Several news reports (summarized here) indicate that Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) has placed a blanket hold on all executive nominations — some 70 or so in all — over two federal projects that he wants to see in Alabama. This is shameful. It is an abuse of the hold privilege and is precisely the sort […]
Archive | 2010
Washington Court of Appeals Overturns Apparent Discrimination Against a Non-Religious Parent
From In re Marriage of V.I. Balashov: With one exception, the parenting plan provides that major decisions regarding each child — including such matters as education, nonemergency health care, and travel outside the United States — are to be made jointly. The one exception stated in the plan is for religious upbringing. The plan assigns […]
A Thought Experiment on Constitution 2.0
Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine widespread public opinion in the United States demanded a new Constitution to reflect current public opinion. Specifically, let’s imagine that this happened at a time when the inevitable pendulum swing of public opinion happened to be in a liberal direction. The state conventions met and ratified a new constitution — […]
“Passion Release”
From Houston v. Federal Medical Center Carswell, 2010 WL 363479 (N.D. Tex. Feb. 2): “She [plaintiff] seeks compensatory monetary damages and seeks a ‘passion release.’” Fortunately, the court goes on to explain, in a footnote: “The reference to a ‘passion release’ is likely to the Bureau of Prisons’s ‘compassionate release’ program.” Glad that got cleared […]
“Know Which Bank of the Rubicon Is Which”
A funny line from a review of a book about ancient Rome: If you’re unfamiliar with Roman history, this is a worthwhile read. If you are more like me, however, and know which bank of the Rubicon is which, this is a textbook to avoid.
Life Imitates Tom Waits
Compare Big Time and this story (thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer).
Corporate Personhood, con’t
A friend forwarded me the link to this announcement by “the liberal public relations firm,” Murray Hill, Inc., that it will follow up the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case by running for Congress. It’s absurd and tongue-in-cheek, of course, and pretty funny to boot. But the more I thought about it, being […]
California Independent Spending For and Against Candidates: Unions, Indian Tribes, Individuals, and Corporations
People have wondered what politics will be like after Citizens United, and in particular (1) whether large business corporations will start spending a lot of money speaking out in favor or against candidates for office and (2) how much corporate and union spending for or against candidates will increase relative to each other. As it […]
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Ninth Circuit’s National-Standard-for-Internet-Obscenity Decision
United States v. Little concludes that Internet obscenity distribution prosecutions may rely on the community standard of the place in which the material was distributed — which means the government can try to download the material in the most restrictive community, and prosecute the distributor there. This may well be correct, given the Court’s decision […]
Two Supreme Court Vacancies?!?
ABC News is reporting the White House is preparing for the possibility of two Supreme Court vacancies, as both Justice Stevens and Justice Ginsburg could step down. If so, this could help explain the Adminsitration’s tardiness in making other judicial nominations.
Tribe: Climate Cases Are Political Questions
The Washington Legal Foundation has just released an interesting paper by Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, co-authored with HLS student Joshua D. Branson and Shook, Hardy & Bacon attorney Tristan L. Duncan, arguing that public nuisance lawsuits against utilities for their alleged contributions to climate change should be considered non-justiciable political questions. They write: global […]
Are Trial Lawyers Buying Government Clients?
The WSJ has an interesting report on the alleged connection between plaintiff attorney contributions to local politicians and lucrative representation of public pension funds in shareholder litigation. A Wall Street Journal analysis documented the extent of campaign giving by plaintiffs’ law firms specializing in shareholder suits. It found that 25 leading firms, their lawyers and […]
Justice Thomas Defends Citizens United
The NYT reports on recent by remarks by Justice Clarence Thomas at the Stetson University College of Law in which he responded to criticism of the Court’s Citizens United ruling. In addition to defending the underlying rationale of the ruling, he also addressed the Tillman Act — the federal law barring corporate campaign contributions, which […]
The Break-Even Starting Lawyer Salary?
Above the Law has a very interesting post summarizing a talk given by the Dean of Northwestern Law School, David Van Zandt, at a PLI conference on law firm management – Dean Van Zandt talks about the model of law school education and tries to approximate the median starting salary for a lawyer to make […]
“Why Does Time Fly By As You Get Older?”
A few days ago, NPR had this interesting segment on why time seems to go faster as we age. (8:37 audio) Interesting stuff. I liked the different explanations the segment offers, and I would add one more: A watched pot never boils. When you’re younger, aging is a great thing and you eagerly anticipate being […]