In a thoughtful post below, Orin suggests that we don’t know enough about the federal government’s seizure of the AP’s records. As Orin notes, the Justice Department has special rules for this sort of thing. Yet there are reasons to doubt whether the government followed these rules. Among other things, the government is required to […]
Archive | May, 2013
Scott v. Saint John’s Church in the Wilderness — Briefs and New York Times Article
Today’s New York Times has an article by Adam Liptak about Scott v. Saint John’s Church in the Wilderness, the case in which I filed a cert petition recently. In that case, as many readers may recall, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that bars my clients from (among other things) displaying “gruesome […]
The Non-Story of the AP Phone Records, At Least So Far
A lot of blogs are expressing outrage at the AP story reporting that the government collected logs of telephone numbers used by the AP. The AP’s story appears to have been written to get people upset. The first sentence of the AP report is not subtle: “The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone […]
Justice Department Seized AP Phone Records
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 13, 2013 8:04 pm in Executive Branch, Freedom to Gather Information, Press, War on Terror
The AP reports: The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news. The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and […]
IRS Disclosed Confidential Material Too
ProPublica reports: The same IRS office that deliberatelytargeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year. The IRS did not respond to requests Monday following up about that release, and whether it had determined how the applications were sent […]
Supreme Court Agrees to Consider Case, Without Having Heard Yet from Respondents
That’s very unusual. A bit of background: If a litigant loses below, and petitions for certiorari (i.e., Supreme Court review), he is labeled the “petitioner,” and the winner the “respondent.” When respondents see a petition filed, they sometimes file a brief in opposition (called a BIO), but often waive their right to respond. If the […]
“Space Oddity”
“A revised version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.” Way cool.
Colorado Bill Would Restrict Distribution of “Magazines Whose Primary Focus is Marijuana or Marijuana Businesses”
The bill, HB1317, provides that an agency must set rules Requiring that magazines whose primary focus is marijuana or marijuana businesses are only sold in retail marijuana stores or behind the counter in establishments where persons under twenty-one years of age are present. Uh, no, you can’t do that. That the government may regulate marijuana […]
The Administration Says Universities Must Implement Broad Speech Codes
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is telling universities to institute speech codes. And not just any old speech codes: Under these speech codes, universities would be required to prohibit students from, for instance, saying “unwelcome” “sexual or dirty jokes” spreading “unwelcome” “sexual rumors” (without any […]
Lawyers Beware
From RLI Insurance Co v. JDJ Marine (2d Cir. May 10, 2013): John F. Karpousis, Freehill, Hogan & Mahar, LLP, New York, New York, for Movant–Defendant–Counter–Claimant–Appellant…. PER CURIAM: Appellant JDJ Marine, Inc., moves to reinstate an appeal dismissed after its failure to comply with this court’s second scheduling order for filing a brief. The motion […]
Minnesota Senate Votes on Marriage Today
At Noon Central time, the Minnesota Senate will begin debate on a bill extending marriage to same-sex couples. The state house of representatives approved the bill last Thursday, on a vote of 75-59. If the bill passes the senate, it goes on to Governor Mark Dayton, who has pledged to sign it. You can watch […]
Floyd Abrams & the First Amendment
Ronald Collins May 13, 2013 As a longtime reader of this blog I was quite pleased when Eugene invited me to write a few words about my new book and also about Floyd Abrams’s forthcoming book, which will be out very soon. My book is titled Nuanced Absolutism: Floyd Abrams and the First Amendment. […]
When There Are Many Ways to Lose a Single Case
Today a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Platinum Sports Ltd. v. Snyder. The opinion by Judge Sutton begins: In 2011, the Michigan legislature enacted two laws. One barred sexually oriented businesses from displaying signs on the premises that contained more than “words or numbers.” Mich. […]
“To Regulate” Not “To Prohibit”
Barry Friedman of New York University School of Law and Genevieve Lakier of the University of Chicago Law School have an interesting new paper on the meaning of “regulate” as used in the Commerce Clause, “‘To Regulate,’ Not ‘To Prohibit’: Limiting the Commerce Power.” Here’s the abstract: Today it is taken for granted that Congress’s […]
IRS Scrutinized Teaching the Constitution
The Washington Post reports this gem: At various points over the past two years, Internal Revenue Service officials targeted nonprofit groups that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution, according to documents in an audit conducted by the agency’s inspector general. The documents, obtained by The Washington Post from a congressional aide with knowledge […]