Just published on the Daily Caller. Of course it’s written for lay people, so most of the analysis will already be familiar to the legally-educated folks who read the VC.
Archive | 2010
AP: “Va governor to back law giving two-thirds of states power to block federal laws”
Story on Governor McDonnell’s endorsement of the Repeal Amendment is here.
NRA Supports Pro-Gun Democrats, and Many Democrats Support the Second Amendment
Earlier this week, I wrote that NRA would be foolish obey the wishes of Republican activists who want the NRA to endorse only Republicans, and especially to not endorse endangered House Democrats. Here are some data on NRA endorsements, and some of the actions that dozens of House Democrats have taken to merit their endorsements: NRA Senate endorsements in […]
Ban on References to Deities on License Plates = Unconstitutional Viewpoint Discrimination
So holds today’s Second Circuit decision in Byrne v. Rutledge: At issue here is the state ban on any combination [of letters and numbers on a personalized license plate] that “refer[s], in any language, to a … religion” or “deity.” Id. § 304(d)(4). The asserted purpose of the ban is to avoid the “distraction and […]
What Burden of Proof Is Constitutionally Required for Denying Gun Rights to the Allegedly Dangerous and Mentally Infirm?
California Welfare & Institutions Code § 8103 provides that once someone has been evaluated or taken into custody as being “a danger to himself, herself, or to others,” he may be barred from possessing guns for five years if the government “show[s] by a preponderance of the evidence that the person would not be likely […]
Targeted Killing and Drone Debate at Washington University Law School Today
By Kenneth Anderson on October 8, 2010 12:00 pm in Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
(Update: Sorry about leaving off a title! perils of posting from an Ipod!) Today at noon, the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University Law School is holding a debate on targeted killing using drone aircraft. It features Notre Dame’s Mary Ellen O’Connell and yours truly, and moderated by Minnesota Public Radio’s Matt […]
Ha’aretz on the Kashur Rape by Fraud Case
Today’s Ha’aretz reports on the just-released transcripts of the accuser’s testimony, in which the accuser testified that Kashur had forcibly raped her. (David Bernsten blogged a month ago about earlier press reports to the same effect, but these seem to be the first ones based on the actual testimony.) Apparently the indictment was later revised […]
Some Additional Thoughts on the Michigan Decision Upholding the Individual Mandate
Judge Steeh’s decision yesterday dismissing the Commerce and Necessary and Proper Clause challenge to the individual mandate was certainly not welcome news to those of us who believe the mandate to be unconstitutional. But his remarkably thin opinion brings to the fore the revolutionary implications of upholding the individual mandate without addressing them. First, that […]
The Individual Mandate and Applying Versus Inventing Doctrine
In his post on the new district court decision upholding the individual mandate, my co-blogger Randy writes: I do not believe Judge Steeh relied upon existing Supreme Court doctrine because of his claim that this was a case “of first impression” and therefore not covered by that doctrine. This presents a new debate: Has the […]
New Law Professor Group Blog: The CockleBur
Please give a warm blogospheric welcome to a promising new law blog, The CockleBur. The proof of the pudding is in the blogging, but The CockleBur has some terrific academics in the line-up: Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California at Irvine; Ron Sullivan, Susan Farbstein and Tyler Giannini of Harvard; Richard Friedman of the […]
Georgetown Law Journal Celebrates Justice Stevens
The Georgetown Law Journal and the Supreme Court Institute have an impressive lineup of speakers this morning for a conference on retired Justice John Paul Stevens. It makes me a bit uncomfortable, however, that (a) the conference is styled “The Finest Legal Mind”: A Symposium in Celebration of Justice John Paul Stevens; (b) the conference […]
President Obama’s Second Pocket Veto
In other Executive-Legislative relations news, today the White House announced that President Obama was using the second “pocket veto” of his presidency to disapprove H.R. 3808, the “foreclosure documents” bill. The official name of the bill is, if I am not mistaken, the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010, which has to set a […]
The Demise of Progressive Legal History
I’m not one to generally praise law reviews, but the latest issue of the George Washington Law Review contains lots of interesting stuff. I wanted to call particular attention to G. Edward White’s review of Phil Hamburger’s Law and Judicial Duty. White, one of my favorite legal historians, treats readers to an excellent discussion of […]
President Obama Issues Another Signing Statement
In my efforts to bore readers into submission, I’ve blogged a fair amount here about presidential use of “constitutional signing statements.” As then-Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger explained early during the Clinton Administration, such signing statements are frequently used to “express[] the President’s intention to construe or administer a statute in a particular manner (often […]
County Clerk’s Office May Have Duty to Accommodate Employee With Religious Objections to Processing Same-Sex Domestic Partnerships
By Eugene Volokh on October 7, 2010 8:34 pm in Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, Same-Sex Marriage
So holds Slater v. Douglas County (D. Or. Sept. 24, 2010) (just released on Westlaw today). For more on the general structure of employers’ duty to accommodate religious objectors (under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1972), see this post. Here’s a longish excerpt from the Slater decision, applying […]