The President today announced that he would recess appoint James M. Cole as Deputy Attorney General. His nomination has been pending since May–reportedly the longest delay in confirming a DAG nominee in 30 years, but in the context of nominations in the last decade or so (some of which have dragged on for years), an […]
Archive | 2010
Ohio Supreme Court Upholds State Preemption of Local Gun Laws
“We hold that R.C. 9.68 [the preemption statute] is a general law that displaces municipal firearm ordinances and does not unconstitutionally infringe on municipal home rule authority.” City of Cleveland v. State. The court reversed the Ohio Court of Appeals’ decision striking down the law on state home rule and separation of powers grounds. The […]
This is Not a Witch-hunt
Christine O’Donnell is apparently under criminal investigation for campaign finance violations. (Sorry, I couldn’t pass up the title.)
Death of a Deregulatory Democrat
Economist Alfred Kahn died this week at 93. Kahn had a remakrable career as an academic, administrator, and government official. A noted regulatory scholar, he served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell and Chairman of the New York Public Service Commission. In 1977, President Carter tapped Kahn to chair the […]
This Girl Really Likes Hayek
I like him a lot too, but not quite this much.
The Durbin Amendment Is Unconstitutional
So says Richard Epstein in today’s Washington Times. Richard argues that by depriving debit card issuers of a reasonable rate of return the Durbin Amendment capping debit card fees, as interpreted by the Federal Reserve, is unconstitutional. In related news, Chase announced (even before the Fed announced its unexpectedly onerous price caps) that in response […]
The New York Times On Fire!
Not literally, of course. But coverage by New York Times reporters of the health care lawsuits and the Repeal Amendment has been extraordinarily fair and balanced. Here is an excellent story by Kevin Sack today on the Necessary & Proper Clause issues raised by the health care challenge. And here is a straight journalistic account […]
“Sleep Less, Think More” at the IHS Summer Seminars
Applications for the Institute for Humane Studies Summer Seminars are now being accepted. If you are a student with an interest in liberty, take advantage of these wonderful seminars. While still a prosecutor in the Cook County States Attorney’s office, I lectured in one of these seminars in 1980, the very first year they were […]
C-SPAN Interviews Justice Kagan
Very much worth watching. Also of note, Mike Sacks makes an argument that I’ve alluded to in a few posts: The interesting parallels between Kagan and Roberts on one hand and Sotomayor and Alito on the other. (My own posts on this theme are here and here.) I had meant to blog more on the […]
North Carolina Supreme Court on Two-Mother Families
In Boseman v. Jarrell (Dec. 20), Julia Boseman and Melissa Jarrell decided to raise a child together: Plaintiff [Boseman] and defendant [Jarrell] met in 1998. At that time, plaintiff lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, and defendant lived in Rhode Island. The first time they met, they “discussed their desires to have children.” Roughly one month […]
21st Century Jobs 1: Higher Ed ROI Planning?
(Note: In a series of posts running until around the New Year, and maybe beyond, I plan to rampantly speculate on new jobs and career tracks that might emerge in the next years and couple of decades. Straight from my fevered brain to VC!) The higher education bubble – both undergraduate and professional education – […]
Kudos to Starwood Preferred Guest
I occasionally post my consumer complaints on this blog, so I should also give credit where it’s due. I recently discovered that I had managed to forfeit 33K Starpoints through inactivity, in part because I had inadvertently opened multiple accounts. While SPG’s phone rep. wasn’t very helpful (she offered me 1K points), a short email […]
Trivia Question
Without Googling or otherwise cheating, where is the only kosher McDonald’s outside of Israel?
The Proposed Activity/Inactivity Distinction and the Child Pornography Laws
One of the interesting arguments raised in the litigation over the individual mandate is whether courts should adopt a new activity/inactivity distinction in Commerce Clause doctrine. As I understand the argument in favor of the proposed distinction, the Commerce Clause permits Congress to punish you for doing something that it prohibits but should be construed […]
More “Life Imitates ‘Rehabilitating Lochner'”
By David Bernstein on December 27, 2010 9:39 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Health Care, Rehabilitating Lochner
In a previous post, I noted that in my forthcoming book, I point out that academics invented the notion of a “Lochner era” in which the U.S. Supreme Court was single-mindedly determined to invalidate all manner of economic regulation. In doing so, they conflated a host of different constitutional provisions–due process, commerce clause, nondelegation doctrine, […]