Fed. Cir. Feb. 5) says no, though one judge took a different approach from the other two. Any thoughts on what the right analysis should be? I’m inclined to say that the different treatment is facially discriminatory — even though the distinction is based on the sex of the likely […]
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and Lesbians
I thought I’d ask again what I brought up a few years: How can the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy — or for that matter, any similar exclusion policy — be justified as to lesbians? As I understand it, the main argument in favor of such a policy for male homosexuals is that in […]
Open Thread
What’s on your mind? As always, please keep it civil.