During the debate over health care reform, the Obama Administration steadfastly denied that a statutory penalty for failing to purchase a government-approved health insurance policy would constitute a “tax.” The President himself categorically rejected the argument that the mandate is a tax in an ABC interview. Now, however, the Administration is relying upon the federal […]
Archive | 2010
Regulating the “New York Times Algorithm”
The New York Times recently insisted that Google should be regulated because its supersecret algorithm and market dominance required government intervention. Even more recently, though, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land reminded the NYT that turnabout is fair play: The New York Times is the number one newspaper web site. Analysts reckon it ranks first in reach among US […]
The Behavioral Economics of Marketing Behavioral Economics:
Josh Wright discusses the concerns of behavioral economists about using and misusing behavioral economics to make policy. Which leads me to a related question: Could it be that there is a bubble in the way in which behavioral law and economics has grown so rapidly in recent years? Certainly the use–and more typically misuse–of behavioral […]
Florida ACLU Petitions for Return of Man’s Guns
So reports the Sun-Sentinel: Fort Lauderdale attorney Barry Butin, a cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Florida’s Broward Chapter … is representing the gun owner, Pompano Beach retiree Robert Weinstein…. “Under the Second Amendment, he has a right to have his guns in his house. He’s not a convicted felon,” Butin said. “It is unusual […]
When Do a Criminal Defendant’s Compulsory Process/Due Process/Confrontation Rights Trump Evidentiary Privileges?
This is a difficult and recurring question, and arises with regard to a wide range of privileges — lawyer-client, psychotherapist-patient, clergy-penitent, and more. It is particularly difficult when the conflict is with the constitutionally secured privilege against self-incrimination: A defendant argues that to properly defend himself he needs to have someone’s testimony (often a coconspirator’s), […]
Professor Of Military History Weighs in on the Implausibility of Bellesiles’s Story
The Chronicle of Higher Education has not yet revealed the results of its investigation of the veracity of Michael Bellesiles’s story about a dying soldier and his student brother. One can only speculate why it is taking more than a day or two to verify a story that should have been easy to verify (if […]
Tim Lee’s Rejoinder to My Most Recent Post on Liberaltarianism
Tim Lee has written an interesting response to to my most recent post on liberaltarianism. He addresses my argument that liberaltarianism is problematic because most liberals don’t in fact agree with libertarians on “social issues” as much as he assumes: As Somin acknowledges, there are lots of right-wingers, “compassionate conservatives” included, that aren’t interested in […]
“We Affirm, But Only Because We Are Unable to Write a Principled Opinion Reversing”
That’s how State v. Neis (Wis. Ct. App. July 15) (appeal decided by one judge sitting alone), puts it. I’m not sure that the phrasing, especially the “only,” is optimal. But I take it that the court simply means that it is bound by a precedent that it finds to be unsound. The issue is […]
Stolen Valor Act Held Unconstitutional
The case is United States v. Strandlof, which I discussed here, and in which I filed this amicus brief. I found the opinion to be quite thoughtful and interesting, but I ultimately wasn’t persuaded (despite the recent United States v. Stevens precedent, on which the court heavily relies). The court’s theory seems to suggest that, […]
Losing the Serial Comma Battle:
A random walk through yesterday’s NY Times pulled up the following: In a story about the Fox v. FCC decision from the Second Circuit, page B1: “The decision, which many constitutional scholars expect to be appealed to the Supreme Court, stems from a challenge by Fox, CBS and other broadcasters to the FCC’s decision in […]
More on Prospects for Liberaltarianism
Cato Institute scholar Brink Lindsey, a major originator of “liberaltarianism,” may have given up on the idea. But not all libertarians have. Julian Sanchez and Tim Lee have both written interesting responses to my recent post criticizing it. Sanchez argues that libertarians and liberals can cooperate with each other an issue-by-issue basis when they happen […]
Leviathan
By Kenneth Anderson on July 16, 2010 12:16 am in Academia, Legal Scholarship, Literature, Uncategorized
One of these days I will take the plunge and compose a “greatest influences” books list, as some of the other Conspirators have done. I have hesitated in part because my list would not tend to contain works of monumental ideas, but instead plays, works of fiction, poetry, and fragments that are not always blockbusters […]
Is a Patient Who Believes “Jesus Would Save [Me]” Competent to Refuse Life-Saving Medical Treatment?
Mentally competent adults generally have a constitutional right to refuse medical treatment, even when they would likely to die as a result. But how are courts to determine whether the adult is mentally competent, especially when the refusal of treatment seems to be motivated by the person’s belief that God will save her and thus […]
Justice Brennan on Justice Marshall
Ed Whelan (National Review Online’s Bench Memos) quotes passages from an advance copy of Seth Stern & Stephen Wermiel’s forthcoming Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion (available for preorder on Amazon): Few understood just how much Marshall’s performance on the Court came to disappoint Brennan. It was a topic Brennan did not like to talk about with […]
“Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment?” Cato Podcast:
I sat down with Caleb Brown the other day to record a short podcast (10 minutes), “Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment?” You can download the Cato’s daily and archived podcasts here.