A story from last Thursday’s Orlando Sentinel (thanks to Robert Dittmer for the pointer): [Nick Martinez, age 14,] said he quickly hugged the girl, whom he called his best friend, between classes. The principal saw it and hauled them off to the dean for an in-school suspension. The principal even told WKMG Local 6 that […]
Archive | November, 2011
The DC Circuit Decision Upholding the Individual Mandate
I was going to write a more detailed post on the recent DC Circuit decision upholding the individual mandate. However, co-blogger Randy Barnett has already said much of what I would have wanted to say. Like Randy, I am skeptical that Justices Kennedy or Scalia will be willing to endorse the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion that […]
Next up: The Supreme Court
Well, we now have the last Circuit Court of Appeals decision to digest before hearing later this week or next whether the Supreme Court will take up the challenge and what question will be presented to the Court. Assuming it does, there will then be merits briefs and oral argument. But first, some brief […]
Judge Silberman on the Individual Mandate
I thought readers might be interested in the key passages from the DC Circuit’s majority opinion, authored by Judge Silberman, upholding the individual mandate under the Commerce Clause: The mandate, it should be recognized, is indeed somewhat novel, but so too, for all its elegance, is appellants’ argument. No Supreme Court case has ever held […]
Silberman’s Majority Opinion as Template?
The D.C. upheld the constitutionality of the health care act today (Silberman and Edwards reached the merits and voted to uphold; Kavanaugh found no jurisdiction and did not reach the merits). Silberman’s opinion reads to me like the opinion I would expect from Justice Scalia upholding the act — notably, that one can distinguish activity […]
Sometimes a Cigar Is Just a Cigar — at Least Where Illinois “Drug Paraphernalia” Law Is Concerned
So holds People v. Carreon (Ill. App. Ct. Oct. 31, 2011). Carreon was convicted of possession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia; the alleged paraphernalia was a cigar used to smoke the cannabis. Not so, held the court (paragraph break added):
Reflections on the Oral Argument in United States v. Jones, the GPS Fourth Amendment Case
I was at the Supreme Court this morning for the oral argument in United States v. Jones, the GPS case. In this post, I want to blog my reactions to the argument: I’m going to update the post as I go, so general readers can get the important stuff first at the top and then […]
‘I Want to Study the Social Life of Things’
Was my kid serious when she put that into her college application essay? I’m not sure; she’s been around Dad studying UAVs and military robotics for years, expressing distinct uninterest and rolled eyes at the dinner table, but probably absorbing something. But without ever having seen a robot, weirdly, because the kinds of robot things […]
The Dog-Gonest Case Ever
This morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided what could be the “dog-gonest case ever” to reach a federal appellate court, O’Neill v. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government. Judge Gilman’s opinion for the court begins: This is perhaps the dog-gonest case ever to reach a federal appellate court. In October 2008, several […]
Vote Yes on Mississippi Measure 31
By Ilya Somin on November 7, 2011 7:37 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Tomorrow, Mississippi voters will decide the fate of Measure 31, an important eminent domain reform proposal. Mississippi is one of only seven states that has not enacted any eminent domain reforms at all since the Supreme Court’s decision controversial decision upholding “economic development” takings in Kelo v. City of New London. Measure 31 would effectively […]
A Speedy Nominee
The rule of thumb in judicial nominations is that a circuit court nominee with Supreme-Court-level credentials will have a harder time getting confirmed than a nominee without those credentials. Each side tries to limit the Supreme Court “farm team” of the other side. So if a nominee’s resume includes the kind of elite credentials that […]
New York Law Journal Reviews Rehabilitating Lochner
The review starts: The book “Rehabilitating Lochner” is about a U.S. Supreme Court decision that generations of lawyers and law students have been taught to scorn as the imposition of obsolete economic dogma disguised as constitutional principle….Comes now Professor David E. Bernstein of George Mason University School of Law, who seeks to set the record […]
What’s Distinctive About America?
The Metafilter site has an interesting thread consisting of comments by foreigners about what they think is most distinctive about the US [HT: Tyler Cowen]. I’ve lived in the US since I was six, so I can’t really see the country from the perspective of a foreigner or a recent immigrant. On the other hand, […]
One Last Turn
Last week was my baptism as a blogger. The astuteness and vigor of many of the reactions I got seemed to me dwarf even the most successful academic workshop presentations I have had. To be sure, in bluntness too the reactions dwarfed what I am used from a workshop presentation, and did occasionally make me […]
Panel on United States v. Jones, the Fourth Amendment GPS Case
A few weeks ago, I participated on a panel about United States v. Jones, the GPS case, at William & Mary Law School. The panel featured Steve Leckar, who will be arguing the case for Jones; Melanie Wilson, a criminal procedure professor at the University of Kansas (visiting at W&M); and Paul Marcus of W&M. […]