Presidential debates don’t much resemble actual debates, in that they are generally moderated by questioners who have an exaggerated sense of their importance in these events and tend to limit the extent of any actual back-and-forth between the candidates. Insofar as Jim Lehrer did not so much direct the discussion as bring up general areas […]
Archive | October, 2012
The Second Circuit’s DOMA Decision
By Dale Carpenter on October 22, 2012 5:44 pm in DOMA, Equal Protection, Federalist Society, Sexual Orientation
At the Federalist Society’s Supreme Court blog, I offer some thoughts on the Second Circuit’s decision in Windsor v. United States, which held the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. The post concludes with a thought on what direction the Supreme Court might take when it confronts the constitutionality of DOMA: Even if the Court is […]
David Post’s and My Podcast on David’s In Search of Jefferson’s Moose
The Federalist Society set up a podcast of David Post and me talking about David’s excellent In Search oF Jefferson’s Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace — check it out here. Here’s the blurb from that page: In Search of Jefferson’s Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace explores the “new world” of cyberspace: […]
Proposed English Bill Banning Arbitration in Family Law Cases, and Banning Sex-Discriminatory Rules in Arbitration Generally
The bill seems to be specifically aimed at Sharia courts; here’s a Telegraph (UK) story, a pointer to the House of Lords debate, and to the Parliament Web page on the bill, which in turns points to the text. The particular prohibitions in the English proposal would include: (a) treating the evidence of a man […]
Misrepresentations of Ledbetter Case Continue
Politifact is not alone in having trouble with the facts of the Lilly Ledbetter case. Bloggers at Think Progress and the American Constitution Society can’t get the facts right either. Both make the same mistake Politifact does in claiming that the issue was whether a 180-day statute of limitations precluded Ms. Ledbetter from suing over […]
The President They are Looking for No Longer Exists
Now there is only a politician called “Dances with Relative Abandon.”
Lebanon v. Showtime
The Telegraph reports Lebanese officials are considering their legal options to challenge the negative portrayal of Beirut on Showtime’s “Homeland.” Fady Abboud, Lebanon’s minister of tourism, who has spent a small fortune trying to revive the country’s reputation as the Paris of the Middle East, expressed outrage at the “serious misrepresentation” of the city. “We […]
Can You Tebow(TM)?
The AP reports: The New York Jets backup quarterback is trademarking “Tebowing,” the move in which he goes down on one knee and holds a clenched fist against his forehead while praying during games. . . . The devout Christian says his representatives filed on his behalf not for financial gain, but “to just control […]
Fear That Children Will Be Teased About Parent’s Homosexual Relationship as Basis for Denying Parent Custody?
Impermissible, holds Maxwell v. Maxwell (Ky. Ct. App. Oct. 19, 2012): [W]e now turn to the family court’s decision to award Robert sole custody. We begin by addressing Angela’s contention that the court erred by considering factors unrelated to the best interests of the children. The focus of the family court’s decision was that Angela’s […]
A Dubious Attack On Virginia Eminent Domain Reform Referendum Question 1
By Ilya Somin on October 20, 2012 12:15 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In Friday’s Washington Post, state legislators Scott Surovell and Linda Puller published an op ed attacking Question 1, the eminent domain reform referendum question that Virginians will vote on in November. Unfortunately, their arguments are off-base, and some are seriously misleading. Question 1 would amend Virginia’s Constitution to forbid economic development takings of the kind […]
The Knockoff Economy: Thanks! And Some Responses to Reader Comments . . .
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 19, 2012 2:35 pm in Copyright, Patent Law
This is our last post guest-blogging at the VC and we again want to thank our hosts. A lot of interesting comments came in, and we’ll use this final post to address some of the issues and questions raised by readers. In no particular order: Innovation vs. Variation. A few comments argued that a lot […]
A Few Thoughts on the Second Circuit’s DOMA Decision
This week a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. Section 3 is the portion of DOMA barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages, even where recognized under state law. In this case, Windsor v. United States, […]
On a lighter note . . .
Last night, both President Obama and Governor Romney roasted themselves and each other at the annual Al Smith dinner. Their remarks, available on Mediaite are more entertaining (and perhaps even more enlightening) than the debates. They are also mericfully shorter. Here are links: Obama. Mitt Romney.
David Blankenhorn’s Journey
David Blankenhorn wrote the book on opposition to gay marriage. It was highly praised by the likes of Robert P. George, Stanley Kurtz, and Maggie Gallagher. It was, I wrote at the time, the best single book making the case against SSM. Later, David was the expert witness who defended Proposition 8 in the constitutional challenge to that […]
When Fact Checkers Have Trouble with Facts
Media fact checkers not only have a problem characterizing matters upon which reasonable people can disagree as questions of “fact,” they also have problems with facts. So, for instance, ABC’s fact checkers labeled indisputably true statements about energy production on federal lands as “not quite true.” Romney claimed that oil and gas production on federal […]