So says the Republican Party Platform, and this leads me to questions I asked in 2004, when the Bush Administration called for a pornography crackdown. As we know, there’s lots of porn of all varieties out there on the Internet, including porn that might well be seen as offensive to “community standards” in at least […]
Archive | September, 2012
No Free Speech Here — This Is Bourbon Street
New Orleans Code of Ordinances § 54-419(c)(4) provides, It shall be prohibited for any person or group of persons to loiter or congregate on Bourbon Street for the purpose of disseminating any social, political or religious message between the hours of sunset and sunrise. The New Orleans police are apparently prosecuting several street preachers for […]
Timothy Fuller on Oakeshott and the Rule of Law
I am a big fan of Michael Oakeshott’s essay “The Rule of Law” as seen in my essay from several years ago on “The Rule of Law, Freedom, and Prosperity.” At the time I wrote that essay I confess that I didn’t fully grasp the nuance and import of Oakeshott’s insights and the subtle but […]
Thugs Win Again
By Eugene Volokh on September 1, 2012 3:47 pm in Freedom of Speech Restricted by Thugs, Religion and the Law
From The Jerusalem Post: Egged [the largest bus company in Israel] and the company in charge of bus advertisements have decided that rather than be forced to put up ads with women in Jerusalem due to court action claiming discrimination against the gender, they will remove all people — both men and women — from […]
Federalism, Bond v. United States, and the Treaty Power
When we last we heard of the case of Bond v. United States, the Supreme Court had ruled that a criminal defendant can challenge the constitutionality of a federal statute she was charged with violating on the grounds that it exceeds the scope of congressional power under the Constitution. In a rare unanimous decision on […]
Welcome to the Union! Here’s Your Special Certiorari Grant as a Present
From Alaska v. Arctic Maid (1961): The case is here on a petition for certiorari which we granted because of the importance of the ruling to the new State of Alaska.