I posted a draft of this article a few months ago, and I thank VC readers for some helpful comments in improving it. The final version has been published by the Charleston Law Review, and is available on SSRN. Here’s the abstract: This Article chronologically reviews the British gun control which precipitated the American Revolution: the […]
Archive | May, 2012
Minister Prosecuted for Teaching Parishioners to Hit Children “on the Bare Buttocks with Wooden Dowels”
The Wisconsin State Journal reports: A Dane County judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss charges against a Black Earth pastor convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse for advocating the use of wooden rods to spank children as young as 2 months old. Philip Caminiti, 55, pastor of the Aleitheia Bible Church, was […]
EPIC Loses FOIA Appeal Against NSA
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided Electronic Information Privacy Center v. National Security Agency. Here’s the summary from the beginning of Judge Brown’s opinion for the court. Plaintiff-appellant Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) filed a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request with the National Security Agency (“NSA”) seeking disclosure of […]
Iranian Cartoonist Sentenced to 25 Lashes for Cartoon of Member of Parliament
The Guardian (UK) reports (see also MSNBC Cartoon Blog and other sources): Mahmoud Shokraye was put on trial after an Iranian MP, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, took offence to a cartoon he drew of the parliamentarian in Nameye Amir, a city newspaper in Arak, the capital of Iran’s central province of Markazi…. In the cartoon, Ashtiani […]
Chronicle of Higher Education on Failing Law Schools
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting article on responses to a forthcoming book I recently blogged about, Brian Tamanaha’s Failing Law Schools. The Chronicle article is behind a paywall, so to read it you need to click here and then click on the link. The article includes this defense of the status quo […]
Tennessee Legislature Listens to Public Criticism, Dramatically Limits Last Year’s Ban on Posting Images That Cause “Emotional Distress” “Without Legitimate Purpose”
A pleasant story of the law being fixed as a result of public criticism — much of it online — just as in Arizona last month: Last year, the Tennessee Legislature enacted a statute that essentially banned the online posting of images that cause “emotional distress” “without legitimate purpose.” As I blogged on June 6, […]
The Incoherence of President Obama’s Stance on Gay Marriage
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 10, 2012 12:59 pm in Federalism, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Same-Sex Marriage
Yesterday the President told ABC News that he believes same-sex couples should be able to get married. So far so good. He further told ABC that he believes this is an issue that should be left to the states which are “arriving at different conclusions at different times.” I have nothing to complain about here, […]
NASA’s James Hansen Is Right
NASA’s James Hansen can be a bit unhinged when he talks about climate change. Although one of the world’s more prominent climate scientists, he has a penchant for selectively presenting only the most apocalyptic global warming scenarios and adopting unduly inflammatory rhetoric, as when he compared coal-laden trains, aka “death trains,” to the railcars carrying […]
Overdraft Protection in Engage
For those who lack the interest or patience to read my forthcoming full-blown law review article in the Washington & Lee law review, I have a shorter adapted version in latest issue of the Federalist Society’s journal Engage on the economics and regulation of bank overdraft protection. Thanks to Nick Tuszynski of the Mercatus Center […]
Another Issue Where Obama and I Agree
President Obama’s recent announcement that he supports gay marriage is yet another addition to the short but distinguished list of issues on which the President and I agree. Previous entries include creating a playoff system for college football, allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, ending the home mortgage interest deduction for […]
When In Doubt, Do Right
Today the President of the United States explicitly endorsed the idea that gay couples and their families should have the freedom to marry. He had already done so as a practical matter by refusing to defend the constitutionality of what he carefully mislabelled the “Defense Against Marriage Act” and by publicly opposing state constitutional amendments against marriage. But in the past […]
Leading Democratic Primary Candidate for Senator from Maine Calls for Court-Packing
An article by Will Tuell (who apparently is or was a local town selectman) in the Downeast Coastal Press reports that State Senator Cynthia Dill — seemingly the leader in the Democratic primary, though not necessarily a strong competitor to Independent candidate and former Governor Angus King — endorses Court-packing: On the issue of whether […]
Obama Comes Out of the Closet
That is, with respect to his support for same-sex marriage, telling ABC’s Robin Roberts: Over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I […]
Former VC Guest Blogger Becomes New Dean at University of Texas Law School
The news is here, announcing that Ward Farnsworth is the new Dean. Congrats to Ward. Although if guestblogging at the VC leads to Deanships, we may start to have a hard time attracting guest bloggers in the future.
Georgia Democratic Party Political Director Sues Over Accusations That He Is a “Recidivist” and a “Criminal”
The trouble is that it appears that he does indeed have a criminal record. The complaint, in Richey v. Walker (Ga. Super. Ct. May 3, 2012) is based on these statements on the Georgia Politics Unfiltered blog: “Rashad Richey, the person in charge of making political decisions for Georgia Democratic Party, has a history of […]