Further to my post below on the passing of Philippa Foot. In addition to the philosophers whom Larry Solum lists as having great intellectual impact on us as undergraduates, for myself and in my own intellectual trajectory at UCLA, I have to add to Larry’s list from outside the philosophy department – the great political […]
Archive | 2010
Justice Kagan’s “Very Good Day”
Jan Crawford reports on Justice Elena Kagan’s first day on the Court: In her first case as a sitting justice this morning, Kagan came off like a seasoned, savvy pro. She hit lawyers with precise questions that weren’t unduly aggressive, and she made her points. What’s more, she showed why many people think she’ll be […]
Syllabus
Prof. Mark Liberman (Language Log) points to the little-known history of the word “syllabus.” Apparently the Greek original is “sittybas,” from “sittyba,” “parchment label or title-slip on a book” — but then an early printing of Cicero mistranscribed the word as “syllabos.” (Go to Liberman’s post for more, including a reproduction of the OED entry.) […]
Five Questions
The Enyclopaedia Britannica blog editors did their 5 Questions interview with me, and here is the result; hope you find it interesting.
Philippa Foot (1920-2010)
With great sorrow, I mark the passing of Philippa Foot, the great Oxford moral philosopher and my teacher at UCLA. I took my first class in ethics from her, and I took every possible other class with her. I will not try to summarize her philosophical method or her importance in Anglo-American analytic philosophy of […]
O’Donnell Ad: “I’m Not a Witch”
Having grown up in Delaware, and being one who still regularly travels there, I remain fascinated by Christine O’Donnell’s Senate candidacy. Given that O’Donnell is doing very little campaigning — an unusual approach in Delaware, where voters generally expect to meet the candidates one-on-one — I was particularly interested in her new TV advertisement, via […]
“Do You Think There Is Any Constitutional Way to Address Cyber-Harassment”?
A commenter asked me this question. Here’s my answer (reading “constitutional way to address” as referring to the use of criminal or civil liability): It all depends on what is meant by “cyber-harassment.” If “harassment” is used to mean repeated unwanted one-to-one contact, I think the answer is generally yes, so long as the law […]
Supreme Court Holding Good-Faith-for-New-Law Fourth Amendment Petition
DOJ’s cert petition in United States v. Gonzalez, 10-82, a case on the good-faith exception to the Fourth Amendment, was distributed for last week’s “long conference.” The case did not appear on the Court’s list of granted cases nor its list of denied cases, however. That means either the case will be formally relisted for […]
No Viewpoint-Based Exclusions from Ostensibly Open Event on College Property
By Eugene Volokh on October 4, 2010 7:10 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
From Yates v. Fithian (W.D. Wash. Sept. 23, 2010): Plaintiffs allege in this action that defendants excluded them from the Bellevue College (“College”) gymnasium while a Maria Cantwell Campaign event was taking place. Plaintiff students claim that they were refused entry because they wore t-shirts bearing the name of Cantwell’s opponent [McGavick], and that as […]
Proposed “Cyber-Harassment” Bill in New Jersey
The Daily Record reports: Several days ago, three Ocean County legislators called for action on a bill introduced in both houses of the Legislature that would establish the crime of “cyber-harassment” in New Jersey. Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf, Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove and Sen. Christopher J. Connors, all R-Ocean, would make any electronic communication that […]
Moving Right But Not Too Far For The Public: It Must Be “Magic”
First, consider some headlines about the Supreme Court from major news sources: The New York Times, July 2010: “Court Under Roberts Is Most Conservative in Decades” Los Angeles Times, January 2010: “A Bold Conservative Step by Supreme Court” USA Today, June 2009: “High Court Curves In Conservative Direction” Washington Post, June 2007: “Narrow Victories Move […]
My Amicus Brief with Cato and CEI.
Ilya has posted a link to his brief for the Washington Legal Foundation contesting the constitutionality of the individual health insurance mandate for the motion for summary judgment now pending before Judge Hudson who previously denied the government’s motion to dismiss. My brief with the Cato Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute can be found […]
Our Amicus Brief in the Virginia Case Challenging the Constitutionality of the Obama Health Care Plan
By Ilya Somin on October 4, 2010 4:07 pm in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper, Spending Clause
Today, we filed an amicus brief in Virginia v. Sebelius, one of the cases challenging the constitutionality of the Obama health care plan’s individual mandate, which requires nearly all Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine. I wrote the brief on behalf of the Washington Legal Foundation, a leading pro-free market […]
Justice Kagan at Oral Argument
At the first oral argument this morning, Justice Elena Kagan was very much in the thick of things. Based on my skim of the transcript, Kagan asked five questions for the Petitioner and five questions for the Respondent. Here was Kagan’s first question: JUSTICE KAGAN: Mr. Burke, if we could stay with this. The $471 […]
County Resident Declines to Pay For Fire Protection and Then His House Catches on Fire
Here’s an interesting question about the proper scope of government arising from Obion County, Tennessee. The county does not have its own fire department, and instead relies on the fire protection services of the nearby City of Fulton. But there’s a catch: The City of Fulton does not automatically serve residents of the county. If […]