RT.com reports: Rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar has been pulled before a performance in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don following complaints from Orthodox Christians. The believers claim the production is in breach of a controversial new religious offense law…. “In our view the image of Christ presented in the opera is incorrect. If they want […]
Archive | September, 2012
Muslim Rioters Burn Buddhist Temples and Homes in Bangladesh
The AP reports: Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims angry over an alleged derogatory photo of the Islamic holy book Quran on Facebook set fires in at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes near the southern border with Myanmar, authorities said Sunday…. [A police chief] said at least 20 people were injured in the attacks that […]
The Big Surprise of the New Supreme Court Term
The first Monday in October is tomorrow, and that means the opening of a new Supreme Court Term. A lot of press reports have focused on the many interesting cases that the Court will hear in its first month. But the press reports have not mentioned the biggest surprise so far: With just a few […]
Speaking tomorrow
I’ll be speaking tomorrow on same-sex marriage before the student chapter of the Federalist Society at the Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. The event begins at Noon and will last one hour. The student chapters of OUTLaw and the ACLU are co-sponsoring the speech.
New Creditor Challenge to the GM Bankruptcy
I hadn’t heard of this until a reader sent me the link: General Motors GM -1.86% is worried that a little-noticed lawsuit could reopen the books on its massive 2009 federal bailout, a deal touted by President Barack Obama during this year’s election season as one of his chief first-term achievements. The lawsuit, filed by a trust representing […]
Dinesh D’Souza and Obama’s “Anticolonial” Ideology
Gene Healy of the Cato Institute recently wrote a harsh, but I think correct assessment of Dinesh D’Souza’s recent movie 2016, which purports to prove that the origins of Barack Obama’s leftism are to be found in the “anticolonialism” and socialism of his Kenyan father: “2016” grew out of conservative provocateur Dinesh D’Souza’s 2010 Forbes […]
Did Elizabeth Warren Engage in the Unauthorized Practice of Law?
Legal Insurrection’s William Jacobson has a series of posts alleging that Harvard law professor and Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. At Legal Ethics Forum, John Steele is not convinced. Given the sorts of legal work that many law professors perform in their “spare” time, the underlying legal issues […]
President Obama Blocks Chinese-Owned Wind-Farm Development
As anticipated in yesterday’s post, today President Obama acted on the pending CFIUS report regarding the Chinese-owned wind-farm developer (Ralls Corp.) and its four wind-farm projects in Oregon. The President’s order is noteworthy for being even broader than the two CFIUS orders it supersedes (which are described in my first post). Such presidential orders are quite […]
[UPDATE: Old News, It Turns Out] “When You Trivialise the Founding Acts of a Religion, When You Touch on Sacred Things,”
“you create an unbearable moral violence which is a danger to our children.” So said lawyer Thierry Massis, apparently in support of a French court decision to ban this ad: According to the BBC, the complaint was brought by the Catholic Church; the judge agreed, concluding that the ad was “a gratuitous and aggressive act […]
Federalist Society Supreme Court Term Preview Panel
You can watch it here via C-SPAN. The panelists are Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Stuart Taylor, Tom Goldstein, Carrie Severino, and Kenneth L. Wainstein.
Fifth Circuit Cell-Site Case: Magistrate Judge Smith Responds and Defends His Decision
Although I wasn’t planning to post any more on the Fifth Circuit cell-site case, I happened to notice that Magistrate Judge Smith recently posted a new essay on SSRN that is in significant part a response to my amicus brief and my criticisms of his decision. I thought it only fair to point readers to […]
Now There’s a Photoshop for You
Here’s the photo of Netanyahu’s Iranian bomb / red line image, from his speech today to the UN: And here’s a version by David Ferguson (Snicker Snack Baby): Thanks to Powerline and Instapundit for the pointer. UPDATE: A commenter asked why I thought the cartoon was interesting; I hope that others perceive some of this […]
Update on Lawsuit Challenging CFIUS Action Blocking Chinese Wind-Farm Development
With my firm’s CFIUS experts, I put together a fuller analysis of the potentially significant CFIUS lawsuit I blogged earlier this month. For those just tuning in now: the U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States issued an order that blocked a Chinese-owned developer from proceeding with four wind-farm projects in Oregon; […]
“Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Meta”
Cuellar de Osorio v. Mayorkas (9th Cir. Sept. 26, 2012) (en banc) (Smith, Milan, dissenting) notes a circuit split about the significance of circuit splits: [I]t is worth noting that there is currently a circuit split over whether the existence of a circuit split is evidence of statutory ambiguity [for purposes of deciding whether to […]
Insane Clown Posse Sues FBI
The noted “horror core” hip hop duo, Insane Clown Posse, has filed suit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI apparently labeled ICP fans, known as “Juggalos,” as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang,” to which ICP has taken offense. ICP tried to get the FBI to explain itself, and filed a FOIA request for information […]