The Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee has demanded an “immediate explanation” of the cybersecurity failings of a popular small drone. In an “urgent” letter to Henri Seydoux, the CEO of Parrot Group, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) pointed with alarm to the outcome of the Lawfare Drone Smackdown. “Using a variety of cyberattacks, Ben Wittes […]
Archive | September, 2012
The Lawfare Drone Smackdown
The much-awaited Lawfare Drone Smackdown is taking place today – as I write, in fact, at an undisclosed location somewhere sufficiently far away from DC in Virginia that it will not run afoul of the FAA’s objections. It’s a long and complicated saga that you can catch up with at Lawfare, but the short version […]
US-UN Relations Discussion Event at Heritage Foundation in DC
After a blogging hiatus over the summer due to some family medical issues – all happily resolved – I am moving back to posting on a regular basis. I’ve missed posting here at VC and the Volokh community; family circumstances left me with less time to post, but more time to read, and I plan […]
Case Alleging Discrimination Against Straight Car Renters May Go Forward
So holds Evenchik v. Avis Rent a Car Systems, LLC (S.D. Cal. Sept. 17, 2012): According to the Complaint, Plaintiff rented a car from AVIS in July 2011, in the County of San Diego, California. She was charged $311.36. According to the Complaint, at that time AVIS gave large price discounts to members of two […]
New Jersey Appellate Court Recognizes First Amendment Right to Videorecord Police
From Ramos v. Flowers (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. Sept. 21, 2012): [W]e conclude that a reasonable police officer in 2006 could not have believed he had the absolute right to preclude Ramos from videotaping any gang activities or any interaction of the police with gang members for the purposes of making a documentary film […]
The Bitter Harvest of Immigration Restrictions
Time has an interesting article describing how state laws intended to crack down on illegal immigrants have led to a crisis in agriculture. Unable to use immigrant labor to harvest it, many farmers have had to let much of their crop go to waste: Ralph and Cheryl Broetje rely on roughly 1,000 seasonal workers every […]
Bleg on First Amendment offensive speech
I thought it would useful to compile a list of some of the most offensive words, images, etc. which have been held to be protected by the First Amendment. I’m especially interested in Supreme Court cases, but other cases are fine too. So commenters, please submit your nominations. Thanks!
Goldwater Institute Seeking a Litigator
The Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, an organization for which I am honored to serve as a Senior Scholar, is seeking an experienced litigator. Info on the position and how to apply is here. I’m a big fan of Goldwater and they have a very active and effective litigation operation.
Fifth Circuit Cell-Site Case: The Second Article III Problem With Magistrate Decisions at the Application Stage
I wanted to add another post to my series on the Fifth Circuit’s upcoming cell-site case, which raises the issue of whether magistrate judges have the power to decide prospectively how the Fourth Amendment might apply to executing a court order at the time the government applies for the order — and to deny the […]
Three States Join Lawsuit Against Title II of Dodd-Frank
By Jonathan H. Adler on September 20, 2012 6:39 pm in Administrative Law, Financial Crisis, Separation of Powers
A news release from the Competitive Enterprise Institute notes that the attorneys general of Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have joined their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The original suit challenged several Dodd-Frank provisions, including creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Board. The states’ […]
Wright and Ginsburg on Behavioral Law & Economics
GMU law professor (and FTC commissioner nominee) Joshua Wright and Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg have a new paper in the Northwestern Law Review, “Behavioral Law and Economics: Its Origins, Fatal Flaws, and Implications for Liberty.” Here’s the abstract from SSRN: Behavioral economics combines economics and psychology to produce a body of evidence that individual choice […]
The Founders’ Free Speech/Press Clause
A commenter on a recent thread writes, I wonder why the Founders managed to say in so few words “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” Perhaps they lacked the wisdom of current political class, being so unworldly and living in an ivory tower. Or perhaps they never imagined that the […]
“Charlie Hebdo Cartoons Spark Debate over Free Speech and Islamophobia”
That’s the headline (from the Washington Post blog) about the latest cartoon controversy involving the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, which just published more Mohammed cartoons. And it led me to this thought: Charlie Hebdo‘s editors are actually less fearful of extremist Muslims than most mainstream media is. If anything, the editors are not irrationally […]
Did a Justice Department Official “Refuse to Denounce Demands for Saudi-style Blasphemy Law”?
Several people have pointed me to a July 26, 2012 video excerpt of Rep. Trent Franks questioning Thomas Perez (the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division) about whether the Justice Department would commit to “never entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion”; Perez, it was claimed, refused to commit […]
Oklahoma Challenges IRS Rule on Tax Credits in Federal Exchanges
Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt today filed an amended complaint in the state’s lawsuit against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that, among other things, challenges the legality of an IRS rule that would authorize tax credits for the purchase of health insurance in federally run exchanges, and thereby expose Oklahoma employers to […]