State v. Willan (Ohio June 12, 2013) involves statutory construction; the court rules, 4-3, that the statute under which defendant was convicted unambiguously applies to defendant, but the dissent argues that the statute is ambiguous and that defendant should prevail because of the Rule of Lenity. The statute reads as follows: Except when an offender […]
Archive | June, 2013
My Take on Heather Gerken’s Progressive Defense of Federalism
I recently participated in a Tulsa Law Review symposium in honor of Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerken, one of the nation’s leading federalism scholars. Much of Gerken’s work urges her fellow political liberals to rethink their traditional distaste for federalism. My contribution to the symposium is now available on SSRN. Here is the abstract: […]
Irony Alert: Michael Lind on Lochner
If you are going to accuse a critic of being “astonishingly ignorant of history,” your response to said critic should not include this: State and local licensing rules and trade laws governed economic life in detail, down to the size of spigots in wine casks, in some cases. It was precisely these state and local […]
“Airport Garage Now Muslim House of Worship”
So reads the title of a column by political writers Matier & Ross at SFGate.com: Muslim cabbies now have their very own place at San Francisco International Airport to wash their hands and feet before they pray. Under Islamic law, Muslims are required to pray five times a day — a ritual that also calls […]
Cass Sunstein on Taxi Cab Regulation
Famed Harvard law professor and former Obama Administration official Cass Sunstein is no enemy of regulation in general. But in this recent column, he argues that big cities need to deregulate the taxi market: People can run into two problems when they need to find a taxi. The first is that they don’t know whether […]
Interesting New D.C. Circuit Piracy Case
It’s United States v. Ali (D.C. Cir. June 11, 2013), and it cites an article by our own Eugene Kontorovich. Here’s the introduction: Ali Mohamed Ali, a Somali national, helped negotiate the ransom of a merchant vessel and its crew after they were captured by marauders in the Gulf of Aden. Though he claims merely […]
“Revisiting the ‘Preponderance’ Debate”
Joe Cohn of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education — a group which I very much respect — passed along this response to my post on whether universities should apply the “preponderance of the evidence” standard in deciding whether to expel or otherwise discipline students accused of sexual assault: Professor Volokh recently authored a […]
DELPF’s “Conservative Visions of Our Environmental Future” Symposium
The Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum has published the papers from the Fall conference on “Conservative Visions of Our Environmental Future” about which I blogged here. Other contributors include former Rep. Bob Inglis, Shi-Ling Hsu (Florida State), Reed Watson (PERC), Nicholas Loris (Heritage Foundation), Eli Lehrer (R Street Institute), and James Salzman (Duke). PDFs […]
Whistle-Blower, Criminal, or Both?
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 11, 2013 9:59 pm in Freedom to Gather Information, Government Transparency, War on Terror
The NYT has posted a “Room for Debate” feature on whether Edward Snowden should be seen as a whistle-blower or a criminal (if not both). My contribution begins: Investigating and prosecuting Edward Snowden is a priority, but it should not distract from the far more important issues raised in the past week. Although some Americans […]
Did James Clapper Lie to Congress?
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 11, 2013 9:42 pm in Government Transparency, Uncategorized, War on Terror
In March, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a Senate Committee that the National Security Agency does not “collect any type of data” on Americans, at least “not wittingly.” Recent leaks about NSA surveillance activity suggest this was not true. Here is Clapper’s exchange with Senator Wyden from the March hearing: Senator Wyden: “Last […]
Crime to “Make Any Disloyal or Insulting Remark to or About the Troops”
Fla. Stats. § 250.51: When troops of the Florida National Guard are at drill in their respective armories, on the streets, public roads, or other places, where such drills are conducted or when they are performing other duties required of them by the state or the United States, [it is a misdemeanor for a person […]
Is Mayor Bloomberg’s “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” Anti-Gun?
Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2007: “Bloomberg said the group is not anti-gun and does not oppose the constitutional right to bear arms. ‘This is about getting guns out of the hands of criminals,’ Bloomberg said.” Jacksonville.com, Mar. 4, 2008: “Asked about the loophole, Bloomberg said, ‘It’s outrageous … I don’t have a problem with guns. […]
We’ve Apparently Come to Admire the Petty Corruption of the Political Class
I noticed two anecdotes about the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, both of which were meant to be complimentary but in fact speak volumes about the petty corruption of our political class and how inured to it we’ve become. The first was told by a friend of his who was at a conference of Jewish philanthropists […]
Obama Administration Drops Plan B Appeal
Yesterday the Obama Administration announced it would drop its appeal of a district court ruling ordering the Food and Drug Administration to make Plan B contraception available over-the-counter to women and girls of all ages. According to the FDA, the pill will become available as soon as the manufacturer submits an application for OTC sales […]
Can Anyone Intercept Unencrypted Wireless Communications?
Google argues that the answer is “yes,” in this oral argument today in the Ninth Circuit in Joffe v. Google. It’s an interesting question as a matter of statutory interpretation, largely because Congress wasn’t thinking about wireless Internet networks when it was writing about “radio communications.” The statute reflects different carve-outs from different eras […]