Today the White House formally released the names of the committee of “outside experts” to review the NSA’s surveillance practices. A fifth name was added to the list beyond the four leaked last week: Professor Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago Law School. I debated Professor Stone on national security surveillance issues back in […]
Archive | August, 2013
Elevator Repair Service Theater: Arguendo
By Nick Rosenkranz on August 27, 2013 8:05 pm in Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
Acclaimed avant-garde theatre company Elevator Repair Service (ERS) will soon present the world-premiere of their new show, Arguendo, at the Public Theater in New York City. Arguendo is a dramatization of the oral argument of Barnes v. Glen Theatre, an important Supreme Court case about nude dancing and the First Amendment. ERS has a following […]
From Natural Born “Subjects” to Natural Born “Citizens”
There’s been lots of excellent blogging on the subject of whether Senator Ted Cruz was a “natural born citizen” of the United States and therefore eligible to be President. I won’t summarize it here, but recommend Mike Ramsey’s two posts on here and here on The Originalism Blog, Garrett Epps’s post here on Atlantic.com, Sandy Levinson’s post here on Balkinization, and Steven Lubet’s here on […]
Would a US Military Intervention in Syria be Constitutional?
The US and its allies are considering a military intervention in Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against civilians. If President Obama decides to go in, it will likely be without congressional authorization. Such a step would create serious constitutional problems similar to those arising from the intervention in Libya […]
Stop the Insanity
I’ve recently learned that some of my scholarship is cited in a book urging President Obama’s impeachment. As my daughter would say, “How about no.” It’s reasonable to criticize this Administration’s efforts to expand executive power and its abuses of administrative authority — and I have done so — but this impeachment stuff is inane.
The Mismatch Effect, in the L.A. Times
As Heather MacDonald points out in the National Review Online, an L.A. Times story from Aug. 16, 2013 is a good case study illustrating my colleague Rick Sander’s mismatch effect thesis. The article is about Kashawn Campbell, who sounds like an immensely appealing and studious young man who has been failed by the system, most […]
Incrementalism Versus the “Long Game”
There are two additional passages in Adam Liptak’s interview with Justice Ginsburg worth highlighting. The first describes Chief Justice Roberts’ alleged strategy for shifting the law in a rightward direction. Some commentators have said that the two voting rights decisions are an example of the long game Chief Justice Roberts seems to be playing in several areas […]
Justice Ginsburg on “Judicial Activism” in the Roberts Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg believes the Roberts Court is “one of the most activist courts in history,” according to a widely cited interview with the NYT‘s Adam Liptak. “Activist” is a slippery label, often indicating nothing more than disagreement with a Court’s decision in a given case. fortunately Justice Ginsburg provided Liptak with a definition. Specifically, Ginsburg […]
DOJ Defends Telephony Metadata Program in SDNY
Readers following EPIC’s petition at the Supreme Court seeking review of the government’s telephony metadata program will be interested in this memorandum DOJ filed today in support of dismissing a complaint in a similar challenge brought by the ACLU in the South District of New York. The first ten pages of the government’s memorandum raise […]
Time to Stop Using “Hobbit” as an Insult
Two years ago, John McCain derided “Tea Party hobbits.” Now Tulane University assistant dean Jim Letten is using the same insult against conservative “guerrilla journalist” James O’Keefe: Former U.S. attorney and assistant Tulane University Dean Jim Letten unleashed a barrage of verbal abuse at conservative “guerrilla journalist” James O’ Keefe and his film crew in […]
Origins of the English Militia
David Hume’s’s The History of England (1778) tells the story of the Danish conquest of England. (vol. 1, chapter 2 “The Anglo-Saxons”). After a series of wars, the Danes drove King Alfred off the throne, forcing him to flee incognito, disguised as a peasant. Alfred then retired into the center of a bog, formed by the […]
Broken Telephone
A recent post at Reason‘s Hit & Run (a blog I generally much like), says the following: Playing StarCraft can boost problem solving and creative thinking, according to a new study by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University College London. Researchers found that those who engaged in the real-time military strategy game […]
Human Rights Watch’s Homepage Features…
So President Assad has apparently attacked civilians with chemical weapons, killing hundreds and injuring more. The Egyptian government has slaughtered hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, who in turn have been engaging in pogroms against Egyptian Christians. Just for the heck of it, I decided to see which of these stories Human Rights Watch featured most […]
Public Ignorance About Crime Rates
By Ilya Somin on August 26, 2013 6:42 pm in Criminal Law, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Politics, Public Opinion
CNN recently published an interesting article about how most of the public believes that violent crime is rising, despite the fact that it has actually fallen dramatically over the last twenty years: You can’t escape the headlines. An Australian going to college in the United States is gunned down by teens who police say killed […]
Intermediate Scrutiny bleg
What law review articles, treatises, etc., do readers recommend for someone who wants to understand the nuances of intermediate scrutiny? Not theoretical articles about whether I.S. is a good or bad idea; rather, examination of how it works in practice, include the sub-rules.