At DotEarth, Andrew Revkin summarizes recent research that is leading to some to conclude that the climate is less sensitive to greenhouse forcing than previously thought. He writes: on one critically important metric — how hot the planet will get from a doubling of the pre-industrial concentration of greenhouse gases, a k a “climate sensitivity” […]
Archive | February, 2013
The Incredible Shrinking PPACA
When Congress passed the PPACA, the Congressional Budget Office projected the law would result in an additional 32 million people getting health coverage within a decade. In 2011, CBO was even more optimistic, predicting the law would lead to coverage for 34 million people. Now, as Bloomberg reports, the CBO has changed its tune. According […]
Privatized Lawmaking
You might want to check out a new article by Dru Stevenson at South Texas Law called Costs of Codification. Dru writes the Privatization Blog — don’t confuse it with the Reason Foundation’s Privatization Blog; I think either Dru or Reason should choose a catchier blog name. Here’s the abstract to Dru’s article, from SSRN […]
Reactions to the Drone Strike “White Paper”
The release by NBC News of a confidential “white paper” outlining the basis upon which the Obama Administration justifies the use of drones to conduct targeted killings of suspected terrorists, including American citizens, has prompted a substantial amount of commentary — mostly negative. Among other things, critics note the expansive notion of what constitutes an […]
Perils of Prosecutorial Discretion in a World Where Everyone is a Criminal
University of Tennessee lawprof Glenn Reynolds (AkA “Instapundit”) has an interesting short paper on the dangers of prosecutorial discretion in a world where the scope of criminal law has gotten so vast that almost anyone can be convicted of a crime if the prosecutor goes after them aggressively enough: Attorney General (and later Supreme Court […]
Donald Trump v. Bill Maher
As you doubtless recall, Donald Trump offered $5 million to charity during the 2012 election campaign if President Obama published his college and passport records. Then in January of this eyar, Maher — appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno — said, [S]uppose that perhaps Donald Trump had been the spawn of his mother […]
Europe OK with Occupation – and With Hezbollah
Despite the recent United Nations Human Rights Council’s report, France and many other European countries are against attempts to revive the peace process, end the occupation and remove settlements. They prefer a “long-term stalemate” (which sounds like Boogie Yaalon’s “long term conflict management plan“). Outside pressure to push peace could backfire and benefit hardliners on […]
Evolving Christian Attitudes Towards Personal and National Self-Defense
A forthcoming issue of the Connecticut Law Review will feature a symposium on an article by Prof. Nicholas Johnson (Fordham) about the changing attitudes of the Black leadership towards firearms. In brief, Black leadership was historically very supportive the right to keep and bear arms, and particularly concerned that Blacks be able to have firearms […]
Emory Law Journal symposium on privatization, free, this Thursday
This Thursday, Emory Law School and the Emory Law Journal are holding the 2013 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium. This year’s topic is Privatization: Managing Liability and Reassessing Practices in Local & International Contexts. The keynote speaker is the judge I clerked for in 2004-05, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit. Here’s the blurb: […]
U.K. Parliament is Debating Gay Marriage
You can watch it here now. It’s the second of three readings of the proposed law allowing same-sex couples to wed.
The Collapse of the Judicial Law Clerk Hiring Cartel
BYU Law Professor Aaron Nielson has an excellent National Law Journal column on the collapse of the federal judicial law clerk hiring cartel: Law students everywhere, be warned — the Federal Judges Law Clerk Hiring Plan is dead. If you want a clerkship, don’t think you can wait until the fall of your 3L year […]
NBC Obtains Copy of Obama Administration Memo Providing Legal Justification for Drone Strikes
The NBC story is here; the 16-page memo is here. Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.
Upcoming Talks in Midwest
I am giving several upcoming talks at Midwestern law schools on topics related to Israel and international law, including the legal status of the West Bank, settlements, and the significance of the GA statehood resolution. This Thursday I will be giving a few talks in Des Moines Iowa. Next Thursday, Feb. 14, I will be […]
The Commentariat Likes Football!
Average number of comments on my prior treaty posts: 66. Number of comments on my final treaty post (Super Bowl Sunday, 6:42pm): 4. I must say, I wouldn’t necessarily have pegged you all as football fans! I can only imagine the armchair quarterbacking!
Pastor Jailed for Refusing to Testify Against Co-Religionist
1. So reports the Rutland Herald: A pastor was taken back to jail Thursday for continuing to refuse to tell a [federal] grand jury what he knows about a woman who fled the country to escape a custody dispute with her former lesbian partner…. Miller told the judge that the week he has spent in […]