The House Intelligence Committee is conducting a remarkably detailed and bipartisan investigation of ties between the Chinese government and two Chinese telecom equipment giants, Huawei and ZTE. These companies have been the objects of widespread security fears that their equipment would enable Chinese interception of US telephone calls, expanding American cybervulnerabilities from computer networks to all communications. […]
Archive | June, 2012
American Constitution Society National Convention
This year’s American Constitution Society National Convention starts tomorrow in Washington, D.C. Featured speakers include Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu, Massachusetts Governor Devall Patrick and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray. Among those speaking on various panels are two VC conspirators – Dale Carpenter and yours truly. Here’s more […]
First They Came for the Big Gulps
Will Mayor Bloomberg and his New York Nannies be satisfied with the ban on large sodas? Don’t bet on it. The policy is unlikely to do much of anything to reduce obesity — certainly not quickly enough for Mayor Minding-Others’-Business. And besides, there are lots more high-calorie options out there, and the Nannies are taking […]
The American Jewish Future: Orthodox, Right-Wing, Poor?
A new study of the American Jewish population in the New York metro area contains this stunning statistic: sixty-one percent of all Jewish children in the area live in Orthodox households. This is a remarkable statistic. It’s probably NEVER been the case in American history that such a high percentage of young Jews in New […]
UK bill hits both libel tourism and anonymous abuse
GOOD NEWS: Great Britain appears ready to end libel tourism: The overall aim of the Defamation Bill is to end ‘libel tourism’ and protect free speech. In recent years London has become the libel capital of the world. Critics say this is because regulations favour claimants and that the very high costs involved in defending […]
Law Professor Calls for Denying Tax Exemptions to the Catholic Church, Orthodox Synagogues, and Other Groups That Discriminate Based on Sex
By Eugene Volokh on June 12, 2012 4:14 pm in Religion and the Law, Sex Discrimination, Sexual Orientation
See Caroline Mala Corbin, Expanding the Bob Jones Compromise, in Matters of Faith: Religious Experiences and Legal Responses in the United States (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press). This isn’t the first such call, but it still struck me as noteworthy. Indeed, the rationale — that exemptions are generally denied to racially discrimination groups, so they should […]
Weapons Laws of the Russian Federation
By David Kopel on June 12, 2012 4:05 pm in Guns, International Human Rights Law, Non-Firearms Arms, Registration, Right to carry, Russia, Uncategorized
For those of who have been waiting for an English translation of Russia’s arms statutes, your wait is over. Independence Institute intern Margot van Loon is the author of the new Issue Paper, Weapons Laws of the Russian Federation. Here is a synopsis: No permission or registration is needed to purchase and carry chemical defense […]
Immigration and Discrimination
In this recent CNN column, Philippe Legrain explains the injustice of many current immigration restrictions: It is no longer acceptable to discriminate against people on the basis of a whole range of characteristics that they happen to be born with, notably their gender, their race and their sexuality. So why is it still deemed acceptable […]
Buddhist-Muslim Violence in Burma
The L.A. Times reports: The unrest was sparked Friday following last month’s rape and murder of a Buddhist girl, allegedly by three Muslims, and the lynching of 10 Muslims in retaliation. The weekend saw rival Muslim and Buddhist mobs burn houses. The government said about 4,100 people have lost their homes, many taking refuge in […]
Elinor Ostrom, RIP
I join those mourning the passing of Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom. She will be greatly missed. In this 2009 post written soon after she won the prize, I described the significance of her pathbreaking work on collective action and tragedy of the commons problems, which has had a huge influence on economists, political scientists […]
Elinor Ostrom RIP
Indiana University Professor Elinor Ostrom died this morning. A non-economist who won the Nobel Prize in economics, Ostrom made substantial academic contributions across a number of fields. IU’s announcement is here. UPDATE: Here’s Peter Boettke’s commentary on Ostrom’s receipt of the Nobel Prize. UPDATE: As the WSJ notes, Ostrom was the only female Nobel Laureate […]
How Did this Get Past The New Yorker’s Fact-Checkers?
The current issue of The New Yorker has an article by Jill Lepore on the history of the Supreme Court’s struggle for independence. The article talks too much about the varying quality for the Court’s chambers over the years, but is otherwise a good introduction to the topic, albeit from an implicitly liberal perspective. The […]
The TSA Allows Cameras, Except When It Doesn’t
The Transportation Security Administration “does not prohibit the public, passengers or press from photographing, videotaping or filming at security checkpoints, as long as the screening process is not interfered with or slowed down.” Specifically, so long as a traveler does not photograph or videotape what’s on the TSA’s monitors, and does not violate any local […]
Citizens United and the Wisconsin Recall
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 12, 2012 7:42 am in Elections, First Amendment, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
In yesterday’s WSJ, Stanford’s Michael McConnell explained why progressives should not blame the Supreme Court’s Citizens United for Governor Walker’s victory over the union-backed recall effort. If anything, Citizens United helped those trying to oust the controversial governor, as unions put far more money into the recall election than did corporations. Governor Walker may have […]
Origins of Commerce Clause Objections to the Individual Mandate
As noted previously on this blog, Democrats in Congress essentially ignored plausible constitutional objections to the ACA’s individual mandate, and therefore have only themselves to blame if the law is declared unconstitutional. A counter-meme has spread on the liberal/left that constitutional objections to the ACA’s individual mandate were somehow invented circa late 2009, whereas previously […]