Federal District Judge Henry Hudson’s opinion refusing to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Obama health care plan has several interesting aspects. The suit focuses primarily on a challenge to the “individual mandate” element of the plan, which requires most American citizens and legal residents to purchase a government-approved health insurance plan by […]
Archive | 2010
Judge Won’t Dismiss Virginia Health Care Challenge
The Washington Post is reporting that a federal judge has denied the Obama Administration’s motion to dismiss Virginia’s constitutional challenge to the recently enacted health care reform law. UPDATE: Thanks to Dave Hoffman at Concurring Opinions, here’s the district court opinion. It concludes: While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all seem […]
Plagiarism 2.0
The NYT has an interesting article on the apparent increase in plagiarism by college students. Why is this happening? One explanation the story offers is that “many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed.” And this, in turn, is the fault of the Internet: It is […]
Search and Rescue and the Spread of UAVs Through Civilian Uses
Although officially offline and on vacation, I thought I would share one conversation with one of the rangers here in the national park. She remarked that the ranger services – national parks, national forest, etc. – had been watching with great interest the growth of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in civilian use. So far this […]
Why It’s Embarrassing to Be a “Conservative”
Professor Bainbridge lists “ten things that make this conservative embarrassed by the modern conservative movement.” I’m not as enamored with David Klinghoffer’s lament (see also here), nor would I equate Hugh Hewitt with Michael Savage, but I largely agree. UPDATE: Of course it ain’t so hot to be a liberal either. SECOND UPDATE: Patterico counters […]
Court Under Roberts Is Most Restrained in Decades
Last Sunday, the NYT published a lengthy article by Adam Liptak, titled “Court Under Roberts Is Most Conservative in Decades,” arguing that the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Roberts, has become “the most conservative one in living memory.” I was in Yellowstone National Park at the time, and did not have the opportunity to comment. […]
The New Realities of the Legal Academy?
Larry Solum has a short introduction posted on SSRN entitled The New Realities of the Legal Academy, in which Larry argues that the entry-level hiring process for law professors has undergone a major transformation in the last few decades. It’s true that hiring standards have changed: More highly-credentialed candidates want to teach, and scholarly standards […]
Philipson and Posner on the Causes of Obesity
The University of Chicago’s Tomas Philipson and Judge Richard Posner had an interesting op-ed in yesterday’s WSJ on the economic and technological factors that have led to high rates of obesity in the U.S. A taste: The rise in obesity is attributable primarily to changes in the price of consuming, and the cost of expending, […]
Sunday Song Lyric
“Him’s now a real boy!” So exclaimed Madeline Joyce with wonder and excitement at the conclusion of Disney’s Pinocchio yesterday. The movie may have been made 70 years ago, but it still has the ability to capture the imagination of a 2-and-a-half-year-old girl. It’s nice to know the frenetic displays that pass for children’s programming […]
Off to South America
I will be teaching at the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the next two weeks, with a brief side trip to do a talk in Chile. Blogging may therefore be light during that time. It may be less light, however, if I can figure out why my wireless connection at […]
Latin Translation bleg
Would someone like to do a Latin to English translation of Leonado Bruni’s “De Militia”? It’s a 20 page essay from mid-15th century Florence, extolling the militia as the best defense of a free city-state. I can send you the original Latin text, which has been cleaned up so it’s in easily-read printed format, rather […]
Post-Human Humanitarian Law: The Law Of War In The Age Of Robotic Weapons
This interesting essay, by Vik Kanwar of Jindal Global Law School (India), reviews four new books that examine how the laws of warfare may or should change in response to the development of autonomous weapons a/k/a “warbots.”
Mandamusing
I just came across the word “mandamused” in a court opinion, so I did a couple of Westlaw searches — “mandamused” yields 238 hits, going back to the 1880s, and “mandamusing” yields 35 hits. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first attestation as 1823 (and not even in a court case), though the sentence is […]
One Democrat to Oppose Kagan
Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) has announced he will vote against confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. He is the first Democrat to come out against her. Nelson’s decision marks the first time a Democrat has crossed Obama over a Supreme Court nominee. The president’s first pick for the high court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, […]
How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students
With the law school Fall semester just a few weeks away, I thought I would mention once again my short article, How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students. I’ve received several requests in the last week from law professors seeking permission to reprint the article and distribute it to students. […]