My favorite lawyer’s movie is Anatomy of a Murder. Here is the very interesting trailer for the film (which I posted here about 2 years ago). I have seen this film more times than I can count and highly recommend it to future lawyers. The screenplay is based on a novel by a Michigan state […]
Archive | May, 2012
The Great Gun Control War of the 20th Century — And its Lessons for Gun Laws Today
By David Kopel on May 31, 2012 2:37 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Fourteenth Amendment, Guns, History, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Politics, Popular Constitutionalism, Registration, Right to carry, Supreme Court
This is the subject of my article in a forthcoming symposium issue of the Fordham Urban Law Journal. The article details the political, cultural, social, and legal battles over gun control from the 1920s to the early 21st century. Here’s the abstract: A movement to ban handguns began in the 1920s in the Northeast, led […]
Andrew Koppelman on the Origins of the Case Against the Individual Mandate
By Ilya Somin on May 31, 2012 2:32 pm in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate
Northwestern University Law Professor Andrew Koppelman has an article in Salon on the origins of the case against the individual mandate, in which he tries to show that Democrats could not reasonably have anticipated that the mandate would run into legal problems, and therefore cannot be blamed for not being more careful in the way […]
First Circuit Unanimously Strikes Down DOMA Section 3
By Dale Carpenter on May 31, 2012 12:12 pm in DOMA, Equal Protection, Federalism, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Same-Sex Marriage
The opinion is here. The panel concluded that the Defense of Marriage Act, barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages, violates Equal Protection. On a quick reading, it appears the court applied “rational basis with bite” scrutiny based on the arguments that the exclusion (1) denied important federal rights and benefits to a small class of married couples, and […]
Asian-Americans, Affirmative Action, and Fisher v. Texas
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that several Asian-American groups have filed an amicus brief opposing the University of Texas’ affirmative action program, which is being challenged in Fisher v. Texas, an important affirmative action case before the Supreme Court: A brief filed Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court seeks to shake up the legal […]
Annals of the One Percent
I understand that Elizabeth Warren claims to have inspired the Occupy movement. In that spirit, it’s worth noting that when the 99% living in the Boston area claim minority status for employment purposes based on family lore, an old photograph, and other dubious bases, they get fired. When the 1% do it, they get a […]
So Now We Know Where Penn and Harvard Got the Idea that Elizabeth Warren was Native American
from her: Elizabeth Warren admitted on Wednesday night for the first time that she told Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania of her Native American heritage — in contrast to her previous claim that she was unaware Harvard had listed her as a minority professor until recently. The Democratic Massachusetts Senate candidate told the Boston […]
How Four Jewish Butchers Brought Down the New Deal
An interesting article by Steve Horwitz, written for laypeople, on the Schechter Poultry case.
White House announces private sector botnet initiative
Showing the power of the bully pulpit, the White House today announced a pilot program in which ISPs will share data about botnets with financial institutions. ISPs also announced a set of principles for fighting botnets. This is a good thing. If your computer belongs to a botnet, you shouldn’t be engaged in online banking. […]
Irish Scientists Solve Stout Mystery
Irish mathematicians have reportedly determined why the bubbles in a pint of Guinness appear to sink. The answer, apparently, lies in the circulation of liquid within the glass. (Hat tip: Instapundit)
House Republicans’ Anti-Market, Anti-Environmental Fishery Policy
There is substantial theoretical and empirical evidence that property-based management schemes, such as catch-shares, prevent fishery collapse and ensure sustainability. The creation of property rights in ecological resources is also a principled conservative alternative to centralized regulation. Yet somehow a majority of House Republicans were bamboozled into voting to bar funding for further implementation of […]
The Washingtonian on the Cato vs. Koch Conflict
The Washingtonian just published a detailed article on the Koch brothers lawsuit seeking to take control of the Cato Institute: Since its founding in 1977, Cato has evolved from a band of roguish scholars to a first-tier Washington think tank that cuts across party lines to further its libertarian agenda…. its work has helped make […]
“Hopefully”
Prof. Geoff Nunberg (Language Log) has an excellent NPR “Fresh Air” item about the unfounded condemnation of “hopefully” as a sentence adverb. An excerpt: That floating hopefully had been around for more than thirty years in respectable venues when a clutch of usage critics including Theodore Bernstein and E. B. White came down on it […]
Atlantic Guest Posts on Environmental Policy
For the past ten days I’ve been one of the guest bloggers on Megan McArdle’s blog on The Atlantic‘s website. During this time I’ve written five posts on environmental policy. Here they are: – Property Rights and the Tragedy of the Commons – Property Rights and Fishery Conservation – How Property Rights Could Help Save […]
Economic Freedom and Tolerance
I just came across what looks like a very interesting paper on SSRN, “Does Economic Freedom Foster Tolerance?” Here’s the abstract: Tolerance has the potential to affect both economic growth and wellbeing. It is therefore important to discern its determinants. We add to the literature by investigating whether the degree to which economic institutions and […]