I’ve never liked the federal judicial clerkship cartel. Neither does my colleague Josh Wright. Josh explains the economics of cartels. Here’s my perspective on the public choice dynamics of the clerkship cartel. The primary instigators and enforcers of the cartel have always been the professors at the elite law schools who recognize (perhaps implicitly) that […]
Archive | 2010
How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims
Today is Thanksgiving. So it’s time for my annual post on how private property rights saved the Pilgrims. Economist Benjamin Powell tells the story here: Many people believe that after suffering through a severe winter, the Pilgrims’ food shortages were resolved the following spring when the Native Americans taught them to plant corn and a […]
Greg Coleman, R.I.P.
I learned of Greg’s death, noted by John below, early this evening. John is right on all accounts about Greg as a superb lawyer and person. Greg was a co-clerk of mine with Judge Edith Jones, 1992-93. We kept in touch occasionally over the years, as I watched his rise in legal circles in Texas […]
Second Amendment Challenge to Illinois Ban on Non-Residents’ Possession of Guns May Proceed
From Mishaga v. Monken (C.D. Ill., decided Monday), which rejected the government’s motion to dismiss the claim: According to the Complaint, Plaintiff Ellen Mishaga is a resident of Ohio who frequently travels to Illinois. Mishaga stays in the home of friends while in Illinois. She wishes to possess a functional firearm for her personal protection […]
Somber news for the Supreme Court bar
The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Greg Coleman, the former SG of Texas and one of the leading lights of the Supreme Court bar, has died in light plane crash off the coast of Florida. The paper reports: Coleman, 47, was piloting the Piper Malibu when it crashed into a bayou while approaching the Destin […]
Second Amendment Protects Gun Possession by the Housemates of Felons
As I mentioned in my Implementing the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Self-Defense article (PDF p. 57), “[B]ans on felon possession of firearms also affect their law-abiding spouses, girlfriends and boyfriends, and other housemates: Those people might be unable to safely possess guns in their homes because of the possibility that their felon […]
UN General Assembly Committee Passes New Version of Resolution Urging Nations to Forbid Defamation of Religion
By Ilya Somin on November 24, 2010 1:19 am in International Human Rights Law, International Law, Religion, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
The United Nations General Assembly Third Committee recently passed another resolution urging nations to ban defamation of religion [HT: Elizabeth Cassidy of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which criticized the resolution here]: A U.N. General Assembly committee once again voted to condemn the “vilification of religion” on Tuesday, but support narrowed for a […]
American Court Refuses to Honor Lebanese Islamic Court Child Custody Order
By Eugene Volokh on November 23, 2010 5:53 pm in Islamic Law in the American Legal System, Parental Rights
Strikes me as quite sensible, not because of some special disability imposed on Sharia law as such, but because of the application of generally applicable American rules, under which comity is given to certain foreign child custody decrees only if they generally comply with American norms. The case is Charara v. Yatim (Mass. Ct. App., […]
New Survey Data on Public Attitudes Towards Kelo and Economic Development Takings
By Ilya Somin on November 23, 2010 5:53 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Political Ignorance, Polls, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that government has the power to forcibly transfer property from one private owner to another in order to promote “economic development,” was one of the most unpopular decisions in the history of the Supreme Court. Polls conducted soon after the decision was issued in 2005 found that […]
Did Joseph Stalin Commit Genocide?
By Ilya Somin on November 23, 2010 3:14 am in Communism, Genocide, International Human Rights Law, International Law, Russia
In his excellent recent book Stalin’s Genocides, Stanford historian Norman Naimark argues that Joseph Stalin committed genocide and not “merely” mass murder. Few any longer deny that Stalin’s regime slaughtered millions of innocent people. But the Russian government and some Western writers continue to argue that these murders were not genocidal, and that Stalin therefore […]
“Students Campaign For Alternative Hummus”
No, it’s not The Onion: It’s a real political protest at Princeton.
The End of Ethanol?
Maybe it’s the new mood in Congress. Maybe the stars are aligned. Whatever the cause, opposition to ethanol subsidies is cropping up in some unusual places — and just in time, as ethanol tax credits are set to expire in a few weeks. Back in 2000, then-Vice President Al Gore touted ethanol subsidies as good […]
Petition for Certiorari Filed in Pineda-Moreno, The Ninth Circuit GPS Case
A petition for certiorari was recently filed asking the Supreme Court to review United States v. Pineda-Moreno, the Ninth Circuit case allowing warrantless GPS surveillance. I have posted a copy of the cert petition here. There’s been a lot of interest in this case thanks to Judge Kozinski’s over-the-top dissent from denial of rehearing, so […]
Probationer May Not Possess Material That “Contains Nudity or That Depicts or Alludes to Sexual Activity or Depicts Sexual Arousing Material”
The Eighth Circuit has just set aside such a probation condition, imposed as part of a sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm (though (“[a]pparently because Kelly had two sexual assault convictions” in addition to the felon-in-possession conviction). As the court pointed out, judges have broad authority to impose probation conditions. This […]
“When People Commit Errors of ‘Internal Structure of Logic or Order'”
A commenter on the “Internal Structure of Logic or Order” thread writes, Education is fundamentally elitist, and it ought to be. When people commit errors of “internal structure of logic or order” it’s perfectly okay for those who know better to define those as mistakes, and, within the bounds of social propriety, correct them. Social […]