The Wilmington News-Journal reports on a controversy at the University of Delaware involving what may or may not be an attack motivated by sexual orientation: A University of Delaware student charged with a hate crime [and battery] after allegedly shoving a gay student to the floor at a house party in Newark earlier this month […]
Archive | May, 2012
Madison School District Must Pay $31K for Refusing to Turn Over Employee Sick Notes
The Wisconsin State Journal reports, The Madison School District has agreed to pay $31,454.57 in legal fees after the State Journal won an open records lawsuit over employee sick notes related to last year’s Capitol protests …. Prior to the notes being released, the State Medical Examining Board disciplined nine doctors for their involvement in […]
Ninth Circuit holds for John Yoo in lawsuit by Jose Padilla
A unanimous panel of the Ninth Circuit (Fisher, Smith, Pallmeyer (dj, NDIll, by designation)) held today that former OLC Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo is entitled to qualified immunity in the lawsuit brought by former detainee Jose Padilla. If you’re just tuning in, the first two paragraphs set forth the nature of the lawsuit […]
New Executive Order on Regulatory Harmonization
Yesterday the White House released a new Executive Order on “Promoting International Regulatory Cooperation.” The stated purpose of the E.O. is to encourage the harmonization of regulatory requirements to simplify regulatory compliance, reduce costs for transational companies and facilitate international trade. As OIRA Administrator Cass Sunstein explains in a White House release: The new Executive […]
Alternative Dates for Victims of Communism Day
Most of the commentary on my latest post advocating the transformation of May Day into Victims of Communism Day has been positive. A few people, however, have argued that some other date is more appropriate than May 1. Some claim that it is wrong to use May Day because of its former status as a […]
A Stronger Case for Keystone
The Washington Post editorializes that the case for approving the Keystone XL pipeline was “always strong” and “has grown stronger.” A key environmentalist argument against Keystone XL has been that the project would encourage the extraction of bitumen, a particularly dirty oil-like substance, from the “oil sands” in Alberta. If activists could “shut in” Canadian […]
Responding to Orin on Warren
Orin quotes Leiter as follows, in suggesting that Elizabeth Warren would not have listed herself as a Native American to benefit from affirmative action: “For affirmative action purposes, all law schools care about are African-Americans and Latinos.” But he also quotes Leiter as follows: “[B]ecause the AALS aggressively polices the racial and ethnic diversity of […]
Leiter on Affirmative Action in Legal Academia
I think the most interesting commentary so far on the Elizabeth-Warren-Native-American kerfuffle has been Brian Leiter’s. After Brian’s usual potshot at this blog, he makes a rather intriguing argument for why Warren probably didn’t rely on her apparent Native American heritage in getting hired. In legal academia, he writes, there is no pressure to hire […]
Libertarianism and Absolute Property Rights
Although I’m a strong advocate of property rights, I agree with most of what Georgetown political philosopher Jason Brennan says on the subject at the Bleeding Heart Libertarian blog: The left believes that libertarians believe: Property Rights No Matter What: People are self-owners. Respecting their self-ownership requires a particular kind of laissez-faire property-rights regime. We […]
John Rosenberg on Elizabeth Warren and Affirmative Action
John Rosenberg discusses some of the bigger-picture slippery logic of affirmative action on Minding the Campus asking why those who believe in racial preferences have rushed to vouch that she never benefited from them.
Fear of Extremist Religious Violence Leads to Court Decision Barring Women from Praying at Religious Shrine
I didn’t hear about this when the decision was handed down in 2003, and when it was apparently enforced in 2009 and 2010, but I just noticed it and thought it would be a good addition to our Blasphemy category and our Freedom of Speech Restricted by Fear of Thugs category. From Prof. Sherry Colb, […]
DSK Loses Immunity Claim in NY Civil Suit
As Opinio Juris’ Peggy McGuinness explains, a New York state trial court (confusingly called a “supreme court” in New York) today turned down former IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn’s claim of civil immunity in a suit by the (former) Sofitel Hotel maid for acts that first got DSK charged criminally with sexual assault – charges […]
Former Fed Governor Mark Olson says “CFPB Stepping Into Vigilante Territory”
Mark Olson says that CFPB is raising additional concerns as it ramps up in practice: Two disturbing bits of recent information give us a taste of how the CFPB plans to operate. Representatives from the CFPB have acknowledged that lawyers from the bureau’s enforcement division are accompanying CFPB compliance examiners on their routine examinations…. The second disturbing bit […]
The Affirmative Action Racket
One of the obvious questions prompted by the public recognition that Elizabeth Warren’s claimed Native American ancestry is what it takes for someone to avail themselves of the preferential treatment afforded to racial and cultural minorities in hiring–and in particular, can someone assert the identity if they are only 1/32 and have absolutely no cultural […]
Texas Fight on Planned Parenthood Funding Heats Up
Earlier this year, the state of Texas adopted a rule barring organizations that promote abortions or affiliate with groups that promote abortions from participating in the state’s Medicaid-funded Woman’s Health Program. This rule effectively barred Planned Parenthood clinics from the program. In response, cut off funding for the state’s program, and Texas sued. At the […]