As Jonathan notes, the government filed its cert. petition seeking review of the D.C. Circuit’s Noel Canning decision invalidating President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. Many cert. petitions contain a relatively abbreviated discussion of the merits–just enough to leave the Court with the firm impression that the court below got it […]
Archive | April, 2013
Cert Petition Filed in Noel Canning
As expected, the Obama Administration is asking the Supreme Court to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit holding invalidating the President’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. The cert petition is here.
Why maximal enforcement of federal gun laws is not always a good idea
By David Kopel on April 26, 2013 4:27 am in Commerce Clause, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Federalism, Guns, Immigration, Necessary and Proper, Supreme Court, War on Drugs
A common trope of many Second Amendment advocates is to urge more vigorous enforcement of existing federal gun control laws, as the alternative to enacting additional laws. Rhetorically, that’s very effective. But as a policy matter, it is not always a good idea. Consider legislation recently considered by the Senate: The Manchin-Toomey amendment was supported […]
Don’t Try This at Home
Here’s an interesting tort case I ran across recently, Mangold v. Ind. Dept. of Natural Resources (Ind. 2001): On March 12, 1997, a Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) conservation officer conducted a hunter education class for students at Switzerland County Junior High School. The program was part of the school’s science curriculum and addressed firearm […]
Bazinga!
Could a sitcom in which the main characters are obsessed with comic books actually be one of the most intelligent shows on television? At the very least it’s “the best TV science fiction comedy since the original Star Trek series in the 1960s,” according to Steve Hayward. Ken Masugi also reflects on the show’s serious […]
Sequester Games
A mandatory 4 percent cut to the budget of the Federal Aviation Administration (to what it was in 2010) results in furloughing 10 percent of air traffic controllers and delays are projected for 40 percent of flights. The Administration says it has no choice, and such consequences are unavoidable, and yet the office in the […]
Fictionalism and Platonism in mathematics
O.K., so many of you figured out that my claim, yesterday, that $1 = 1¢ is not actually true. And it was clear that you had to either (1) not square the dollar or cent symbol to begin with, in which case the “proof” wouldn’t be able to proceed, or (2) square them, but remember […]
Why wasn’t Tsarnaev searched at the border?
There’s been considerable speculation about how the government handled Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s return from Russia. Before Tsarnaev’s return, both the FBI and the CIA had suggested that Tsarnaev belonged in the government’s classified terrorist database, and according to some reports an alert for Tsarnaev was entered into the DHS border system. Yet according to Secretary Napolitano […]
“Racist Hate Speech” Conviction in Belgium for Tearing up Koran in Front of a Group of Muslims
Dr. Jogchum Vrielink (coordinator of the Centre for Discrimination Law at the University of Leuven, Belgium) passes this along: In Belgium a man was convicted for ‘racist hate speech’ because he publicly tore up a Koran, before the eyes of a group of Muslims. The case illustrates the need to protect free speech against those […]
A new and useful proof that $1 = 1¢
Note: this is only useful to you if you use it in the right direction. $1 = 100¢ = (10¢) ^ 2 = ($0.10) ^ 2 = $0.01 = 1¢. How can you use this proof? Propose to your student loan creditor that your $10,000 loan is actually just 10,000¢ = $100. Their strategy would […]
My Written Testimony on Drones and Targeted Killing Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights
My written testimony on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror submitted for yesterday’s hearing the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights is now available here. You can view the video of the oral testimony (both mine and the other witnesses) here. I will post […]
Drone Warfare Debate at the Oxford Union
Congratulations to Co-Conspirator Ilya on his Senate testimony on drone warfare yesterday – I had a chance to read and offer some comments on his written submission and it is sensible and smart as Ilya always is. There’s stuff Ilya, I, and other should take up here; although I’m broadly in the same camp as […]
Oral Testimony on Drones and Targeted Killing Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights
A video of my and other witnesses’ oral testimony on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War Terror, before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights is now available here (just click on “webcast”). It was interesting for me to see that there was a broad consensus […]
House Financial Services Committee Refuses to Invite Richard Cordray to Testify
The Senate held a hearing today at which Richard Cordray testified in his supposed capacity as “Director” of the CFPB. Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, on the other hand has refused to invite Cordray to testify in light of the DC Circuit’s Noel Canning decision invalidating the NLRB recess appointments: President Obama installed Cordray […]
NRA T-Shirt Is Back in School, in Multiple Copies
Several readers had e-mailed me about the story of a 14-year-old who was apparently told that he couldn’t wear an NRA T-shirt (which depicted a rifle), and then arrested when the dispute escalated. Yesterday, he was apparently back in school (see ABC News and Washington Times) wearing the shirt, and many classmates are wearing the […]