I like Ilya’s default rule on hat tips. Also, I think the ideal approach when submitting a tip is to say either way if you want your name mentioned. The problem I have found is that some people really don’t want their names mentioned but others really really do. (Indeed, I have received follow-up e-mails […]
Archive | 2010
Hat Tip Policy
Sometimes, readers e-mail with stories and issues that they suggest I should blog about. If I choose to write a post about the issue the reader suggests, I will credit the reader in the resulting post with a “hat tip,” as these things are called in the blogosphere. Most readers seem to like getting this […]
Jim Cramer Analyzes the Proposed New Banking Rules
During the second half-hour of Mad Money on CNBC tonight, Jim Cramer has a revealing criticism of the Obama Administration’s proposed banking rules. He concludes that the collapse was not the result of proprietary trading by banks, but rather mainly because of bad real estate loans. Cramer sees the proposal as targeting those who are […]
Bad Names for Legal Blogs
It’s common for legal blogs to use some legal phrase as their title, such as Concurring Opinions, Res Ipsa Loquitur, etc. Here’s my question: What are the worst possible names for legal blogs — or at least the funniest or most awkward — based solely on widely used legal phrases? Assume the blog name has […]
7th Circuit Upholds Prison Rule Forbidding Inmates to Play Dungeons and Dragons
In a decision issued today (here is an alternate link to the decision), the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Wisconsin prison’s rule forbidding inmates to play Dungeons & Dragons or possess D&D publications and materials [HT: Josh Blackman]. The prison’s rationale for the ban is that playing D&D might stimulate “gang activity” […]
30 Asian Students Beaten at South Philadelphia High School
The incident apparently happened on Dec. 3, and has been covered in the Philadelphia newspapers, but I’ve only now heard about it (in an AP story, published a few days ago, about a civil rights complaint stemming from this incident and filed with the Justice Department). The attacks were apparently racially motivated, and the students […]
Stimulating Another “Big Dig”?
If you grew up in Massachusetts, as I did, you may have heard of the notorious inefficiency and fraud surrounding the “Big Dig,” a massive federally funded construction project that took decades to complete after innumerable delays and cost overruns. Today, many of the New England firms that committed fraud and other abuses during the […]
Make Money Fa$t!
I thought I’d mention again the California Unclaimed Property Search site; I just discovered that I was owed $600 in checks that weren’t forwarded when I moved. Maybe all of you folks are better at managing your accounts receivable than I am — but in case you aren’t, you might check this site and similar […]
“When Correctly Viewed, Everything Is Lewd”
Well, in U.S. v. Green, that’s probably the right answer. Is “mmmm-mmmm-mmmm” “indecent language”? All depends on the circumstances. Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer.
“While the Beastie Boys Might Disagree,
the First Amendment does not imply a ‘right to party’ dissociated from expression” (apparently referring to expression on political, religious, moral, or otherwise significant matters, beyond just partying for social reasons). URI Student Senate v. Town of Narragansett, 2010 WL 222587 (D.R.I. 2010).
Mirandizing the Christmas Day Bomber — Why?
Over at Crime and Consequences, former federal prosecutor Bill Otis has this insightful analysis about the interrogation of the Christmas day bomber, who reportedly was given Miranda warnings and then stopped providing useful information shortly thereafter. Otis quotes the Washington Post’s editorial on the subject, which attacks the administration as follows: UMAR FAROUK Abdulmutallab was […]
NRA Gets Oral Argument Time in McDonald v. City of Chicago
The Blog of Legal Times notes that the Supreme Court granted the NRA’s contested motion for oral argument time in McDonald v. City of Chicago. The NRA had asked for argument time to make sure the Due Process arguments were fully made, in light of the fact that McDonald’s counsel Alan Gura had focused so […]
Stewart Baker Joining Our Merry Company
I’m delighted to report that Stewart Baker will be joining us as a coblogger. Stewart — one of UCLA School of Law’s most illustrious alumni — has served as Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security, as General Counsel of the National Security Administration, and as General Counsel to the Commission on […]
Court action at last in Noriega v. Pastrana
After relisting the case a whopping ten times, the Court at last denied cert in Noriega v. Pastrana, which presented the questions whether Section 5 of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which provides that “[n]o person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas corpus or other civil action,” precluded […]
Briscoe v. Virginia Ends With a Whimper
Briscoe v. Virginia, a case on Confrontation Clause rights in criminal trials, has been one of the most closely-watched criminal law cases at the Supreme Court this Term. As detailed here, the Court’s decision to take the case suggested that it might use the case to overrule or sharply limit last Term’s major decision in […]