The Supreme Court of Missouri recently issued Missouri Ex. Rel. Jackson v. Dolan, an important decision interpreting the state’s post-Kelo eminent domain reform law, which bans the use of eminent domain to condemn property for “solely economic development purposes.” As Robert Thomas points out at the Inverse Condemnation Blog, the ruling gives the statute more […]
Archive | May, 2013
Advice to Lawyers (Which Seems Surprisingly Necessary): Don’t Use Vulgarities in Court
From In re Foster (N.C. Ct. App. May 21, 2013) (nonprecedential): The State’s evidence tended to show the following facts. On the evening of 5 November 2011, a Saturday, defendant entered the Buncombe County Detention Facility and went to an area designated by sign as a “Magistrate Court.” Defendant told the magistrate on duty that […]
Notice for E-Mail Warrants and the James Rosen Case
A few days ago, Ryan Lizza had a story in the New Yorker detailing litigation over whether the search warrant to search James Rosen’s e-mail account required that the government notify Rosen of the search. The procedural history is actually kind of complicated, but the key idea is that Magistrate Judges Kay and Facciola thought […]
Joel Alicea on Intellectual Diversity in the Legal Academy
Last month, I posted about a first-rate conference at Harvard Law School on the topic of intellectual diversity in the legal academy. Joel Alicea, the student who organized the conference, has a nice op-ed in the Washington Times on this topic today. Here is how it begins: “One cannot truly understand a legal argument on […]
English Police: “People Should Stop and Think About What They Say on Social Media Before Making Statements as the Consequences Could Be Serious”
From the Mirror (UK): A 22-year-old man has been charged on suspicion of making malicious comments on Facebook following the [brutal public murder by jihadists -EV] of British soldier Lee Rigby. Benjamin Flatters, of Lincoln, was arrested last night [and charged] after complaints were made to Lincolnshire Police about comments made on Facebook, which were […]
Ban on Note-Taking by Spectators in Court
The Daily Times Herald (Iowa) reports: District Judge James Richardson forbade a Daily Times Herald reporter from taking notes at a vehicular homicide trial Tuesday in Audubon, a rare courtroom rule that some say is unconstitutional. Richardson said a reporter’s scrawls could “influence the jury in that they might think something is important if they […]
Still More on Justice Scalia’s Footnote
Eugene has a somewhat different take on Justice Scalia’s now-infamous footnote than I did . . . He writes [M]y sense is that the footnote is just a somewhat indirect way to remind lawyers of a useful rule of brief writing — always decode any abbreviations that you use. Of course, as David points out, it’s not […]
My Review Fear Itself by Ira Katznelson
has been published at Reason.com. It’s not a favorable review–I argue that Katznelson grossly exaggerates the extent to which FDR was stymied from pursuing a progressive agenda by the power of southern Congressmen, and that he is unpersuasive in excusing some of Roosevelt’s worst policies on the grounds that the alternative was to put democracy […]
Sri Srinivasan Confirmed to the DC Circuit
Congratulations to Sri Srinivasan for being confirmed today to a judgeship on the DC Circuit. The final vote was a squeaker — 97-0. There is going to be a lot of speculation that Srinivasan may be nominated to the Supreme Court someday, so it’s perhaps worth noting that Justice Ginsburg has indicated that she is […]
Obama’s Speech on Drones and the War on Terror
By Ilya Somin on May 23, 2013 9:00 pm in Drones (UAVs), Targeted Killing, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
In his speech on drones and the War on Terror today President Obama made many valid points. But he also continued to elide some key issues. On the plus side, Obama correctly emphasized that the use of drones against terrorists is not inherently illegal nor immoral, that drones are often more discriminating and less likely […]
State of Vermont v. Alleged Patent Troll
The case is State v. MPHJ Technology Investments Corp. (Vt. Super. Ct. filed May 8, 2013); GigaOM reports: In a complaint filed in Vermont’s Superior Court, the state accuses MPHJ Technology — which operates 40 shell companies through a UPS store in Delaware — of violating consumer protection law by demanding small businesses buy a […]
Future Democratic Supreme Court Picks?
Ian Millhiser speculates about future Democratic Supreme Court nominees over at ThinkProgress, naming names. Some of the names Ian mentions strike me as very very plausible; others strike me as very very implausible. But I’m not privy to the thinking of either current or future Democratic administrations, so who knows.
Huffington Post Live Discussion on the IRS and Political Profiling
Today between 4:30 and 5 PM, I will be participating in a Huffington Post Live discussion on the use of political profiling by the IRS. You can watch it live here. I will also be drawing connections between this issue and the question of racial profiling, a parallel I discussed in this post. UPDATE: You […]
Louisiana Set to Criminalize Publishing That Someone Has a Concealed Carry Permit
The bill is HB8, though there’s a Senate amendment; apparently, the Legislature plans to enact the bill as amended. The bill bars the government from releasing information about who has applied for or gotten a concealed carry permit, and the Legislature certainly can impose such restrictions on the government itself. But then it also criminalizes […]
Labeling Reporters “Criminals,” or Just Complying With the Privacy Protection Act?
There has been a lot of outrage expressed recently over the contents of an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant to search the e-mail accounts of reporter James Rosen. The government’s affidavit offered the view that Rosen violated the law by aiding and abetting the alleged violations of laws prohibiting the disclosure of […]