In my previous post on the the California city of of Richmond’s plan to use eminent domain to condemn underwater mortgages, I noted that the plan is likely to be permissible under the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which says that a taking is for a constitutional “public use,” so […]
Archive | July, 2013
Poverty and Child Custody
An interesting Appellate Court of Illinois decision, Cole v. Johnson (Ill. App. Ct. July 23, 2013) (some paragraph breaks rearranged); see, in particular, the last three paragraphs: The petitioner is Cody Cole, and the respondent is Kathryn Anne Johnson. They live in Paris, Illinois, and have a two-year-old son, L.C. They were engaged to be […]
Third Circuit Upholds New Jersey’s Highly Restrictive Scheme for Gun Carry Licenses
The case is today’s Drake v. Filko (3d Cir. July 31, 2013), a 2-1 decision. I agree with the dissent, except that I think intermediate scrutiny isn’t the right standard to apply to such a broad restriction on the right to carry guns for self-defense. My guess is also that there’s a decent chance that […]
Government Releases “Primary Order” for Telephony Metadata Under FISA Section 215
Readers will recall that when Glenn Greenwald released the FISC order indicating that the NSA was getting all domestic telephony metadata, that order was designated the “secondary order.” We have since heard that there was a “primary order” covering what the government is allowed to do with the data obtained under the “secondary order.” The […]
Using Eminent Domain to Condemn Mortgages
The New York Times has an interesting article describing one California city’s plan to use eminent domain to condemn and restructure mortgages [HT: numerous readers who have written me requesting that I do a post about this issue]: The power of eminent domain has traditionally worked against homeowners, who can be forced to sell their […]
Doubling McDonald’s Salaries
Let’s say McDonald’s decided to double all its salaries, so that the entry-level wage became $16 an hour instead of $8 an hour. Why would McDonald’s continue to employ their $8 an hour workers when instead they could hire “better” workers who are worth more? (And those of you who think that the skills, linguistic […]
About that McDonald’s “Study”
HuffPo: McDonald’s could double all salaries and would only have to raise prices by 17 percent. Not quite. Tom Maguire takes the story apart. He also asks the obvious question: If McDonald’s could raise prices without lowering sales, why haven’t they done it already? UPDATE: The Huffington Post has now replaced the original story with […]
Hoosiers
When writing the Brewington amicus brief, which we filed before the Indiana Supreme Court, I used the term “Indianan” in my first draft. Yes, I’d heard of “Hoosier,” but I thought it was a jocular colloquialism, and “Indianan” was the Proper Dignified Lawyerly Way to say it. Boy, was I wrong, as Michael Sutherlin, Dan […]
Lawmakers Upset with PPACA as It Applies to Them
Today’s NYT had an amusing story about how members of Congress and their staffs are concerned about a provision in the PPACA that requires them to obtain insurance through exchanges because, among other things, it will require a substantial increase in out-of-pocket costs. Under a wrinkle that dates back to enactment of the law, members […]
Sixth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Suit Against Cooley Law
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 30, 2013 9:55 pm in Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Today, in MacDonald v. Thomas M. Cooley Law School, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the SIxth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a suit by several former students at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Here’s the court’s summary of its opinion. The plaintiffs, twelve graduates of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, sued their […]
Hearing on IRS Health Insurance Tax Credit Rule
Tomorrow the Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is holding a hearing on “Oversight of IRS’s Legal Basis for Expanding ObamaCare’s Taxes and Subsidies.” The issue is whether the IRS rule purporting to extend tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies for the purchase of qualifying health insurance […]
Forever Stamps
Will posts below about lifetime warranties, which reminds me about the postal service’s “forever stamps.” Forever? Really? That’s a long time. I don’t mean to cast any aspersions on the U.S. Postal Service when I express doubt that the stamps will really be usable forever. But maybe that’s just an occasion to mention one of […]
Civil Unions and Federal Law
A commenter to my last DOMA/choice-of-law post asks– why not just have federal law recognize all state-law civil unions? Why insist that a legal union be labeled “marriage” to count federally as a marriage? There are two slightly different versions of this question, which in my view have different answers. Version one: Under current law, […]
New Draft Article: The Next Generation Communications Privacy Act
I recently posted a new draft article, The Next Generation Communications Privacy Act, forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. I wrote the draft during the winter and spring, before the Edward Snowden NSA disclosures, although some aspects of the Snowden disclosures echo the themes of the article. Note that this article is only […]
Andrew McCarthy’s Fundamental Error
McCarthy: It is entirely understandable that libertarian-minded conservatives should distrust the Obama administration and resist endowing it with unnecessary additional powers. But the NSA programs are not new – they long predate Obama. And they are – the NSA, the administration, and informed members of Congress attest – highly effective efforts to map terror networks […]