On Friday morning, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion at the Short Hills Hilton about whether New Jersey should adopt Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and thereby become a “Daubert” reliability state w/r/t expert testimony. Here is a description of what we will be discussing In three seminal cases, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., General […]
Archive | February, 2013
No Standing to Challenge FISA Surveillance
Today, in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, the U.S. Supreme Court held that petitioners Amnesty International, et al., lacked standing to challenge surveillance of international communications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Court split 5-4 along traditional right-left lines. Justice Alito wrote for the majority opinion. Justice Breyer dissented. Here is the introduction from […]
Schwa Discipline
My wife and I organized the Second Annual Pacific Palisades Spelling Bee yesterday, and talking to one of the word pronouncers led me to think up this phrase. In English (and some other languages), unstressed vowels often come out sounding very similar, with a short sound that is known as the schwa. In normal speech, […]
Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Butt v. Utah
I regret to say that the Court refused to hear Butt v. Utah, the cert petition that I’ve blogged about before. Unfortunate, especially since I got my hopes up a bit — the Court called for the record, and then relisted the case, which is often a sign that it’s paying attention. But if you […]
The FTC’s view on antitrust state-action immunity and FTC v. Phoebe Putney
In my post on the Supreme Court’s recent antitrust case, FTC v. Phoebe Putney, on the Reason Foundation’s web site (see also here and here), I noted that “the FTC has been grousing against the scope of the state action exemption for years.” As evidence of this grousing, here’s the Report of the State Action […]
It’s Back: The Gravitational Force of Originalism
For some unknown reason that SSRN cannot explain, my paper, The Gravitational Force of Originalism, that I will be presenting this week at the Fordham conference on “The New Originalism and Constitutional Law,” disappeared from SSRN shortly after I blogged about it. Perhaps it was the “repellent force of living constitutionalism” that drove it from the interweb. At any […]
House Judiciary Committee Feb 27 Hearing on “Drones and the War on Terror”
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, February 27, 10:00 am, titled “Drones and the War on Terror.” Presumably video, a transcript, and the written submitted testimony will be posted at the committee website at some point. The witness list: John Bellinger, Arnold & Porter, and former Department of State Legal Adviser […]
Speaking this week
I’ll have the pleasure of participating in two debates on SSM this week at student Federalist Society chapters. One will be with Ryan Anderson tomorrow at the University of Nebraska Law School. The second will take place at Creighton University Law School on Tuesday. Please say hi if you see me at either.
C-SPAN Book TV Interview on ‘Living With the UN: American Responsibilities and International Interests’
If you’re interested, I’ll be on C-SPAN Book TV tomorrow, Sunday, February 24, at 1:20 pm, talking about my book, Living With the UN: American Responsibilities and International Order. It runs about half an hour, and though I have no idea whether I’m especially interesting on the program, I very much enjoyed doing it – […]
Yankees Admit that they are “Baseball’s Evil Empire”
Fans of rival teams, especially Red Sox fans, have long known that the New York Yankees are the Evil Empire, as well as major recipients of corporate welfare. But in a recent legal proceeding, the team has now officially admitted it [HT: Josh Blackman]: A panel of trademark judges in Washington, D.C., earlier this month […]
Ain’t Prognosticatin’: A Reply to Orin
Thanks to Orin for his thoughtful post. I don’t want to offer a lengthy response, but simply clarify a few matters. I only singled out Orin in my post as evidence that the failure of most law professors to anticipate the Supreme Court’s sympathy for our arguments did not stem wholly from the ideological echo […]
Comstock, Bond and Predictions About the Individual Mandate Case
By Ilya Somin on February 22, 2013 11:54 pm in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
In his recent response to Randy Barnett, co-blogger Orin Kerr argues that previous precedent, especially the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in United States v. Comstock justifiably led many observers to expect that the Court would readily uphold the individual health insurance mandate, and that its failure to do so under the Commerce and Necessary and […]
More on the antitrust state-action doctrine: Implications for the tobacco MSA
Those of you who have been interested in my postings on FTC v. Phoebe Putney might be interested in a recent student note in the Columbia Law Review, Antitrust Immunity Up In Smoke: Preemption, State Action, And The Master Settlement Agreement, by Matthew McDonald. Here’s the abstract: In antitrust law, the state action doctrine allows […]
Justice Goodwin Liu on Justice Harlan (Among Other Things)
Today I had the opportunity to hear an address by Associate Justice Goodwin Liu of the California Supreme Court at the City Club of Cleveland. Justice Liu, as some may recall, was nominated to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Obama. Then-Professor Liu was filibustered in the […]
Ann Coulter vs. Young Libertarians on Stossel
Best line of the evening: “I don’t think you’re stoners… You’re nerds!”