Last week, I posted about a conference at Harvard on the topic of intellectual diversity in the legal academy. I’m pleased to report that the conference was a great success, well conceived and well executed by the excellent students of the Harvard chapter of the Federalist Society. If nothing else, it succeeded in shining a […]
Archive | April, 2013
Bleg on temporary of seizures firearms
I would be grateful if commenters could point to cases, statutes, or secondary materials which address these questions: In Terry stops, traffic stops, and other police encounters with individuals which do not involve an arrest, under what circumstances can a law enforcement officer temporarily detain a person’s firearm? For example, for officer safety during a […]
On Liberty
It is always a treat to reread John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal […]
CFPB Credit Card Complaint Database Analyzed
Recent Bloomberg story on the CFPB’s database for credit card complaints: When U.S. officials began collecting consumer complaints about credit cards, one goal was to identify patterns that could help them write rules protecting families with low and moderate incomes. Nearly two years later, it’s the well-to-do neighborhoods of Florida and New York that are supplying the […]
Bendectin is Back
Thirty years after Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals pulled the morning sickness drug Bendectin off the American market in response to a waive of junk science-inspired claims that it caused limb reduction birth defects, the product is returning to the market under a new name with a new manufacturer. Contrary to what one might reasonably surmise from […]
Marriage equality event in D.C.
My friend Greg Lipper suggests that some of you may be interested in this marriage equality event in D.C., Marriage Equality: What can we expect from the Supreme Court and beyond?. The panelists are: The Honorable John M. Ferren, Senior Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Moderator Paul M. Smith, Jenner & Block (counsel […]
Will CISPA amendments hurt cybersecurity?
The House intel committee is amending CISPA to address privacy criticisms. Politico’s Tony Romm reports on some of the likely amendments: Still another amendment specifies clearly that CISPA won’t allow companies to “hack back” their hackers in pursuit of stolen trade secrets … Really? A government that can’t protect us is debating new measures to make […]
Remembering Salmon P. Chase
This afternoon, I return to DC from London where I spoke to the conference of the Liberty League on Sunday. It was a remarkable group of student and other attendees. It feels odd to be here on the day that Margaret Thatcher died. Last night I attended a performance of The Audience with the marvelous […]
Roger Ebert, Pornography, and the Art of Cinema
Roger Ebert died this past week. He was best known for his various reviewing gigs on TV, starting with his show teamed with Gene Siskel. Because Siskel was tall and Ebert was short, during the show Ebert sat on phone books to lessen the height difference. Another odd story about Ebert is that he once […]
The Art of Russian Cuisine
Unsolicited praise for my mother’s cookbook — The Art of Russian Cuisine — from Dan “Klecko” McGleno (Food Service News): “The Art of Russian Cuisine” by Anne Volokh is one of five things I’d grab if my house was burning. It’s a rare book, but it covers every aspect of Russian cuisine, and my family […]
“God Is Great — Hang the Atheist Bloggers”
Al Jazeera reports: Hundreds of thousands of people have held protests in Bangladesh to demand that the government introduce an anti-blasphemy law that would include the death penalty for bloggers who insult Islam…. Supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam, an Islamist group which draws support from tens of thousands of religious seminaries [and that has the backing of […]
Looking for Some Lost Relatives
Four years back, I post the following: Tonight marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, so I thought I’d recount the little I know about the closest relative I know of who was murdered, my great-grandmother’s sister, Chana Basia (Anna) (Tetenbaum) Bogusz. Chana Basia was the daughter of Hersk (Gersk, Herschel) Tetenbaum and Ester Malka Rubensztejn Tetenbaum of Szczuczyn, […]
GMU Vision Series Lecture
Tonight at 7:15 at the GMU Arlington Campus I will be giving a GMU Vision Series Lectures on “The Not-So-Good-Old-Days of Consumer Credit: How to Think About Consumer Credit and Its Regulation.” Thank you to Provost Peter Stearns for the invitation and the honor of providing this lecture. The lecture will be in the new […]
Three Upcoming Talks in New York City
By Ilya Somin on April 8, 2013 11:20 am in 17th Amendment, Democracy, Federalism, Political Ignorance
This coming week, on Thursday and Friday, I will be doing three different two talks in New York City, two at NYU Law School, and one at Columbia Law School. On Thursday, April 11, from 12:10 to about 1:10, Columbia law Professor Theodore Shaw and I will be debating affirmative action and the Supreme Court’s […]
Upcoming George Mason University Event on Drones and the War on Terror
By Ilya Somin on April 8, 2013 10:40 am in Targeted Killing, Terrorism, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
This Wednesday, April 10, at 12 PM, I will be taking part in an event on the legal and policy issues surrounding the use of drones in the War on Terror, at George Mason University School of Law. I will be on a panel with my GMU colleagues Jeremy Rabkin and Nathan Sales. The event […]