What do you do when you’ve just won a hard-fought presidential primary campaign even though a huge chunk of your party preferred another candidate, you are neck and neck in the polls, people are suspicious of the strange church you belong to, and you need to sew up the white working class vote? Why of […]
Archive | August, 2012
Michael Sandel and “The Good Old Days”
This is a bit of an old article, but I just happened to stumble across Michael Sandel’s article from The Atlantic “What Isn’t for Sale?” which is excerpted from his recent book. The argument basically boils down to his objection that there are things that are for sale now that weren’t for sale back in […]
Can Magistrate Judges Deny Statutory Surveillance Orders Based on Prospective Fourth Amendment Concerns?
On October 2, the Fifth Circuit will hold oral argument in case No. 11–20884, In Re Applications of the United States for Historical Cell-Site Data. In this case, the United States applied for a court order under the Stored Communications Act to compel cell phone providers to disclose location information about particular phones suspected in […]
Richard Epstein on Hayek
NYU law professor Richard Epstein has an excellent short summary of F.A. Hayek’s thought and its continuing relevance today. Along the way, Epstein explodes various claims that Hayek’s thought had little intellectual merit and little influence until Tea Partiers and Republicans like Paul Ryan popularized it over the last few years. In reality, as I […]
D.C. Court Throws Out Texas Congressional Map
Today a special three-judge panel in Washington, D.C. threw out Texas’ new congressional map for violating the Voting Rights Act. Here’s the decision and some early analysis from Rick Hasen.
En Banc Petitions in D.C. Circuit Greenhouse Gas Litigation
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 28, 2012 3:48 pm in Administrative Law, Climate Change, Environment, Standing
Earlier this month, several of the parties challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act filed petitions for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit turned away all of the state […]
Posner on “Staleness” of Digital Evidence
When the government seeks to establish probable cause that evidence or contraband is inside a home, it sometimes has to deal with concerns of “staleness.” Staleness refers to the possibility that evidence or contraband previously located in the home is no longer there, because over time evidence can be moved or destroyed. In today’s opinion […]
Poor Coverage of the Rachel Corrie Verdict
I’ve been reading different accounts of an Israeli court’s decision to deny a judgment for Rachel Corrie’s parents. Corrie, you may remember, was the young American activist who was struck by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza while protesting trying to prevent housing demolitions during the first intifada [UPDATE: more precisely, she intentionally went to a […]
EEOC Sues Employer, Claiming It Unreasonably Failed to Accommodate Woman’s Religiously Motivated Garb
The woman — who worked for a Burger King franchisee — sought an exemption from the employer’s uniform dress requirement, and the employer apparently refused to give the exemption; see the complaint for details. Judging by the complaint, and assuming its statement of facts is correct, the EEOC likely has a good case. As I […]
Seeking New Mexico Local Counsel for a Pro Bono Amicus Brief Before the New Mexico Supreme Court
I’m planning on filing a pro bono amicus brief before the New Mexico Supreme Court, in support of Elane Photography in the Elane Photography v. Willock wedding photographer case. If you are licensed to practice in New Mexico, and might be inclined to help by acting as local counsel, please e-mail me at volokh at […]
Is a Threat Really a Threat if the Speaker Did Not Intend It to Be?
Today in United States v. Jeffries, the Sixth Circuit waded into the current state of the “true threat” doctrine — the doctrine that a threat cannot be punished in light of the First Amendment unless it is a serious expression of intent to engage in violence or bodily harm. Lower courts have divided over whether […]
American Academy of Pediatrics: Benefits of Circumcision Outweigh Risks
At the risk of provoking the ire of anti-circumcision zealots (you know who are), I thought I’d mention that the American Academy of Pediatrics, reversing a previous neutral stance, is now endorsing male circumcision based on a review of recent scientific evidence. I undertook a reasonably thorough review of the existing evidence myself, frankly with […]
From Antislavery Lawyer to Chief Justice: The Remarkable But Forgotten Career of Salmon P. Chase
My new paper, From Antislavery Lawyer to Chief Justice: The Remarkable But Forgotten Career of Salmon P. Chase, has just been uploaded to SSRN. It will serve as the basis for my Canary-Sumner Lecture at Case Western Reserve University School of Law on September 27th. Here is the abstract: Salmon P. Chase was as responsible as […]
Starting Law School This Fall?
If you are starting law school in the fall, you will have to take Contracts. May I recommend my recent book, Contracts, which is in the new series from Oxford University Press, called The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law. It was written to provide law students with an accessible overview of contract law principles and doctrines. […]
Bleg: Refundable Fares to Europe
I’m trying to book a ticket for a relative from the U.S. to Europe, and while I have no trouble using various websites to find airfares, I can’t seem to locate an option on any of them to search only for refundable coach fares. Help, please? UPDATE: Travelocity advanced search.