On February 26, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Maryland v. King, a case about the constitutionality of DNA collection and analysis. The case presents the latest skirmish in an ongoing debate in Fourth Amendment law: Should the reasonableness of Fourth Amendment searches be analyzed through the traditional default rule that a search […]
Archive | February, 2013
When Campaign Contributions Are a Crime
It’s not every day a federal judge cites Jesse Unruh and Herodotus in the same opinion, but that’s what Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit did in his opinion for the court in United States v. Terry, a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge’s appeal of an honest […]
Immigrants as Our “Future Rulers”: Does the Danger of Political Externalities Justify Restrictions on Immigration?
In a recent post, co-blogger Eugene Volokh raises an important potential objection to unconstrained migration – the danger that immigrants with abhorrent values will become our “future rulers”: The bottom line is that for all the good that immigration can do… unregulated immigration can dramatically change the nature of the target society. It makes a […]
National Jurist to Correct Rankings, But Keep Ratemyprofessors.com
National Jurist will revise its much-maligned law school rankings, according to an announcement from NJ editor Jack Crittenden on the publication’s website. Although NJ defends its decision to rely upon Rateemyprofessors.com for 20 percent of each school’s rating (for those schools for which sufficient data is available), it has acknowledged some data disparities and is going to revisit the […]
Opinions to watch for: FTC v. Phoebe Putney Health System
On November 26, the Supreme Court heard arguments in FTC v. Phoebe Putney Health System, Inc., which means that an opinion should be coming down the pike fairly soon. I’m interested in this case for three reasons: (1) it’s relevant to antitrust, which is an interest of mine (I studied Industrial Organization in grad school […]
Symposium on the Battle of Hoth
Following up on Spencer Ackerman’s critique of Imperial strategy at the Battle of Hoth, Wired magazine has posted a symposium on the battle with commentary from six defense policy experts. I myself commented on Ackerman’s article here. I’m not entirely convinced by the symposium participants who argue that Darth Vader actually had a good strategy […]
Immigration Policy: The Big Picture
Two questions I thought I’d ask readers: (1) How many people in the world do you think would like to move to the U.S. over the next, say, 30 years, if it were legal for them to move here and work here? Assume that in that time the U.S. will sometimes be booming and sometimes […]
The Pilgrims as Illegal Aliens
The Daily Caller posts about a U.S. Department of Agriculture “Cultural Sensitivity Training” that, among other things, says the Pilgrims were “illegal aliens.” (Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.) It reminds me of a Conrad editorial cartoon from the L.A. Times that I blogged about ten years ago: An American Indian is carrying a sign […]
The Catholic Church and Science Fiction
Co-blogger Sasha Volokh asks for examples of Catholic science fiction. As with the debate over Jewish fantasy literature a couple years ago, a lot depends on the definition of the relevant field. But even under a pretty narrow definition, there are many, many examples. One of my personal favorites is Frank Herbert’s Dune series, where […]
More on Washington and Lee Law School
By David Bernstein on February 14, 2013 4:35 pm in Academia, Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Professor Jim Moliterno of Washington and Lee Law School has a lengthy post over at The Legal White Board, which is in part a response to my post on this blog suggesting that the jury remains out as to whether W & L’s innovative curriculum is a hit among prospective law students. I noted that […]
Human Rights Watch Can’t Wait to Accuse Israel
By Eugene Kontorovich on February 14, 2013 3:05 pm in Human Rights Watch, International Law, Israel, Military, National Security, War on Terror
Human Rights Watch has just released a report on Israel’s recent “Pillar of Defense” operation to suppress rocket fire from Gaza. The report concludes that 18 airstrikes violated international law by not being properly targeted. I do not know if 18 is a little or a lot for an operation of this scale, as there […]
Illinois Senate Now Debating SSM Bill
You can watch the live feed now. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Ronald Dworkin RIP
As Orin noted, today comes the news that Oxford NYU Professor Ronald Dworkin has passed away. I was a student in Dworkin’s jurisprudence class when he visited Harvard Law School, and remember fondly him debating my torts professor Charles Fried who questioned him from the student seats. I thought then that Dworkin clearly won those exchanges. […]
Ronald Dworkin, RIP
The legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin has died. The New York Times obituary by Adam Liptak is here.
The Scope of Federal Power Under the Thirteenth Amendment
My wife Alison Somin and University of San Diego law professor Gail Heriot have published a short article in Engage criticizing recent claims that the Thirteenth Amendment, which bans “slavery” and “involuntary servitude,” and authorizes Congress to pass “appropriate” enforcement legislation, actually gives Congress broad authority to legislate on a wide range of other issues: […]