GOP Presidential candidate has been roundly criticized for putting forward a budget plan that doesn’t add up. His proposal to cut income tax rates by 20 percent across the board, when combined with other tax pledges (such as reducing the corporate tax rate and eliminating the AMT) would total an estimated $5 trillion, and there’s […]
Archive | October, 2012
The First Amendment and Free Online Courses [UPDATE: Minnesota Backs Down]
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Minnesota has barred Coursera from offering free online courses — including ones that don’t even result in a degree — because it hasn’t properly registered as an educational institution with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, and, presumably, because the universities and colleges that provide classes through Coursera […]
10,640
This number can be seen, if you’re imaginative, as representing a particular online work (or set of works, if you prefer to view it that way). Which one? [UPDATE: Please explain your answer.]
Posner on Amar’s Unwritten Constitution: “Extremely Strange”
Judge Richard Posner offers a rather harsh critique of Akhil Amar’s new book The Unwritten Constitution in a video presentation recorded yesterday that you can watch here, hosted by the Columbia chapter of the Federalist Society. Posner argues that Amar’s theory is just an effort to recast the Constitution into whatever Amar likes as a […]
First Amendment, Alive and Well in Nebraska
Yesterday, the federal district court in Nebraska issued its decision declaring most of Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registry statute unconstitutional as an abridgement of the freedom of speech protected by the 1st Amendment. I was the Plaintiffs’ Expert in the case, so I was delighted with the outcome (and I will oh-so-discreetly point you to footnote […]
Does DOMA Discriminate on the Basis of Sexual Orientation, Gender, or Both?
Today’s Second Circuit decision striking down a part of the Defense of Marriage Act holds that laws discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation are subject to heightened “intermediate” scrutiny. But it is not clear that DOMA actually discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, as opposed to gender. As I explained in the context […]
Diversity
A local law firm is coming to our law school to do some recruiting, and the memo posted around the school notes that the firm has a “Diversity Scholarship” program, and goes on to say: “Women and Diverse Students Encouraged to Apply.” Aargh. There are no “diverse students” here, or anywhere else — diversity is […]
Second Circuit Strikes Down DOMA Section 3
By Dale Carpenter on October 18, 2012 12:28 pm in Equal Protection, Same-Sex Marriage, Sexual Orientation
In a 2-1 opinion by Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, a conservative appointed by the first President Bush, the Second Circuit has joined the unanimous chorus of federal courts striking down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages legalized by individual states. The dissenter was Judge Chester Straub, who was appointed […]
Robo-Doctors? Or Robo-Nurses?
Wired (H/T Instapundit) has a nice article by Daniela Hernandez on the coming of “robo-doctors.” Not yet quite what our sci-fi imaginations desire, but still an important development on its own terms: Charlie Huiner, the vice president of InTouch Health care … sees robo-docs rising … His company is developing robots that allow doctors to […]
The Knockoff Economy and the Power of Performance and Brands
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 18, 2012 7:35 am in Copyright, Patent Law
In our last post, we discussed a variety of industries in which we see creativity without much resort to patent or copyright law. And we offered some explanations for how low-IP creativity works, such as informal social norms and first mover advantage. In today’s post, we look at a couple of additional ways in which […]
E = mc^2 + 50
Where did he get that 50, you ask? Well you might. Lawyers ask similar questions when judges making common law or constitutional law draw numerical lines, though sometimes there are plausible answers to such questions. Hebrew University of Jerusalem v. General Motors LLC (C.D. Cal. Oct. 15, 2012) offers an interesting illustration. Hebrew University stemmed […]
A Final Post on Hacking Back
Thanks to Stewart for the interesting exchange on the (un)lawfulness of hacking back. Here are my concluding thoughts. First, Stewart repeatedly draws analogies to the law of physical trespass that are faulty because they misunderstand the law of physical trespass. Stewart seems to think that it is legal to break into someone else’s house to […]
The Third Year of Law School and a Comment on Credentialing, Education, and Grades in Higher Education
One of the more practical debates over the law school business model asks about the third year of law school. Is it actually necessary – and even if, in principle, it might be a good idea, is it at the prices law schools now charge? If it is kept – which seems pretty likely for […]
First Amendment Protects TV Show’s Right to Select Participants Based on Race
So holds Claybrooks v. ABC (M.D. Tenn. Oct. 15, 2012), and I think that’s the right result. Federal antidiscrimination law specifically provides that sex can be a “bona fide occupational qualification,” and the use of sex in casting has long been seen as a classic example of that; but race is omitted from the list […]