My colleague (and Green Bag Editor) Ross Davies has just posted a little article about a fascinating case of moral hazard in contracting involving, of all people, John Marshall.
Archive | August, 2012
We Need A More Nuanced Standard for Determining What Constitutes Plagiarism
Time magazine columnist and CNN talking head Fareed Zakaria was suspended last week for plagiarizing a paragraph from Jill LePore’s New Yorker article on gun control and today was reinstated after apologizing and having other work reviewed. In case you haven’t seen, I reproduce for you LePore’s paragraph followed by the very similar paragraph Zakaria […]
Looking into the Record of United States v. Skinner, the Sixth Circuit Phone Location Case
By Orin Kerr on August 17, 2012 2:53 am in Cell-Site Information, Fourth Amendment, GPS Surveillance
I recently blogged about United States v. Skinner, the new Sixth Circuit decision concluding that the Fourth Amendment does not protect location information obtained from a cell phone. Skinner has been getting a lot of attention in the blogosphere, in part because the facts are so vague, so decided to take a closer look at […]
Citing Wikipedia in Court Opinions
Fire Insurance Exchange v. Oltmanns (Utah Ct. App. Aug. 16, 2012) discusses the practice, and the concurrence goes into even more detail. From the majority opinion: In the past, we might have hesitated to cite Wikipedia in a judicial opinion given its reputation — perhaps not well deserved — for unreliability. See, e.g., Wikipedia Survives Research […]
GM Headed for Bankruptcy Again?
Well, apparently GM’s bankruptcy and government ownership left one slight problem unresolved–its cars are still lousy. And, apparently, getting lousier. Which would explain another development: GM’s increasing reliance on selling cars to people that can’t pay for them.
Words of Wisdom from the Great James Buchanan
in honor of the new school year (via Michael DeBow).
$60,000 Damages for Blogging the Truth About Someone, Intending to Get the Person Fired
Last year, I blogged about Moore v. Hoff, a Minnesota case in which a jury ordered a blogger to pay $60,000 to a university official because the blogger blogged the truth about the official, intending to get him fired. I am told that Monday morning, the Minnesota Court of Appeals will hand down a decision […]
“American Law for American Courts” and Foreign Divorce Decrees
I blogged below about the “American Law for American Courts” proposal, and its possible effect on foreign judgments entered without a civil jury trial. Here, I wanted to flag a possible problem with this proposal and foreign divorce decrees. American courts routinely have to decide the marital status of people who came to America from […]
“American Laws for American Courts” and Civil Jury Trials
I’ve blogged quite a bit about why broad bans on the use of foreign law in American courts are improper. But what about narrower limitations, such as the American Laws for American Courts proposal that has been enacted in some form in Arizona, Louisiana, and Tennessee? I think that particular proposal is less problematic, and […]
But What If Foreign Law Is Very Bad?
Whenever I blog about why American courts often should consider foreign law — as in the recent Pakistani Law in U.S. Courts thread — some commenters ask: What if the foreign law is very bad? What if it’s sexist, for instance if it treats men and women differently in issuing divorce decrees? What if it […]
Does this expression have a name?
And do you have to be a Republican to use it? PHOTOS: From Salon
Ice Cubes
The recipe, and, better yet, the reviews. Thanks to GeekPress for the pointer.
A Contrast from 2008
As voters in a swing state, in 2008 my wife and I got lots of letters, phone calls, and visits to our home–but they were all from the Obama campaign. Not a peep was hurt from the under-funded and poorly managed McCain campaign. So far this Summer, though, we’ve already had a Romney volunteer at […]
Pakistani Law in U.S. Courts
By Eugene Volokh on August 15, 2012 7:18 pm in Islamic Law in the American Legal System, Religion and the Law
In past discussions, especially about the Oklahoma foreign law ban and about similar proposals in other states, some people have questioned why American courts would want to look at foreign law. Yesterday’s Naseer v. Moghal (Va. Ct. App. Aug. 14, 2012) offers an excellent example. The facts: On August 1, 2000, wife [Tahira Naseer] married […]
George Mason Seeks Law Professors
I’m posting this on behalf of my colleague Ross Davies. George Mason University School of Law may have one or more tenure-track or visiting positions available starting in the fall of 2013. Both beginning and experienced professors will be considered. Candidates should have a distinguished academic record and a demonstrated commitment to scholarship. At senior […]