From the first sentence about World War II in All About World History (1999), a history book for children: In 1939, Hitler (see below) sent armies to invade Czechoslovakia and Poland; Britain, France, and Russia decided to help the Czech and Polish people defend their lands. I did not know that! In fact, I still […]
Archive | November, 2011
Writer Enjoined from Publishing Stories Based on Contractually Confidential Material Learned While Working as a Law Student Intern
From Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center v. Marzano-Lesnevich (E.D. La. Nov. 23, 2011): Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich served as an unpaid summer law clerk at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (“LCAC”) while she was a law student at Harvard University in 2003. LCAC is a nonprofit organization providing legal representation to indigent capital defendants. As a summer law […]
A New Computer Crime Law Casebook — Clancy’s “Cyber Crime and Digital Evidence: Materials and Cases”
Many readers know that I am the author of a law school casebook on computer crime law: Computer Crime Law, published by West, now in its second edition. I’m pleased to announce the publication of another casebook on computer crime law, Thomas K. Clancy’s Cyber Crime and Digital Evidence: Materials and Cases, published by Lexis-Nexis. […]
The FDA’s Unhealthy Salt Obsession
Is too much salt bad for you? That used to be the conventional wisdom, but more recent scientific research has suggested the emphasis on salt is misplaced. No matter. As Walter Olson notes, the Food and Drug Administration appears to be moving ahead with plans to force gradual reductions in the salt content of processed […]
NLRB Back from the Brink
Today the National Labor Relations Board approved portions of a proposed rule to modify election procedures by a 2-1 vote. Only some of the (relatively) less controversial reforms to accelerate the pace of union elections were adopted, primarily those concerning pre-election appeals to the NLRB. Board member brian Hayes, who had reportedly threatened to resign […]
Defense bill will allow President to indefinitely detain American citizens
By David Kopel on November 30, 2011 4:11 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Obama, Terrorism, War on Terror
H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, has already passed the House, and is currently before the Senate. One section of the bill gives the President the authority to detain indefinitely American citizens, picked up on American soil, because they are allegedly supporting the enemy: SEC. 1034. AFFIRMATION OF ARMED CONFLICT […]
“The Conservative Legal Movement and the Future of Liberal Jurisprudence”
That’s the title of a very interesting event tomorrow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC: The conservative legal movement has shown remarkable success at defining the terms of the debate over jurisprudence, while the various visions of liberal theories of law that confront conservative orthodoxy have struggled to gain currency in the political sphere. […]
Thoughts on The Collapse of American Criminal Justice (Part 1 of 2)
I recently finished the new book by the late Bill Stuntz, The Collapse of American Criminal Justice. My co-blogger Paul Cassell reviewed it here in the Wall Street Journal, and I wanted to blog my own thoughts about the book. My basic take is that it’s a great book, with many important insights. It’s the […]
Gregory McNeal on US Military Targeting Processes
Pepperdine law professor Gregory McNeal has a guest post at Lawfare on the US military’s processes of targeting and target review, drawing on his outstanding new paper, up at SSRN, “The US Practice of Collateral Damage Estimation and Mitigation.” The paper is descriptive, qualitative political science, drawing on extensive reviews of available US government documents […]
When Laws Hurt the People They’re Supposed to Help
A commenter on the food stamp law thread writes: Stop with all the indulgences and exceptions, and make a reasonable law with reasonable punishments that is applied equally to everyone. Maybe the punishment is either a fine or temporary ban, with the offending store owner free to choose. The law, as you may recall, was […]
Thugs in Jerusalem
Jerusalem Post: After 20 months of attacks and a quarter million shekels in damage, a religious bookstore in the ultra-Orthodox Mea She’arim neighborhood of Jerusalem decided on Monday to accede to the demands of extremists responsible for the violence. Under the terms of the compromise, Ohr Hachaim/Manny’s put up a large sign requesting that all […]
Myths of the Brandeis Brief
My latest article in the Green Bag (link will open seven-page PDF file): (1) First, social reform was not in nearly as much danger from Lochner as the standard story suggests…. (2) The supposed simple-minded formalism of late nineteenth and early twentieth century judges has been called into serious question by recent scholarship…. (3) Brandeis’s […]
Food Stamp Law and Stores that Cater to Religious Food Preferences
Mehrab No. 1. Corp. v. United States (N.D. Ill. Nov. 23, 2011) deals with a legal question that touches on two interesting issues: (1) To what extent should the law try to protect religious or linguistic minority groups from generally applicable rules that have an unusually large impact on those minority groups? (2) To what […]
Herman Cain Campaign Asserts That Candidates and Officials “Should [Not] Be Questioned About” Alleged Extramarital Affairs
Here’s a statement that Cain’s lawyer made to a TV station that is planning to broadcast a story about an alleged affair that Cain (who is married) had: Mr. Cain has been informed today that your television station plans to broadcast a story this evening in which a female will make an accusation that she […]
Themes of Liberty in Game of Thrones
Blogger Amber Taylor has a fascinating Institute for Humane Studies podcast on themes of liberty in George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones fantasy series (which has now also been turned into an HBO series). Amber previously wrote about Game of Thrones for a symposium in the Atlantic. I agree with most of Amber’s points, but […]