The results of the reader poll on how cell phones work were quite startling: With over 1,600 votes cast, the results indicated that 95% of those who answered the poll know that cell providers get location information. Only 5% didn’t know that. Of course, Volokh Conspiracy readers aren’t typical: They have the intelligence and sophistication […]
Archive | 2010
Podcast at Kosmos Online
I’ve done a two-part podcast at Kosmos Online, the new social/intellectual network of the Institute for Humane Studies. The second part is here and in it I talk about blogging and my ongoing book projects. More generally, Kosmos Online is the Institute for Humane Studies extension on to the web, so if you are an […]
The Invasion Has Begun
UFO sighting near Washington, DC. Ok, so it looks like it was only a blue light in the sky, not clearly an “object.” And what kind of invaders from outerspace would have a craft that makes no noise at all? But hey, if it was good enough for the local news, it must be a […]
Reader Poll: Do You Know How Cell Phones Work?
Some recent litigation has raised an interesting question about how many people know the basics of how cell phones work. I want to test the question with a reader poll. (Sorry the formatting is bad — same problem as before.) Here’s the issue. Cell phones are able to place and receive phone calls because they […]
New SSRN Posting “Rivalry and Superior Dispatch: An Analysis of Competing Courts in Medieval and Early Modern England”
Ed Stringham and I have posted our new paper on SSRN. Here’s the Abstract: Abstract: In most areas, economists look to competition to align incentives, but not so with courts. Many believe that competition enables plaintiff forum shopping, but Adam Smith praised rivalry among courts. This article describes the courts when the common law developed. […]
Obama Endorses India for Permanent Security Council Seat, and a Note on Disaggregation of the State and the Globalized New Class
By Kenneth Anderson on November 8, 2010 10:44 am in Global Governance/World Government, International Law, New Class
News services report that President Obama, speaking to the Indian Parliament, has endorsed India receiving a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The AP story adds that this was the biggest applause line in the speech, fully consonant with the rise of Indian nationalism within India, and its rapidly increasing sense of importance in […]
My Richmond Times-Dispatch Op Ed on the Obama Health Care Plan Individual Mandate Litigation
By Ilya Somin on November 8, 2010 2:34 am in Commerce Clause, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper, Spending Clause, Taxing and Spending Clause
Yesterday, I published an op ed on the state of the individual mandate litigation in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: When 21 states and several private groups initiated lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Obama health care law earlier this year, critics denounced the suits as frivolous political grandstanding. But it is increasingly clear that the plaintiffs […]
Inside the Home of Alan Dershowitz
The Harvard Crimson has the scoop.
A Chinese Parallel to My Soviet-Era Emigration Experience
In response to my memoir about emigrating from the Soviet Union, a Chinese-American reader e-mailed me the following [posted with permission of the author]: Thank you for posting your memoir. I really enjoyed reading it. I can completely identify with your experiences, as my family also had to make its escape from a Communist country, […]
Important Texas Supreme Court Opinion Protecting Beachfront Property Rights
The Texas Supreme Court recently issued an important opinion protecting the property rights of beachfront property owners. Matt Festa of Land Use Prof Blog has a helpful post discussing the case, and providing numerous relevant links: The Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion today in Severance v. Patterson, a case that the Fifth Circuit certified […]
Federal Government Fights Obesity, Pushes Cheese
I love cheese. I really do. But I recognize that it, like many things, is best enjoyed in moderation. This is also a message pushed by the federal government — or at least one part of it — as part of efforts to encourage healthy eating and fight obesity. Yet another part of the federal […]
The Politics of Pot
Pete Guither has a helpful roundup of reactions to the defeat of Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana under California state law. Opinion seems to be divided between those like myself and Kevin Drum who believe that support for legalization is rising and those who claim that the cause is probably hopeless because of […]
New Republic Profile of Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson
Sounds like he is running for President.
A Business Law Agenda for the Next Two Years
The folks at Conglomerate are hosting a “Masters Forum” on “A Business Law Agenda for the New Congress and President.” The resulting collection of posts, with contributions from Tom Joo, David Zaring, Leandra Lederman, and Erik Gerding , among others, can be found here.
Quixotic Iraq War Litigation
The AP reports that the Rutgers-Newark Law School clinic has filed a cert petition seeking review of a case challenging the constitutionality of the Iraq War. Filed on behalf of an Iraq war veteran, two mothers of deployed soldiers and an anti-war group, the suit maintains that the invasion of Iraq was not constitutionally authorized […]