That’s the headline of a new article at Slate. Readers of the blog may know that I’m skeptical of the rare and rarely enforced state laws that actually make it a crime to live together in what one characterizes as a polygamous relationship, even when one doesn’t claim any legal benefits based on that relationship […]
Archive | April, 2013
Federalism and Fracking Debate
Tomorrow evening I’ll be back in my home town to participate in a debate on the regulation of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas development sponsored by the Philadelphia Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. I will be debating question “Does the Federal Government Need to Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing?” with Professor Amy Sinden of the Temple […]
Evaluating the REINS Act
The NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy has published my article “Placing Reins on Regulations: Assessing the Proposed REINS Act” in its latest issue. The arguments I make in this piece should be familiar to readers of this blog. In the same issue, the NYUJLPP has also published “The REINS Act and the Struggle to Control Agency […]
New Sentencing Comissioners Nominated
Yesterday, President Obama nominated three individuals to serve as commissioners on the U.S. Sentencing Commission: Judge William H. Pryor, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California, and Professor Rachel Barkow of the NYU School of Law. I agree with Doug Berman that these […]
Arrests of Atheist Bloggers and Newspaper Editor in Bangladesh
Human Rights Watch reports, though I’ve also seen this in other sources, such as bdnews24.com, Reporters Without Borders, and Times of India (the latter heavily relying on the Human Rights Watch story): [F]our bloggers and a newspaper editor … are facing criminal charges …. Following the arrests of the bloggers, the government made clear that […]
From a D.C. Court of Appeals Opinion Last Thursday
Law students and young lawyers take note. (Heck, we old lawyers should, too.) You don’t want a court to say about you what the D.C. Court of Appeals said in Pietrangelo v. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, LLP (Apr. 11, 2013): Appellant James E. Pietrangelo, II, a licensed attorney acting pro se, brought an […]
Interestingly Written Dissent by Justice Kagan
The case is Genesis Health Care Corp. v. Symczyk, decided today. A brief excerpt: “Feel free to relegate the majority’s decision to the furthest reaches of your mind: The situation it addresses should never again arise.”
The Federalist Society’s New Executive Branch Review Blog
The Federalist Society recently unveiled its new Executive Branch Review Blog, which focuses on legal and constitutional issues involving – you guessed it – the executive branch. One of the regular bloggers there will be my wife Alison Somin, who serves as a special assistant/counsel with the US Commission on Civil Rights. Yesterday, she put […]
Colin Davis, R.I.P.
British conductor Colin Davis died this past Sunday, age 85. Davis was an extraordinarily gifted musician – to my ears, the greatest conductor of the last 30 years* (the one possible exception: James Levine). He holds a special place in my affections because he “taught” me what conductors do, and how important they are. In […]
Histories of the Papacy
I’m planning to read a history of the papacy this summer. I already own two: Nicolas Cheetham’s History of the Popes, and Roger Collins’s Keepers of the Keys of Heaven. (I also own a more general (and longer) history of Christianity, Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years.) Does anyone have recommendations as between […]
The Boston Attacks
I lived in the Boston area for most of the period between 1980 and 2001, and was therefore especially saddened by today’s terrible bombing there. Fortunately, none of my many relatives and friends in the area were hurt, though obviously many others were not so lucky. The nature of the attack clearly suggests that it […]
Jazz Great Louis Armstrong on Government Make-Work Jobs
The song happens to be about the New Deal WPA, but the lyrics apply more broadly. (For that matter, academia is hardly exempt from the phenomenon of people with guaranteed employment often slacking off.) Hat tip: Historian David Beito via Facebook, from Cafe Hayek.
The Supreme Court’s Standing Problem (Cont’d)
The scandal goes on. Adam Liptak reports.
Russian history for kids, Putin-style
In the summer of 2010, while I was teaching in Germany, we ran into a Russian cultural center in Berlin (it was probably the Russisches Haus) and bought some kids’ books at their bookstore. One of them was Russian History, by Natal’ia Maiorova. I’ve finally finished reading it to my kids, so now I know […]
Turkish Composer and Pianist Fazil Say Sentenced for “Insulting Muslim Values”
So reports the BBC; the sentence is 10 months’ suspended, so that he will not go to jail on this occasion, but he “would be subject to the prison time should he commit a similar crime within five years,” according to BusinessWeek.com. The case against him was based on about half a dozen postings on […]