Respondent in NLRB v. Noel Canning, 12-1281, the case seeking review of the D.C. Circuit’s judgment invalidating the President’s recess appointments of several NLRB members, has filed its brief respecting certiorari–five days early, no less, probably to ensure the Court has time to consider the case before leaving for summer recess. As anticipated, respondent does […]
Archive | May, 2013
The Higher Ed Bubble
Interesting commentary in The Atlantic Monthly on the rising cost and decreasing quality of higher education: HIGHER education has long been growing more rational. Yet there is a widespread feeling of discontent with the present ideal of academic culture which sometimes degenerates into down- right pessimism. It must be conceded that education costs too much […]
Native American Tribe Challenges CFPB CID Based on Illegality of Cordray Non-Recess Appointment
According to Bloomberg the Chippewa-Cree tribe in Montana has refused to comply with a CID from the CFPB based on the illegality of the non-recess appointment of Richard Cordray as Bureau director: Under Dodd-Frank, the bulk of the bureau’s authority to supervise banks with assets above $10 billion, a group of about 110 that includesJPMorgan Chase […]
The Message from Justice Scalia: When You’re Using Unfamiliar Abbreviations in Briefs, Define Them Up Front
David Post faulted Justice Scalia’s footnote 1 in Monday’s City of Arlington v. FCC (see also this follow-up), so I thought I’d mention my own thought on the subject, because I think there’s actually a useful lesson to law students there. The footnote, which accompanied a sentence that began, “In July 2008, CTIA—The Wireless Association,” […]
Can A Congressional Witness Deny Guilt and Then Plead the Fifth?
Today Lois Lerner was called to testify before a House Committee about the recent scandal involving the IRS targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny. Before the Committee, Lerner was invited to make an opening statement. Her opening statement included the following: On May 14th, the Treasury inspector general released a report finding that the Exempt […]
Human Rights Watch Director Privately Slurs Israel
By Eugene Kontorovich on May 22, 2013 4:30 pm in International Human Rights Law, International Law, Israel, War on Terror
The credibility of NGOs like Human Rights Watch depends on their being above and apart from the conflicts they monitor – to not take sides. Human Rights Watch has been criticized by many, including its founder, for giving up all objectivity an adopting an anti-Israel campaign. Their grudge against Israel has been clear for a […]
Peering Through A Window Next to A Front Door Held to Be A Fourth Amendment Search
Here’s an interesting new application of Florida v. Jardines (March 26, 2013), which recently held that bringing a drug-sniffing dog up to the front door of a home for a “sniff” of the front door area is a Fourth Amendment search. In this morning’s decision in Powell v. State of Florida, officers went up to […]
Political Profiling and Racial Profiling
Slate columnist Farhad Manjoo has an interesting article arguing that conservatives are right to complain about the IRS’ use of political profiling, but argues that they should use the same reasoning to rethink their support for racial profiling in law enforcement. As he points out the IRS justification for political profiling is very similar to […]
Judging People by their Unpopular Views
Last week, economist Bryan Caplan wrote an interesting post explaining why people’s virtue or lack thereof is often most evident in their unpopular views: Consider a world where 80% of people are Conformists, 10% of people are Righteous, and 10% are Reprobates. The Conformists are epistemically and morally neutral, so they believe and support whatever […]
The Case for Drones
By Kenneth Anderson on May 22, 2013 10:50 am in Drones (UAVs), Targeted Killing, Terrorism, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
Just in time for President Obama’s big speech Thursday at the National Defense University on counterterrorism policy and strategy, Commentary Magazine has made available early my June cover article, “The Case for Drones.” (Available free and not behind the subscriber wall.) It’s a long essay arguing that drones are both effective and ethical, and addressing […]
A Dog Bites Meat Story: Dogs Sniff Out Meat More Effectively than Drugs
This Vancouver Sun article reports that dogs are much more effective at sniffing out meat than drugs [HT: Steve Bainbridge]: Federal search dogs at international border entry points have a penchant for sniffing out one thing more than anything else: meat. In fact, dogs trained to find animal products turn up meat around 20 times […]
Establishment Support Builds for Sanctions and Active Defense in Cyberdefense
Anger at Chinese hacking continues to build in American business and government circles. As a result, establishment figures have begun to embrace the idea of letting private companies do more than passively defend their networks. The latest evidence is the report of a commission headed by two Obama appointees, former US Ambassador to China (and […]
Russian Bill Criminalizing Insults to Religious Feeling Passes Second Reading in Parliament
Lenta.ru so reports. The bill would criminalize “actions in public, demonstrating clear disrespect to society and committed with the intent to insult the religious feelings of believers,” with the maximum punishment being one year in prison, or three years if the actions are committed in a place of worship. The final vote on the law […]
An Unidentified Senior Administration Official on the Leak Investigations at Lawfare
At the Lawfare blog, a communication from an unidentified “senior national security official” in the Obama administration on the leak investigation against Fox News’ James Rosen. It’s striking that a senior official would decide to communicate these views via a blog – though Lawfare (whose editor-in-chief is the former Washington Post journalist turned Brookings scholar […]
Jonathan Adler on Leak Investigations
Apropos the recent posts on the Administration’s leak investigations and the press, I thought I’d note three items by our own Jonathan Adler from when a similar issue arose during the Bush Administration: Reporting Is Not a Crime: Conservatives Should Think Twice About Criminalizing Journalism (National Review Online), A Troubling Prosecution: United States v. Rosen […]