I have just posted to SSRN the paper, Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did so Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?, on which my forthcoming Dunwody Lecture at the University of Florida on March 22nd will be based. It will appear in the Florida Law Review. Here is the abstract. ABSTRACT: In this essay, […]
Archive | February, 2013
Is Deleting Computer Files Like Taking Out the Trash? Taking Physical Analogies Just a Little Too Far
Applying law to computers and the Internet often requires a choice between applying the law from the perspective of physical reality or the perspective of virtual reality. When courts look to physical reality, they model the facts based on how computers and the network actually work. When courts look to virtual reality, they model the […]
Christian Missionaries Arrested in Libya, Face Potential Death Penalty
The Guardian (UK) reports (thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer): Four foreigners have been arrested in Libya on suspicion of being missionaries and distributing Christian literature, a charge that could carry the death penalty…. Libya retains a law from the Muammar Gaddafi era that makes proselytising a criminal offence potentially punishable […]
Interesting Child Custody / Alleged Threat of Female Genital Mutilation Case
Mohamed Aly, born and raised in Egypt, lives in Canada. Amal Aden, born and raised in Somalia, lived in Minnesota until she and Aly met on a Muslim dating site and she moved to Canada. They married, and have a daughter, born in 2011. But Aden left Aly, taking the daughter back with her to […]
National Jurist Acknowledges Widespread Errors in Flawed Rankings
In response to widespread complaints, the National Jurist has reviewed its use of data from Ratemyprofessors.com. While NJ still insists it was appropriate to use this haphazardly collected data for one-fifth of each school’s rating, it has been forced to revise the RMP score for two-thirds of ranked schools. Let’s say that again: The National Jurist went to press with a […]
Attribution? Check. Retribution? Coming up.
Anyone who’s followed my recent posts on state-sponsored hacking knows that I’ve been preaching the importance of attribution. (See here, here, and here.) Well, I have to say that attribution is coming along pretty well, as witness the devastating Mandiant report and the risible Chinese response. (My personal favorite: “A spokesman for China’s Ministry of […]
Competition, corporatism, collusion, and antitrust themes in The Golden Calf
My post on the FTC v. Phoebe Putney antitrust case is coming soon, perhaps tomorrow. Meanwhile, speaking of antitrust, I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Ilf & Petrov‘s The Golden Calf, a comedy that takes places roughly at the time of the NEP in the Soviet Union. In chapter 3, I ran across the […]
L.A. City Councilman Urges Suspending “Sister City” Relationship with St. Petersburg
City Councilman Bill Rosendahl has submitted a proposed resolution suspending L.A.’s “Sister City” relationship with St. Petersburg, Russia. The reason: St. Petersburg’s “anti-gay initiatives,” “including enactment of legislation curbing gay rights and a police crack down on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activities” and a ban on “promotion of homosexuality,” which restricts “freedom of […]
A Gradual Shift in Human Attitudes Toward Emotional Interaction with Robots?
Sherry Turkle is an MIT professor who studies human- robot psychological and social interactions. She has been documenting and studying the attitudes of humans toward having emotional relationships and affective interactions with robots over time, and notes a gradual shift toward seeing such interactions favorably. She recently presented at the annual American Association for the […]
Some Expert Evidence Law News from California and Wisconsin
Bucking the trend in jurisdictions that apply the Frye general acceptance test (such as Florida and Illinois), in November the California Supreme Court stated that trial courts have “substantial gatekeeping” responsibilities, and favorably cited federal Supreme Court precedents like Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Joiner v. General Electric Co., and Kumho Tire v. Carmichael. Perhaps […]
What are the Weirdest Constitutional Arguments Ever Asserted in Court?
Most debates about constitutional law concern issues that made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court. But for the most part, the Supreme Court only hears constitutional claims that are at least plausible. I’m interested in collecting a list of the weirdest, strangest constitutional arguments that have been asserted outside the Supreme Court. That is, […]
Supreme Court Decides Florida v. Harris: No Bright Line Rules for Probable Cause, But Perhaps A Presumption or Two
The Supreme Court decided Florida v. Harris today, the Fourth Amendment case on when a drug-sniffing dog’s alert constitutes probable cause. In a 9-0 decision by Justice Kagan, the Supreme Court overturned the Florida Supreme Court standard that had required production of records of the dog’s reliability in the field in order to determine probable […]
FTC v. Phoebe Putney case decided
The FTC v. Phoebe Putney antitrust case, which I’ve been posting about here and here, has just been released. I’ll have a post up about it in the coming days.
Armen Alchian, RIP
Noted UCLA economist Armen Alchian died today. David Henderson and Alex Tabarrok note his passing and provide links to some of his work, much of which concerned the nature of property rights. UPDATE: David Henderson has more in the WSJ.
Today’s Unusual Lineup: Bailey v. U.S.
Among the decisions handed down today by the Supreme Court is Bailey v. United States in which the Court held that it was not reasonable for police to seize an individual incident to the search of the individual’s residence when the individual was stopped and detained some distance from the dwelling in question, and there was […]