Conor Friedersdorf compares former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson with prior Libertarian Party candidates for President. His post concludes: A former governor of New Mexico, he was re-elected by that state’s voters, left office popular after two terms, and therefore has the most executive experience of any Libertarian Party presidential nominee. He can also cite […]
Archive | May, 2012
Constitutional Separation of Powers vs. Parliamentary Government
In this interesting recent op ed in Canada’s National Post , my George Mason colleague Frank Buckley argues that parliamentary systems of government are less likely to become dysfunctional than separation of powers systems such as that of the United States: Before Standard and Poor’s downgraded U.S. public debt, Barack Obama mused that the American […]
Orders Banning Speech That “Ha[s] a Substantial Adverse Effect … on the … Privacy of Another”
Minnesota law defines “harassment” to include, repeated incidents of intrusive or unwanted acts, words, or gestures that have a substantial adverse effect or are intended to have a substantial adverse effect on the safety, security, or privacy of another, regardless of the relationship between the actor and the intended target. If someone complains about “harassment,” […]
Tenth Circuit Upholds Ban on Gun Possession by Illegal Aliens
From United States v. Huitron-Guizar (10th Cir. May 7, 2012) (thanks to Prof. Doug Berman (Sentencing Law & Policy) for the pointer): We applied “intermediate” scrutiny in Reese, 627 F.3d at 802, which involved a Second Amendment challenge by a citizen to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), the provision forbidding firearms to those subject to a […]
Crime to Say Two or More “Emotional[ly] Distress[ing]” Things About Someone, Unless They Constitute “Constitutionally Protected Activity”
Check out this 2009 D.C. law that purports to ban “stalking” (D.C. Code §§ 22-3132, -3133), and that provides, among other things: “Emotional distress” means significant mental suffering or distress that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling…. “To engage in a course of conduct” means directly or indirectly, […]
The Fourth Amendment and Video Recording in Bathrooms, in Civil Commitment Units for Sex Offenders
Arnzen v. Palmer (N.D. Iowa Apr. 12, 2012) deals with an interesting and unusual questions: To what extent, if any, does the Fourth Amendment restrict searches in civil commitment units for sex offenders? After sex offenders serve out their prison term, they may be detained — often indefinitely — if a court is satisfied that […]
Jonathan Rauch on the Individual Mandate Case
By Ilya Somin on May 7, 2012 2:39 pm in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Taxing and Spending Clause
In general, I am a big fan of the work of columnist Jonathan Rauch. Unfortunately, his recent column on the individual mandate case is not one of his better pieces. The problem is not that he comes down on what I think is the wrong side of the issue, but that some of his points […]
Liberty Quotes. Free new book
Just published on-line by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, at Auburn University. Edited by Christopher Kalabus. Subtitled “Peace and Prosperity: A collection of historical, legal, and philosophical quotations.” Begins with Edward Abbey and Bruce Ackerman, and concludes with Aaron Zelman. In-between are quotes from VC writers Adler, Barnett, and Kopel. Plenty of pro-right to arms […]
Jared Goldstein Discovers the “Nanny State” and Tells His Friends
Among the arguments for more intellectual diversity among law school faculties is the simple obliviousness of most academics to how a third to a half of their students think, not to mention a significant portion of the general public. This is illustrated in Jared Goldstein’s post this morning on Balkinization, Broccoli and the Conservative Imagination, in […]
Cinco de Mayo: An all-American holiday
UCLA Professor David Hayes-Bautista explains the 1862 origins, an all-American holiday created by Mexican-Americans, who saw the Mexican victory against the French attempt to destroy Mexican democracy as another front in the Union’s battle against the Slave Power. The Franco-Mexican war continued until 1867, and American firearms played an important role in the liberation of […]
Separated at birth? Or father and son?
Supreme Court of Denmark: Lars Hedegaard Not Guilty of Publicly Insulting Islam, Because His Comments Weren’t Public
Karen Lugo (National Review Online) has the most thorough English-language account that I’ve seen: While deciding to acquit Lars Hedegaard [on April 20], president of the Danish Free Press Society, of intending to speak hatefully for public dissemination, the [Danish Supreme Court] emphatically affirmed a statute according to which anyone who “publicly or with the […]
Debunking Claims of Water Miraculously Flowing from Jesus Statue + Criticizing Catholic Church = Criminal Complaints by Offended Catholic Groups in India
The Mumbai Mirror reports: CR 61/2012, Juhu Police Station, has been filed against miracle-buster Sanal Edamaruku, who is also founder-president of the Rationalist International, which has scientists such as Richard Dawkins in it. The FIR [apparently a First Information Report -EV] has been filed under IPC Sec 295A: Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage […]
Brian Tamanaha’s “Failing Law Schools”
Last week I had the pleasure of reading a pre-publication draft of Brian Tamanaha’s new book, Failing Law Schools, which has not yet been released but can be pre-ordered now. I found the book engrossing and its argument powerful. I read it in 2 days after receiving a copy, and I think it should be […]
Matt Welch: “Want to promote tolerance? Cut government”
Matt Welch has a nice essay on Reason.com, Why Big Government Is Offensive: The faster the state expands, the more likely it is to violate your values. It is not a new point, but is well made and deserves to be reiterated often: the more government does, the more it offends basic values. Up first for […]