You can listen to the interview here. The book is newly-available here. Thanks to JDunderground for the link.
Archive | April, 2013
Harvard Federalist Society: Intellectual Diversity and the Legal Academy
The Harvard Chapter of the Federalist Society is hosting a very important conference tomorrow on intellectual diversity in the legal academy. Many people realize that legal academia “leans” to the left. But even alumni — indeed, even major donors — are often unaware of the extent of the imbalance. At Georgetown, for example, the ratio […]
Linda Greenhouse’s Misrepresentation of the Federalism Argument Against DOMA
By Ilya Somin on April 4, 2013 2:16 pm in DOMA, Federalism, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Same-Sex Marriage
In a recent New York Times column, prominent Supreme Court commentator Linda Greenhouse grossly misrepresents the federalism argument against the Defense of Marriage Act put forward in an amicus brief co-signed by several federalism scholars, including co-bloggers Randy Barnett, Jonathan Adler, Dale Carpenter, and myself. She claims that it is a “Trojan horse” for an […]
Phoenix “Not Looking for Strong Swimmers” for Lifeguard Jobs
You can’t make this stuff up. The city of Phoenix, concerned that “too many” of its lifeguards are white and that kids in non-white neighborhood pools can’t relate, is recruiting black and Hispanic kids who are not strong swimmers. A student featured in the article tells the NPR reporter, “Honestly, I have a little bit […]
Forthcoming Article on Voter Errors in Attributing Responsibility to Public Officials
In a forthcoming article I coauthored with economists Bryan Caplan, Eric Crampton, and Wayne Grove, we find that voters routinely make major mistakes in attributing responsibility for a variety of policy outcomes to different branches and levels of government. This undermines voters’ ability to properly reward and punish political incumbents for their performance. The article […]
North Carolina Legislators Arguing That the Establishment Clause Should Be Seen as Not Incorporated Against the States by the Fourteenth Amendment
A bunch of readers pointed me to a North Carolina bill that would express the legislators’ view that the Establishment Clause shouldn’t be seen as applicable to the states, so I thought I’d offer some general thoughts about the subject. Here is the bill, in relevant part: The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the […]
Amicus Brief on Behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Christian Legal Society in AID v. AOSI
I’m pleased to report that my Mayer Brown LLP colleagues Andrew Frey and Michael Rayfield and I have just filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Christian Legal Society in Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, which will be argued […]
“The Baseball Trust”
My colleague Stuart Banner is a first-rate legal historian and also an excellent writer, so it’s always a pleasure to see that he has a new book out. This one is “The Baseball Trust,” and I’m reading it and much enjoying it. Here is the summary from the Amazon blurb, though you can also read […]
A last (?) note about Easter and calendars
As background, see my posts about Easter and Christian calendars (first, second, third, and fourth). Recall that Easter is defined as the Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox. The spring equinox could happen on March 19, 20, or 21, but for Easter-calculation purposes, we define the spring equinox as March 21. Why […]
A Historical Perspective on Law School “Gunners”
From a 1942 book of essays by Edward “Bull” Warren, a legendary Socratic professor at Harvard Law School who taught from 1904 to 1945: When I joined the Harvard Law Faculty, my thought, often expressed, was that any student might ask any question at any time. I was (and am) strong for the ideal of […]
Another Example of Unconstitutional Religious Discrimination in Virginia Marriage Law
By Ilya Somin on April 4, 2013 12:49 am in Atheism, Fourteenth Amendment, Religion, Religion and the Law
Co-blogger Eugene Volokh recently linked to a Virginia state court decision striking down as unconstitutional a state law that allowed religious societies without official clergy to designate only one member as having the power to perform wedding ceremonies, while religious groups that do have clergy can designate more. The court concluded that the First and […]
Defendant’s Reply Brief in State v. Brewington
Readers who were interested in the posts about State v. Brewington (the most recent one is here) might also want to see the reply brief. At this point, the case is teed up for the Indiana Supreme Court — they can decide to grant transfer (which means reviewing the Indiana Court of Appeals decision), hold […]
Dihydrogen Monoxide
The News-Press reports: Gator Country 101.9 morning deejays Val St. John and Scott Fish are back on the air today after a one-day suspension for an April Fool’s Day joke involving Lee County’s water supply. The hosts of the “Val and Scott In The Morning Show” on the Bonita Springs-based country music station were suspended […]
Religious Marriages for Religions Without Official Clergy
For centuries, American law has allowed clergy to solemnize marriages, though of course judges can do it, too. But what about religions that don’t have official clergy? In re Dhanoa (Va. Cir. Ct. Mar. 29, 2013) holds unconstitutional a Virginia statute that allowed only one religious group member per “religious society” to solemnize such marriages, […]
Alabama Undermines its Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform Law
By Ilya Somin on April 3, 2013 10:55 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that state and local governments could condemn property for transfer to private parties for “economic development,” 44 states passed eminent domain reform laws intended to curtail abusive condemnations. Many of the new laws only pretended to […]