A Time article asks the question: The test results were crystal clear, and still the doctors didn’t know what to do. A sick baby whose genome was analyzed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia turned out to possess a genetic mutation that indicated dementia would likely take root around age 40. But that lab result […]
Archive | October, 2012
Foreign Policy Spots One
Very funny. I will say that I like the Putin ad much better, maybe because it’s less substantive (not that I’d vote for Putin — but then again, I’ve been around the block a few times). Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.
Mann v. Steyn — The Defendants Respond
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 25, 2012 8:51 pm in Climate Change, Defamation, Freedom of Speech, Politicizing Science
On Monday, famed climate scientist Michael Mann filed suit against National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute over some allegedly defamatory blog posts. Now some of the defendants have responded. Here is CEI’s official response, and a legal analysis from their lawyer. Of note, while CEI refused to apologize for the initial blog post (which […]
Sixth Circuit Upholds Exclusion of “Fatwa on Your Head? … Leaving Islam?” Ad From Detroit Area Buses
In American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) v. Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) (6th Cir. Oct 25, 2012), AFDI had tried to buy an ad on the sides of SMART city buses reading, Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got Questions? Get Answers! RefugefromIslam.com SMART’s established policy […]
Fifth Circuit Upholds Ban on Handgun Sales by Professional Gun Dealers to 18-to-20-Year-Olds
The case is NRA v. BATF (5th Cir. Oct. 25, 2012); thanks to my coblogger John Elwood for the pointer.
Are We More Likely to Get an Immigration Reform Bill if Obama Wins the Election?
In my post comparing Romney and Obama on libertarian grounds, I noted that libertarians might have good reason to support Obama if it is likely that a second term for him would result in substantial immigration reform, by which I mean letting more immigrants in the country and/or letting more of the ones already here […]
Re: Libertarian Law Professors and Presidential Candidates
I think David is absolutely correct in his post below that judicial appointments are a big issue for most libertarian-leaning law professors, and on this issue Republican presidents (and their judicial nominees) have done far more to advance libertarian legal views than Democratic presidents. I would add two points to David’s analysis. First, even on […]
Google Ngrams, Now Even More Awesome
See here for more advanced features, including part-of-speech searching and much more. Thanks to Prof. Ben Zimmer (Language Log) for the pointer.
Ted Frank: Is 538 Wrong?
There have been many silly posts in the right-leaning blogosphere attacking Nate Silver at the 538 blog for his perceived pro-Obama tendencies. In fact, Silver created his model earlier this year, and has stuck with it as the campaign has progressed. So unless he’s lying about the results of his model, there’s no reason to […]
Why Libertarian Law Professors Tend to Support Romney
As Jonathan and Ilya have recently pointed out, Reason Magazine’s writers are overwhelmingly voting for Gary Johnson, or they are not voting at all. By contrast, most libertarian law professors of my acquaintance are supporting Romney. (And even back in 2008, when some libertarians supported Obama, this was a distinct minority position among libertarian law […]
Libertarians and the Presidential Election
Reason has an interesting symposium on the presidential election in which various libertarian writers and political commentators give their presidential picks. In sharp contrast with Reason’s symposium during the 2008 election, there is almost no support for Obama. While many libertarians endorsed Obama four years ago, very few are willing to do so today. I […]
Thirty-Six Circuit Splits in Fourth Amendment Law
That’s according to Wayne Logan’s new article, Constitutional Cacophony: Federal Circuit Splits and the Fourth Amendment, and I know of several more just off the top of my head. Wayne argues in his article that circuit splits are harmful because the law needs to be uniform. He therefore proposes ways that the Supreme Court can […]
How Libertarians Are Voting
Back in 2008, Reason surveyed its contributors and fellow travelers about how they intended to vote, and quite a few said they would pull the switch for Barack Obama over libertarian candidate Bob Barr. Several said they weren’t voting and only a few mentioned John McCain. This year Reason has done it again, and the […]
Steven L. Schwarcz’s New Article on SSRN: “Regulating Shadows”
Steven L. Schwarcz (Duke University Law School) has a new article in draft up at SSRN, “Regulating Shadows: Financial Disintermediation and the Need for a Common Language.” Professor Schwarcz is a preeminent scholar in financial markets and regulation, and produces new and interesting articles at a daunting (daunting, at least if you are me and, […]
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Explained
Politicians and even some fact checkers seem to have a hard time understanding the Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., suggesting legislation was necessary to ensure women could challenge past discriminatory pay treatment that was only recently discovered. But as I’ve noted before, the Ledbetter decision had nothing to do […]