France’s Constitutional Council recently upheld the constitutionality of a law banning the wearing of veils in public places. The text of the decision is available in French here. Despite the importance of the issue and the large potential infringement on religious freedom, the opinion is very short and conclusory. For those of our readers who […]
Archive | 2010
Paladino: Gays are Coming to Get Your Kids
Carl Paladino, the GOP nominee for governor of New York, said in prepared remarks that “perverts” were targeting children and trying to destroy their lives. For this reason, he suggested, as he flashed a snide smile to a group of Orthodox Jews, he did not march in the annual gay pride parade. Here is the […]
Insider Trading on Capitol Hill
The WSJ has an investigative report in Monday’s paper showing extensive buying and selling of stocks by Congressional staffers who work for members of Congress with jurisdiction over the traded companies. The Journal analysis showed that an aide to a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee bought Bank of America Corp. stock before results […]
David Nelson’s Passing
The judge I clerked for, David A. Nelson of the Sixth Circuit, who retired several years ago, died recently. His funeral is tomorrow in Cincinnati. Judge Nelson was a very honorable man, always kind and considerate to his clerks, polite but exacting with attorneys at oral argument, an excellent writer, and an all-around great judge. […]
“An Apology from Someone Like Adler Would Be Meaningless”
The Washington Post reports on controversy surrounding allegations that Democratic Party operatives worked behind-the-scenes to get a third-party “Tea Party” candidate onto the ballot in New Jersey’s Third Congressional District in order to help re-elect first-term Congressman John Adler (What? You thought this post was about someone else?). The Post story draws on a report […]
Thug Destroys Supposedly Blasphemous Art, Museum Refuses to Replace It, Citing “Safety Concerns”
Very unfortunate; the AP reports: A piece of artwork denounced as obscene by church members and allegedly ripped up by a Montana woman using a crowbar won’t be returned to display because of safety concerns, city officials said Thursday. “The incident yesterday was very troubling and also very impactful on the city staff, volunteers and […]
Talk on Kelo and Eminent Domain at Lewis & Clark Law School
By Ilya Somin on October 10, 2010 3:23 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
For those who might be interested, I will be speaking at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon tomorrow. The topic is my work on Kelo v. City of New London and post-Kelo eminent domain reform. I will also touch briefly on post-Kelo developments in state constitutional law on public use issues, including the […]
The Competition for Supreme Court Cases
Adam Liptak has an important front-page story in The New York Times about how Supreme Court specialists look for cases to take to the Supreme Court. The story presents a pretty accurate picture of how tough the competition is for cases likely to get to the Supreme Court. These days, if you’re a lawyer who […]
Timothy Sandefur Guest-Blogging
I’m delighted to report that Timothy Sandefur of the Pacific Legal Foundation will be guest-blogging this coming week about his new book, The Right to Earn A Living: Economic Liberty And The Law, which was just published by the Cato Institute. Timothy is also the author of Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century […]
4-4 Is Just Fine
Jason Mazzone explains why Senator Patrick Leahy’s proposal to allow retired justices to participate in place of justices who have to recuse is “a solution in search of a problem.”
895% Contingency Fee in Classmates.com Class Action:
The Center for Class Action Fairness has filed an objection to the proposed settlement in the Classmates.com class action: You may have been one of the millions of people to receive asettlement notice regarding a class action against Classmates.com; the settlement notice implied that class members would receive $9.5 million (though only $2-$3 per person, […]
Nuclear Off a Cliff
The Washington Post reports that constellation Energy is pulling out of a plan to build a third nuclear reactor at its Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. In a letter to the Department of Energy, Constellation explained that the conditions and costs of the federal loan guarantee was not “workable” and had generated too much uncertainty […]
Requiring OIRA Review of CFPB Actions:
This summer, shortly before Dodd-Frank was enacted, I offered several suggestions on how the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection could be made more consumer-friendly. Several of my concerns were based on my experience working at the Federal Trade Commission and studying the regulatory process. In particular, I noted the dangers presented by the almost […]
The AP Story on the Michigan Individual Mandate Decision as Reported by By WikiUS News
I have no idea what Wiki US News is, but it employs some amazing translation software. Here is the actual quote from me in the Associated Press story of last night: Randy Barnett, who teaches constitutional law at Georgetown University, said Steeh’s ruling could be cited by lawyers trying to persuade other judges. “This is […]
Audio of the Week’s Supreme Court Arguments
The Supreme Court has posted the audio files from the oral arguments this week. You can find them here. I’m in Central Park right now listening to the Phelps argument on my iPad. Pretty cool.