And a pretty conservative panel — Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, Judge Carlos Bea, and Judge Jerome Farris (a Carter appointee who nonetheless, to my knowledge, has a fairly conservative reputation on criminal justice cases). An excerpt, from Milke v. Ryan (9th Cir. Mar. 14, 2013): In 1990, a jury convicted Debra Milke of murdering her […]
Archive | March, 2013
BREAKING: Obama White House Describes West Bank as Part of Israel
In describing President Obama’s itinerary during his trip to Israel and Jordan next week, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes conceded that the Jewish connection to the West Bank is as strong as it is to Israel, and indeed, spoke of the two interchangeably: Thursday, the President will begin by going to the Israel Museum. […]
Trying Twitter, Take Two — @orinkerr
I opened a Twitter account back in 2009, but I never used it. I’ve decided to try again. My handle is @orinkerr.
Judge Tingling’s Ruling on the Bloomberg Soda Ban: An Example of Conservative Judicial Activism?
Let’s put aside the question of whether the ruling is in fact judicial activism, or whether it was simply a proper application of non-delegation principles. What about “conservative?” Emily Bazelon of Slate writes, Judge Tingling walked on by all of that in striking down the Department of Health order. And of course he’s not the […]
Happy Pi Day!
In honor of Pi Day (3/14), I’ll share a mnemonic for 167 digits of pi, which I developed with some friends in the mid-’90s. Many people know the common mnemonic: “How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the tough lectures involving quantum mechanics.” Count the number of letters in each word and stick […]
Blue Slips vs. Filibusters
In the comments to my recent judicial nomination posts, some have wondered why I insist on distinguishing between blue slips and filibusters. So I thought I’d quickly address this point before posting on how to end the obstruction of judicial nominees. The reason for distinguishing between filibusters and blue slips is that these two modes […]
On Judicial Confirmations — History and Numbers
Partisans in judicial nomination fights like to play the victim. As each side tells it, obstruction of judicial nominees is all the other side’s fault. Each act of contemporary obstruction is justified by some act of obstruction that came before. The reality, however, is that there are no clean hands in these fights any more. […]
The Case for Drone Courts
Last month, former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal made the case for creating an executive branch court to oversee the use of drones for targeted killings. In Katyal’s view, subjecting drone strikes to an Article III “drone court” would be a “mistake.” Thus he endorsed an alternative oversight mechanism to be housed within the executive […]
Can You Get a Restraining Order Against Someone’s Having Sex with Your Daughter (Who Is Above the Age of Consent But Under 18)?
By Eugene Volokh on March 13, 2013 6:31 pm in Children's Rights, Parental Rights, Sexual Conduct Restrictions
From today’s Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in E.C.O. v. Compton: This case concerns whether a parent may seek an extension of an abuse prevention order under G.L. c. 209A to prevent his daughter, who was sixteen years of age [and thus above the age of consent in Massachusetts] from voluntarily engaging in a sexual […]
Repudiating the Japanese Internment Decisions
Legal scholar Peter Irons, a leading academic expert on the Japanese internment cases, has written a powerful article calling on the Supreme Court to explicitly repudiate those decisions [HT: Constitutional Law Prof blog]. Those notorious cases, most notably Korematsu v. United States, upheld the forcible detention of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in internment camps during World […]
Speaking on Israel in New York in April
In April, I will be speaking at several New York City law schools on “Israel’s Borders in International Law,” courtesy of the Federalist Society. April 23: New York Law School (noon); Hofstra (6pm); April 24th: Touro (noon). Conspiracy readers are encouraged to introduce themselves.
If the Cardinals Ever Elect a Female Pope,
should she be called a Mome?
“I Don’t Really Understand Why You Want to Be Protective of the Hackers”
That’s just one line (at 1:18) from this morning’s hearing on computer crime law before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations of the House Judiciary Committee. It was spoken by Rep. Gohmert, directed to me, on the legality of hacking back. You can watch the entire hearing here.
Prof. Lawrence Schiffman’s Lawyer Demands Removal of Post Containing the Text of a Court Opinion
Here’s a remarkable e-mail that I received today: Law Offices of Rieders, Travis, Humphrey, Harris, Waters & Waffenschmidt 161 West Third Street PO Box 215 Williamsport, PA 17701 … E-MAIL TO: Eugene Volovh [volokh@law.ucla.edu] FROM: Clifford A. Rieders, Esquire DATE: March 13, 2013 RE: Lawrence Schiffman CC: Professor Lawrence Schiffman Please be advised that the […]
Habemus papam!
White smoke. Live video feed here. I’m predicting Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan. UPDATE: Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who will be Francis? I guess he doesn’t have a number, then. UPDATE 2: Here’s Pope Francis’s Wikipedia entry. UPDATE 3: Man, Google News and the N.Y. Times don’t even have the pope’s name yet. Advantage: […]