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Archive | August, 2013
Eleemosynary — or, If You Prefer, Eleëmosynary
I ran across this term yet again, in a New Jersey case decided just last week. Just in case some of you find it handy in the future — to understand, not to use — it means “charitable,” as in “a [charitable/eleemosynary] institution” or “an organization’s [charitable/eleemosynary] mission.” It’s more popular in legal circles, being […]
PPACA’s Consumer Cost Caps Delayed
Tuesday’s NYT reported on another part of the PPACA that the Obama Administration has decided to delay. It begins: In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care. […]
The Administration of the “Least Untruthful Answer”
In an article titled “The Lies Aren’t What Makes Obama’s NSA Stance So Awful,” TNR‘s Jeffrey Rosen takes apart the legal justification for the NSA’s surveillance and data collection programs. (Orin discussed the relevant memos here.) The Obama administration’s 22-page White Paper setting out the supposed legal basis for NSA surveillance demonstrates that the Obama […]
My Cato Brief in Support of The Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Challenge to NSA Data Seizures
Yesterday, Jim Harper of the Cato Institute and I filed an amicus brief in support of The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)’s challenge to the constitutionality of the NSA’s blanket seizures of private phone records. Here is the summary from the Cato website: The National Security Agency’s collection of every American’s telephone dialing information is […]
Understanding Gershwin
Israeli pianist Astrith Baltsan explains the music of George Gershwin before a performance of Rhapsody in Blue with the Israel Philharmonic in a 2001 live broadcast on Israel TV. Which brought to mind one of the all-time-great opening sequences of a major motion picture. The only one I can think of that comes close to […]
Thanks in Authors’ Footnotes
Law review article authors routinely thank lots of people in their thank-you notes (generally the introductory footnote that also mentions the author’s affiliation, e-mail address, and the like). I’ve often heard the argument that authors try to use these thank-you’s to impress readers, and especially law review editors: Citing lots of Big Guns in the […]
Judge Rejects DOJ Motion to Dismiss Oklahoma Suit Against IRS Tax Credit Rule
Earlier today the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma rejected the federal government’s motion to dismiss in Oklahoma v. Sebelius, a challenge to the legality of an IRS regulation extending the availability of tax credits to federal exchanges under the PPACA. The text of the PPACA only provides for tax credits in […]
The Justice Department’s New Memorandum to Federal Prosecutors on Charging Drug Offenders
In my last post, I gave a preliminary assessment of Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent speech on reforming charging policy for low-level drug offenders. I pointed out that whether or not this really marks a major policy change depends in large part on the details outlined in an internal memorandum Holder issued to federal prosecutors. […]
No Presumption in Favor of Custodial Parent as to Changing a Child’s Last Name
An interesting opinion today from the New Jersey Supreme Court, Emma v. Evans (N.J. Aug. 12, 2013). In Gubernat v. Deremer, 140 N.J. 120 (1995), a case involving a dispute over a name chosen by the mother at birth (when the parents weren’t living together), the court concluded that, [I]n contested cases the surname selected […]
Assessing the Justice Department’s New Policy on Drug Offenders
In a speech to the American Bar Association today, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a potentially important new change in Justice Department policy on charging drug offenders. For reasons noted by Tom Angell of the Marijuana Majority, this is potentially an important step in curbing at least some of the excesses of the War on […]
My USA Today Column on the City of Richmond’s Plan to Condemn Mortgages
By Ilya Somin on August 12, 2013 5:12 pm in Eminent Domain, Just Compensation Clause, Property Rights
The USA Today website just published my column criticizing the Richmond, CA’s plan to condemn mortgages: The City of Richmond, California is threatening to use eminent domain to condemn over 600 mortgages on homes that are now worth less than the outstanding debt on the mortgages themselves. The city plans to write down the value […]
A Very Gracious Author Footnote
From the author footnote of a new law review article by my colleague Dick Pierce, published in the July issue of the GW Law Review: I owe special thanks to Barbara Bruce, The George Washington University Law School Class of 2014, for providing me the best edit I have received in forty years of publishing […]
“To See Ourselves as Others See Us”
In my First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic (which will be graded pass-fail), students will work closely with each other on the briefs. Each student will likely work on three briefs during the semester, and I’ll have three students working on each brief, so each student will likely end up working with a total of six […]
The Problem With the Administration “White Paper” on the Telephony Metadata Program
On Friday, the Obama Administration released a “white paper” articulating its case for the legality of the NSA call records program under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and under the Fourth Amendment. I found the “white paper” a somewhat frustrating read, as it is essentially a brief for the government’s side with no brief […]