One noteworthy item about yesterday’s violent video game case was the lineup: The majority opinion was written by Justice Scalia and joined by Justice Kennedy plus three of the Court’s liberals (Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan); Justice Breyer and the three other conservatives (Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, and Justice Thomas) were largely on the […]
Archive | June, 2011
Stephen Breyer’s Intellectual Influences at Five Books
Stephen Breyer lists his “Intellectual Influences” at Five Books (which is a cool website, if you’ve never seen it).
Choosing a Property Casebook
Next Spring I’ll be teaching the introductory 1L Property Law class for the first time. Although it’s still a ways off, I’ve begun thinking about what to cover and how to structure the course and, inevitably, which casebook to use. Dukeminier, Krier, et al., appears to be the market leader (as it was when I […]
Scalia Dissents from Denial in Four More ACCA Cases
The Supreme Court denied certiorari in four cases in which criminal defendants challenged lower court decisions that their crimes constituted “violent felonies” under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). The justices apparently had enough of the ACCA (at least for now) in Sykes v. United States, but not Justice Scalia. He dissented in Sykes, arguing […]
Brown v. EMA casts doubt on the “weapons effect” justification for gun control
By David Kopel on June 27, 2011 9:38 pm in Child Protection, Constitutional Law, Expert Evidence, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Guns, Supreme Court
The State’s evidence is not compelling. California relies primarily on the research of Dr. Craig Anderson and a few other research psychologists whose studies purport toshow a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children. These studies have been rejected by every court to consider them,6 and with good reason: They […]
Claeys on Obamacare and the Limits of Judicial Conservatism
By David Bernstein on June 27, 2011 7:08 pm in Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Health Care
My colleague Eric Claeys has a very interesting piece in National Affairs. The hook is the future USSC decsion on Obamacare, but the meat of the piece is an explanation of the divergent strands of modern constitutional conservatism: To understand contemporary “judicial conservatism” and its ambiguities, it is helpful to describe it as a series […]
Gerber on Bernstein
ONU lawprof (and leading legal historian) Scott Gerber, himself the author of an important new book on the rise of the independent judiciary, reviews Rehabilitating Lochner for Eh.net. The punchline: “Rehabilitating Lochner is intellectual history in its highest form…. Bernstein has done nothing less than explode the myth of Lochner…. This is a book that […]
English Translation of the Geert Wilders Decision
The official translation is here; thanks to commenter martinned for the pointer.
Justices “Split Largely Along Gender Lines”
An often-reprinted L.A. Times article about last week’s Wal-Mart decision noted that the Justices split “largely along gender lines” on one of the issues: The majority, who had a position that was least open to a combined class-action lawsuit by as many as 1.5 million women who were allegedly discriminated against by Wal-Mart, consisted of […]
Is Proposed Ohio Voter ID Bill Too Restrictive?
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has created some waves within the state by releasing a statement opposing a proposed Voter ID bill under consideration in the state legislature. As TPM reports, Husted has expressed concern that the bill’s requirement that voters provide a state-issued photo ID would result in the rejection of valid votes. […]
Court Takes Public Employee Union Dues Case
Among the eleven (!) cases upon which the Court granted cert this morning is Knox v. Service Employees Int’l Union, Local 1000 in which the Court will consider the constitutionality of a state conditioning employment on the payment of a special union assessment intended for political purposes without providing notice and an opportunity for an […]
Supreme Court Agrees to Review Case on GPS and the Fourth Amendment
According to this morning’s order list, the Supreme Court has agreed to review United States v. Jones, the DC Circuit’s “mosaic theory” case on whether and when use of a GPS device installed on a car is a Fourth Amendment search. The Court added a question, as well: “Whether the government violated respondent’s Fourth Amendment […]
California Violent Video Games Law Struck Down
The opinion, by Justice Scalia, is here. Justices Thomas and Breyer dissented; Justice Alito, joined by Chief Justice Roberts, concurred in the judgment. I’m reading the opinion now, and hope to have more to say about it soon. UPDATE: Here’s a brief summary of the Justices’ views on the matter: Majority (Justice Scalia, joined by […]
Interesting Split in California Video Game Case
In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the Supreme Court struck down Cailfornia’s law restricting the sale of violent video games to minors, 7-2. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion for the Court, joined by Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor. The Chief Justice and Justice Alito concurred in the judgment, and Justice Thomas dissented, as did […]
Searches for Guns at the Home of a Suspect’s Family Member
I blogged about Messerschmidt v. Millender when the panel decision was handed down and then when the en banc decision was handed down, so I thought I’d note that the Supreme Court has just agreed to hear the question. The first question presented listed in the cert petition, which summarizes the case well, is: Whether […]