The New York Times Dealbook blog has news of an important new case likely to be filed soon: The Justice Department, along with state prosecutors, plans to file civil charges against Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service, accusing the firm of fraudulently rating mortgage bonds that led to the financial crisis, people briefed on the plan […]
Archive | February, 2013
Richard III found!
This is all over the medieval interwebs, but for those of you who haven’t been following: Archaeologists have found the skeleton of Richard III under a parking lot in Leicester, England, England. Richard III was killed in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field which ended the Wars of the Roses, making him the last […]
Too Soon to Pronounce Washington and Lee Law School’s “Experiential Curriculum” a Hit with Law School Applicants
By David Bernstein on February 3, 2013 10:00 pm in Academia, Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Bill Henderson has a post over at The Legal Whiteboard that has been getting a lot of attention in law school circles, praising W & L’s innovative curriculum, which focuses on practical lawyer skills, as both an educational success and as a hit with law school applicants. Bill goes over some of W & […]
One Last Clarification on Federalism and the Treaty Power
Before leaving off the subject of federalism and the treaty power, I would like to clarify one aspect of my position. In arguing, as I have from the beginning, that the treaty power cannot expand the scope of federal authority beyond that which is granted by other parts of the Constitution, I do not mean […]
More on the Law School Business Model
By Kenneth Anderson on February 3, 2013 7:47 pm in Academia, Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
A few days ago I posted on WSJ and NYT articles talking about the opening of new law schools in the midst of a crash in law student applications. Since then, a couple of other professors have posted comments on the topic, and I thought I’d flag them. NYU law professor Robert Howse, writing at […]
Final Post Of The Treaty Debate
This will be my final post of the debate with guest-blogger Rick Pildes about whether a treaty can increase the legislative power of Congress. In this post, I will just make some brief concluding remarks. 1 Rick has been at pains to suggest a fundamental disagreement between Ilya and me. This is tactically clever – […]
Transparency and Political Ignorance
Jerry Brito, a technology policy expert at the Mercatus Center, has an interesting essay describing his loss of faith in the idea that increasing government transparency will necessarily lead to smaller government or better policy: The theory that government transparency, and in particular better access to government spending data, will lead to limited government is […]
Responding to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Probable Cause and Standing to Challenge GPS Searches
By Orin Kerr on February 3, 2013 4:38 pm in Fourth Amendment, GPS Surveillance, Mosaic Theory of the Fourth Amendment
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has asked for amici help in two pending cases about the Fourth Amendment and GPS surveillance: In these cases involving co-defendants, the issue presented, among others, is whether an affidavit demonstrated sufficient probable cause in support of an application for a warrant secretly to attach a GPS device to a […]
More on the Indian State’s Censorship of the Spy Thriller That Was Supposedly Offensive to Muslims
I blogged about this Thursday, under the heading Indian State Government Temporarily Blocks Release of Spy Thriller, Citing Fear of Riots by Muslims. I thought I’d note two follow-ups: First, director Kamal Haasan has “agreed to seven demands of Muslim leaders, mostly muting of the audio of portions objected to by them,” and it now […]
More on Federalism and the Limits of the Treaty Power
We are, I thinking, nearing the end of the ongoing debate over federalism and the treaty power between guest-blogger Rick Pildes, Nick Rosenkranz, Eugene Kontorovich, and myself. My own view remains unchanged: the treaty power does not allow the federal government to make treaties that go beyond the scope of the authority granted to Congress […]
The 200th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single blog in possession of a good readership must commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice, which occurred this week. Literary and science fiction blogger Abigail Nussbaum has some interesting thoughts for the occasion. In this 2010 post, I […]
District Court Dismisses Kosher Fraud Lawsuit Against ConAgra
From Wallace v. Conagra Foods, Inc. (D. Minn. Jan. 31, 2013): This case arises out of Defendant’s representations that its Hebrew National products are “100% Kosher.” In particular, Plaintiffs claim that Defendant misrepresented its Hebrew National products as being made from “Premium cuts of 100% Kosher Beef.” Defendant’s website further states that the Triangle K […]
The Limits on the Treaty Power
By Prof. Rick Pildes (NYU), guest-blogging on February 2, 2013 4:23 pm in Constitutional Law, Treaties
Hopefully, I will be able to leave the treaty power issue alone for a while after this post, but let me finish elaborating my views in the context of also responding to the series of posts from Nick and others since my last posting. 1. My principal argument has been directed against the specific limit on the […]
Drafting Problems With the Second Version of “Aaron’s Law” from Rep. Lofgren
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren has posted a new draft version of “Aaron’s Law,” an amendment to 18 U.S.C. 1030 in the wake of the Aaron Swartz case. In this new draft, Lofgren adopts the idea I floated and others have since adopted of eliminating the concept of “exceeds authorized access” and instead defining “access without authorization.” […]
“Jury Finds Former College President Personally Liable for $50,000 in Victory for Student Rights”
So reports FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), though note that it’s pretty likely that the former president would nonetheless end up being indemnified by his former employer or the employer’s insurance carrier: A federal jury today found former Valdosta State University (VSU) President Ronald M. Zaccari personally liable for $50,000 for violating […]