The Missouri Legislature just passed a bill, introduced by Rep. Rick Brattin, aimed to “protect Christmas and Thanksgiving” (the AP’s paraphrase of the representative); the representative “said Christmas has particularly come under criticism from groups seeking to wipe out public references to religion. ‘In schools, especially, they’re not even allowed to mention the word[.]’” The […]
Archive | July, 2013
No Leafleting at a University Without Several Days’ Notice
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reports: University of Alabama police have ordered a pro-choice student group to cease distributing informational flyers on campus in response to another group’s pro-life event, and threatened members with arrest for failing to comply with its orders…. As The Crimson White, UA’s student newspaper, reported on April 17, […]
Appellant’s Brief Filed in United States v. Auernheimer
Back in March, I blogged about my agreeing to work pro bono on a Third Circuit appeal, United States v. Auernheimer, that raises several critical questions about the scope of the computer crime laws. I spent part of May and most of the last month working on the brief, and I’m happy to say it […]
Canada Day
By Ilya Somin on July 1, 2013 8:56 pm in Canada, Economic LIberties, Federalism, Growth of Government, Sports and Games
Since today is Canada Day, this is an appropriate time to thank that nation for giving us most of the greatest Boston Bruins players, including Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Ray Bourque, and Rick “Nifty” Middleton (my favorite player when I was little). I even rooted for Canada more than the US in the 1984 and […]
The Case for Federal Eminent Domain Reform
By Ilya Somin on July 1, 2013 7:54 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Nick Sibilla of the Institute for Justice, the libertarian public interest firm that litigated Kelo v. City of New London and many other property rights cases, has a good op ed in Forbes on the need for reform measures to curb federal funding of abusive condemnations by state and local governments: Eight years ago, the […]
Indian Commerce Clause in the Supreme Court
By David Kopel on July 1, 2013 7:43 pm in Child Protection, Commerce Clause, Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Federalism, Racial Discrimination, Supreme Court
Among the cases decided during final week of the Supreme Court term was Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (Scotusblog summary here.) Justice Alito’s opinion for a 5-4 majority begins: This case is about a little girl (Baby Girl) who is classified as an Indian because she is 1.2% (3/256) Cherokee. Because Baby Girl is classified […]
Apostates Are Always More Hated Than Infidels
The Vegan Sellout List lists the names, addresses, descriptions, and photographs of former vegans, presumably as submitted by current-and-now-outraged vegans. Because nothing says “Come join us” like “And if you leave, we’ll try (but probably fail) to publicly shame you.” See this New York Observer article for more; thanks to Ed Grinberg for the pointer.
Another Odd Thing about that “Latino/a Law Professors” Letter
On Friday, I noted what I deemed to be a strange response from a self-described “group of Latino/a law professors” to a piece I wrote for Scotusblog on affirmative action and Hispanics after Fisher; strange primarily because I was addressing the diversity rationale for affirmative action, which is the rationale approved of by the Supreme […]
Privatized Regulation and Antitrust
I have a new post up on the Reason Foundation website on a recent Fourth Circuit case, North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC, and the FTC order that it upheld. Here’s an excerpt: Federal antitrust law enshrines a public-private dichotomy: unlike the private sector, state governments are completely immune from antitrust suits […]
A Brief Review of World War Z
I saw the movie version of World War Z last night. Although it was mostly for entertainment, I was also conducting in-depth academic research for my article on political ignorance and the undead, my planned contribution to Economics of the Undead: Blood Brains and Benjamins, edited by Glen Whitman and James Dow! The article builds […]
Chalking and the First Amendment
May state or local governments bar people from writing messages in chalk on public sidewalks, on the theory that this is a form of graffiti (albeit fairly easily washable). Is such a ban constitutional? 1. Mahoney v. Doe (D.C. Cir. 2011) said yes, if the prohibition is content-neutral. The court used logic that might be […]
22 State Attorneys General Get Urban Outfitters to Stop Selling Coffee Mugs With Mock “Prescription” Labels
Here is the awful product that so drew so many chief prosecutors’ ire: Horrified yet by the sheer viciousness of it all? I actually thought it was quite funny, but 23 state attorneys general wrote a letter to Urban Outfitters asking that the product be pulled; Urban Outfitters gave in. Here’s the AGs’ argument, likely […]