George Thomas is a terrific and unusually fair-minded professor of criminal procedure at Rutgers Law School in Newark, NJ. I noticed today that he has a forthcoming article that tries to get a sense of the original public understanding of the Privileges or Immunities clause based on how the debates were covered in newspapers of […]
Archive | 2010
How Markets Make Us More Rational
By Ilya Somin on January 6, 2010 8:36 pm in Libertarian Paternalism, Paternalism, Political Ignorance
Advocates of “libertarian paternalism” cite experimental evidence showing that people often make irrational decisions, and argue that we need government regulation to guard against such problems. Economist Richard McKenzie challenges part of this rationale by citing experimental evidence showing that markets actually give people incentives to act more rationally than they would otherwise, thus undercutting […]
Least Effective Question Presented, part I
From a recent(ish) cert. petition: (1) Was St. George Tucker correct when he told his William & Mary law students circa 1803 that all searches and seizures were considered general warrants and thus unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment unless based upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be […]
Reference to “Hot Button Topic” of Immigration as Grounds for Mistrial?
An interesting decision from the Colorado Court of Appeal, Doumbouya v. County Court (Dec. 24, 2009): Defendant … was charged with assaulting his estranged wife and one of her friends, with threatening the wife, and with disturbing the peace. Defendant’s theory of defense was that his estranged wife had fabricated the claims to gain leverage […]
Interesting Self-Defense Case
From the Chicago Daily Herald. Throwing a rock through a car window might not at first seem like much by way of self-defense, especially if the fear is that the car will run you over. But I take it that the court’s rationale — which seems sensible — must have been that showing signs of […]
Muslims and Muslim Countries (and Turkey and the EU as an Example)
I’ve spoken before about the importance of not treating Islam as a monolith; and more broadly I’ve spoken in favor of treating Muslims in America much the same as other religious people — giving them the same religious freedom and religious accommodation rights, and not assuming their guilt from the guilt of other Muslims. At […]
“Hide, the Police Are Coming!”
Another interesting story that deals with the subject I discussed in my Crime-Facilitating Speech, 57 Stan. L. Rev. 1095 (2005): An advocate for immigrant and civil rights has started using text messages to warn residents about crime sweeps by a high-profile Arizona sheriff. Lydia Guzman, director of the nonprofit immigrant advocacy group Respect/Respeto, is the […]
Top “Legal Theory” Blog
I’m delighted to report that we were the top vote-getter in the Legal Theory category of The 2009 ABA Journal Blawg 100. As you might gather, “Legal Theory” as a subcategory of law blogs means something different from “Legal Theory” as a subcategory of law professor blogs — I suppose we are indeed pretty theoretical […]
A Call for Back to Basics in Law Teaching:
Law Professor Charles E. Rounds, Jr., has a sharply-worded call for a return to the basics in law teaching on the Pope Center’s website–more Socratic method and focus on traditional law school subjects. Here’s a snippet but it is well-worth reading the whole thing: Common law, of which agency and trust are critical components, is […]
Senator Christmas
Who is the highest-level government official in the U.S. whose last name is also the name (whether full or conventionally shortened) of a religious holiday? And, yes, I realize that the various levels of government officials aren’t always directly comparable, but they often are; a state supreme court justice, for instance, would in my view […]
Televised “Show Trial” on Proposition 8?
Over at NRO, Ed Whelan has been following some bizarre manuevering by the federal district court judge in the Northern District of California who apparently is trying to have a televised “show trial” regarding Proposition 8. Without getting into the merits of Proposition 8 or the legal challenges to it, I agree with Whelan that it seems […]
Bruce Bawer on the Muhammad Cartoon Attack
By Kenneth Anderson on January 6, 2010 10:30 am in "Hate Speech", Freedom of Speech, International Law, Mohammed Cartoons
Follow up to Eugene’s post on the Muhammad Cartoon attack … see Bruce Bawer’s article in City Journal, “While Europe Sneered.” And although I received a comp copy of the Voltaire Project printing of the cartoons, I have ordered a paid copy and have requested that my school’s library order the book. Please consider doing […]
“Actually, a Chip That Big Will Have to Come Off Your Shoulder and Go Through the X-Ray.”
OK, I’m not sure I’m entirely persuaded by Stewart Baker’s post — it’s not clear, for instance, why handcuffing was proper under the circumstances — but the title is very funny.
“The Underwear Dividend”
Interesting thoughts on air travel security from Tunku Varadarajan, at the Daily Beast.
The Al Bihani Case and the Domestic Application of International Law
Today’s important D.C. Circuit decision in Al Bihani v. Obama held that international law does not in any way constrain the president in the exercise of his executive authority under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force that gave him the power to wage war against al Qaeda and its allies. I am […]