Anne Neal has the scoop. I’ve known Michael for several years. He is an immensely smart and serious man who would be an excellent trustee for Yale (although it appears that they have a title different from trustee there). It appears that Michael needs 3808 petition signatures by TOMORROW Oct. 1 to get on the […]
Archive | 2010
WSJ “In Elizabeth Warren We Trust?”
My latest WSJ contribution: “In Elizabeth Warren We Trust?”
A “Generation of Nincompoops”?
AP writer Beth Harpaz worries that we are raising “a generation of nincompoops” because modern technology has obviated the need for kids to learn basic mechanical skills: Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame? Or are some of these things simply the result of kids growing up […]
Explaining Group Differences in Knowledge of Religion
As I noted in a recent post, the Pew Research Center survey of public knowledge of religion found that atheists and agnostics, Jews, and Mormons are the groups with by far the highest knowledge levels in this field. The disparity between these groups and the rest of the population persists even after controlling for education. […]
Obama Names First D.C. Circuit Nominee
The nominee is Caitlin Halligan, an appellate lawyer from New York who was formerly a law clerk for Patricia Wald on the D.C. Circuit and Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court. The BLT has an interesting report on the nomination here. I don’t know anything about Halligan myself, but given the importance of the nomination […]
14 New Grants, Four More Recusals
The Supreme Court added fourteen more cases to the docket for October Term 2010 yesterday. Lyle Denniston rounds up the cases here. (More here.) As BLT notes, Justice Elena Kagan has recused herself from four of these cases. For those keeping track, this brings her total number of recusals up to twenty-five. This represents a […]
“You Can’t ‘Fact-Check’ a Fever Dream of Paranoia and Irrationality”
Forbes has “fact-checked” its infamous and inflammatory cover story by Dinesh D’Souza, “How Obama Thinks.” Heather MacDonald is not impressed. Such a “fact-checking” feint is irrelevant to this travesty of an article; you can’t “fact-check” a fever dream of paranoia and irrationality. Sickeningly, while “How Obama Thinks” is useless as a guide to the Obama presidency, […]
D.C. Circuit Issues Second Stay Order in Stem Cell Case
Following oral argument Monday, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit (Rogers, Griffith, and Kavanaugh) yesterday ordered a “stay pending appeal” of District Court Judge Royce Lamberth’s preliminary injunction of NIH grants for human embryonic stem cell research. This is clearly good news for the federal government and supporters of embryonic stem cell research. Judge […]
Europe’s antiterror message to US: Sure sucks to be you
As the threat of major terror attacks rises, the European Commission has chosen to take action. Of a sort. It’s about to violate its existing antiterror agreement with the United States – and in a way that will make the current threat worse. Al-Qaeda is apparently planning Mumbai-style commando attacks on European, and the US has reportedly launched drone strikes […]
Gun Rights and the 2010 Senate Elections
That’s the topic of my article in yesterday’s edition of The New Ledger. Bottom line: in the Venn diagram, Republican gains and pro-Second Amendment gains sometimes overlap, but not always. New Hampshire, West Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota are guaranteed gains for Second Amendment supporters, regardless of which party wins. The most important races, from a right to […]
Hobbit Movie May be Delayed by Union Pressure
I have previously noted Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson’s plans to produce a movie based on The Hobbit. Sadly, the production of the film has been delayed by various factors. The latest obstacle is labor union opposition [HT: Danny Sokol]: You can be forgiven for being skeptical that “The Hobbit” will ever be […]
Public Ignorance About Religion
A Recent Pew Research Center survey of American’s knowledge about religion shows widespread ignorance. The study asked 32 mostly relatively basic multiple choice questions about various religions (including a few on religion and public life): On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s […]
RICO Extraterritoriality: The Second Circuit Weighs In
In late June, I posted on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, which included a very full-throated reaffirmation of the presumption against extraterritorality. I noted in my post that “[t]he Court’s opinion has implications for a petition that the Court considered at its private conference yesterday, British American Tobacco Co. […]
Seventh Circuit Upholds Exclusion of Senator Burris from the Illinois Lame-Duck Senatorial Special Election
The opinion is here. Thanks to Richard Winger (Ballot Access News) for the pointer. The case was decided Friday, but I haven’t seen much coverage of it, and it appears the opinion might not have been released until today.
Is There a First Amendment Exception for (Most) Knowingly False Statements of Fact, or Instead Several Exceptions for Libel, Fraud, Perjury, and the Like?
By Eugene Volokh on September 28, 2010 3:46 pm in Freedom of Speech, Knowingly False Statements of Fact
I’ve blogged about this important but unresolved question before, and it has arisen as well with regard to the Stolen Valor Act. The Supreme Court’s recent United States v. Stevens decision may bear on this as well, to the extent that it suggests that the categorical exceptions are limited to those that have been historically […]