This morning the DC Circuit heard oral argument in the facial challenge to the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking (which, full disclosure, I worked on when I was at the FCC). The most extensive writeup I have seen about the oral argument is here (note that the author, Harold Feld, is a strong supporter of the […]
Archive | September, 2013
How Does He Know When You’ve Been Bad or Good?
I’ve posted this before, but in light of recent developments I thought it was worth reposting. This was supposedly written for and sung at a U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel Christmas party during the Carter administration; please let me know if you have a more precise attribution: You’d better watch out, You’d […]
Crime to “Disparag[e]” an Under-18-Year-Old “With Intent to Harass”?
That’s what Pennsylvania HB1163, which passed the Judiciary Committee by a 25-0 vote in May, would provide: (1) A person commits the crime of cyber harassment of a child if, by means of an electronic communication and with intent to harass a child, he repeatedly communicates or, on at least one occasion, makes available to […]
Even Mathematically Literate People Become Innumerate when they Focus on Political Issues
At Mother Jones, Kevin Drum and Chris Mooney have interesting posts discussing a new paper by Yale law professor Dan Kahan and his coauthors, which finds that even people who are generally good at interpreting statistics act as if they are innumerate when faced with data that goes against their political views. Mooney summarizes the […]
The Nature of the Syrian Rebels and the Case for Intervention in Syria
I have previously suggested that the case for military intervention in Syria depends in large part on the nature of the rebels fighting to overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad. If the rebels are primarily radical Islamists who would establish a government as oppressive and anti-American as Assad’s, it would be both foolish and immoral […]
The Question No One Asked at Justice Kagan’s Confirmation Hearing: Why did she wall herself off from the Obamacare Litigation
Nearly everything written about calls for Justice Kagan to recuse in NFIB v. Sebelius focused on whether she had anything to do with the Obamacare litigation while she was serving as Solicitor General. The answer to this question was straightforward. As I discussed in Unprecedented–and based on stuff I couldn’t write–she had absolutely nothing to do with […]
Rep. Charles Rangel Cites Possible Intervention in Syria as a Justification for his Call for Reinstating the Draft
Democratic Representative Charles Rangel cites the possibility of intervention in Syria as a justification for reinstating the draft, a cause he has long advocated: America seems increasingly inclined to engage in a new military conflict every few years, faced with a new populace to defend, a new democracy to design, and a new dictator to […]
2008 Restrictions on NSA Lifted in 2011
The Washington Post has a story that begins: The Obama administration secretly won permission from a surveillance court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases, according to interviews with government officials and recently declassified […]
Does it Matter if US Intervention in Syria Violates the UN Charter?
Most international law experts agree that a US military intervention in Syria would violate the United Nations charter, which forbids the use of force against another state except in self-defense or when authorized by a UN Security Council Resolution. In this case, the Assad regime has not attacked the United States, and there is no […]
Domestic Drone Regulation for Safety and Privacy
By Kenneth Anderson on September 8, 2013 1:48 pm in Drones (UAVs), Privacy, Robotics, Uncategorized, Video
Today’s (Sunday, Sep 8, 2013) New York Times has a story by Anne Eisenberg, “Preflight Turbulence for Commercial Drones.” The article combines two crucial topics in connection with drones (remotely piloted aerial vehicles, or unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, but my advice to the industry and USAF is that the People Have Spoken, and it’s “drones”): […]
Corsi’s Life of Political Crime
By Jonathan H. Adler on September 8, 2013 11:30 am in Election Law, First Amendment, Restrictions on Campaign Contrbs. and Expenses
If you want to get together with friends to talk about politics, hear speakers on policy issues, and perhaps create a website promoting policy ideas, do you need to register as a political actin committee even if you don’t endorse candidates or get involved in elections? In Ohio the answer can be “yes,” as Ed […]
President Warren?
A story in The Hill begins: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will address a key faction of the liberal base Monday as speculation intensifies that she will someday seek the presidency. Todd Zywicki, call your office.
A Hands-Tied Presidency?
By Jonathan H. Adler on September 8, 2013 9:26 am in Executive Branch, Separation of Powers, War and Armed Conflict
In an essay for the NYT Sam Tanenhaus argues that President Obama “holds office at a time when the presidency itself has ceded much of its power and authority to Congress.” No, really. This is what he says. It is, frankly, a rather bizarre claim. As a great deal of academic work has documented (including an […]
Brief Review of “The Great Dissent” by Thomas Healy (UPDATED)
I’ve just finished reading “The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind–and Changed the History of Free Speech in America” by law professor Thomas Healy. The book has received sterling views, and happens to be directly related to something I’m writing about now, so I was looking forward to reading it. On the […]
State Takes Baby for First 75 Days of the Baby’s Life, Because of Mother’s Use of Poppy Seed Dressing
A federal district court has found that this happened, and that this violated the Constitution. From Bower v. Lawrence County Children and Youth Services (W.D. Pa. Aug. 12, 2013) (some paragraph breaks added): In July 2009, Bower was a twenty years old resident of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. On July 12, 2009 at approximately 7:00 p.m., […]