Asset forfeiture laws in many states allow the police to seize property that has supposedly been used to commit a crime, and then keep the proceeds for themselves. Often, these laws victimize people who have not been convicted of any crime, and indeed did not even know that their property might have been misused. They […]
Archive | May, 2012
Court to Consider Standing to Challenge FISA Surveillance
This morning the Supreme Court accepted certiorari in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, which presents the question whether journalists and human rights organizations have standing to challenge the constitutionality of electronic surveillance of international communications without direct evidence their communications have been surveilled. In this case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit […]
Asset Forfeiture Abuse
Radley Balko reports on fairly severe asset forfeiture abuse in Wisconsin. In short, after a woman’s son was arrested, the police told her she had to pay for his bail in cash (which was untrue). Then, when she showed up with the money, most of which she had just withdrawn from ATMs, the police seized […]
Woody Allen had already registered dot-insecure
Two and a half years after former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell called for a “dot-secure” network, a Silicon Valley startup with $9.6 million in funding has announced plans to launch one. From the description, this isn’t intended to be a wholly secure network, since that’s a promise no one can fulfill. Instead, it’s […]
Darwin shudders
The one man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has died, three years after being released by the Scottish Nationalist government for what was advertised as his last few weeks of life. Evidently determined never to apologize, SNP leader Alex Salmond defended that release today, saying that “regardless of people’s views they can have complete confidence […]
Sex, Consent, Pushiness, and Acquiescence
An interesting recent sex crime case, In re Tiemann (Mich. Ct. App. May 8, 2012). Because the parties were underage (defendant was 15 and HS was 14), consent was not a defense to the underlying crime, but it proved to be important to deciding whether the defendant could avoid having to register as a sex […]
An Interesting Defamation Case
I just ran across an interesting case, Memphis Pub. Co. v. Nichols (Tenn. 1978). The Memphis Press-Scimitar published the following article that mentioned Mrs. Ruth Ann Nichols: WOMAN HURT BY GUNSHOT Mrs. Ruth A. Nichols, 164 Eastview, was treated at St. Joseph Hospital for a bullet wound in her arm after a shooting at her […]
Is Marriage a Legal Contract?
A reader asks: In a discussion thread on another blog, I hazarded an observation that marriage is NOT a contract as typically defined at law. I based this on my view that marriage does not contain elements that a contract must contain, such as a definition of goods and services offered in exchange for consideration. […]
The Irrelevant Myth of the “Constitution-in-Exile Movement”
As a follow up to my previous post, I wish to comment briefly on Jeff Rosen’s revival of Cass Sunstein and his invention: the Constitution-in-Exile Movement that seeks a return to the pre-1937 Supreme Court doctrine. As my previous post makes clear, the challenge to the Affordable Care Act is in no way based on […]
Judicial Minimalism and the Individual Mandate
If the Supreme Court invalidates the individual insurance mandate, it need not call into question any other law that has ever been passed in the history of the United States. Why? Because the Congress has never before exercised its Commerce Power to impose a requirement on the American people to enter into a contract with […]
Google Self-Driving Car Test-Ride
Randal O’Toole (Cato@Liberty) reports on his experience. The technology sounds very cool, and I take it that so far it has been pretty accident-free. Of course, my first reaction to hearing about this was “how dangerous!,” but it’s not like this is a new technology trying to replace an absolutely safe current technology — and […]
The PPACA in Wonderland
By David Kopel on May 18, 2012 11:21 pm in Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate
That’s the title of a new article by Gary Lawson and me, in Boston University’s American Journal of Law and Medicine, in a symposium issue on the PPACA. Except that unlike Alice, the PPACA neither becomes a Queen, nor wakes up to return to reality. Written before the oral argument, the article provides an overview […]
Tax Exemption Law and Camp Predominantly Used by Muslims
An interesting case in Michigan, in which a Tax Tribunal decision was reversed by Camp Retreats Foundation, Inc. v. Township of Marathon (Mich. Ct. App. May 15, 2012). The question is whether a camp was exempt from property taxes; the camp was rentable by the general public (and sometimes rented by the public), but it […]
Anagrams with Law Professor Names
Kyle Graham takes a look into this critical question. My own name can be turned into “Ink Error,” which certainly was true of my first article or two. Entertain yourself here.
Justice Breyer’s Bad Luck
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has had a home robbed twice in the past three months. First burglars raided his Carribbean vacation home, while Breyer was there with guests. Then, earlier this month, his Washington, D.C. home was robbed too.