I sharply criticized the proposed ban — part of a broad pro-gun-rights law that passed both houses of the Missouri Legislature, and was then vetoed by the Governor (partly on free speech grounds) — two weeks ago. A week later, the state House voted to override the veto, but the state Senate override failed, by […]
Archive | September, 2013
Interesting Article on Why Some Low-Income Consumers Use Check Cashers Instead of Banks
From The Atlantic–better customer service and lower prices (for many) than banks: As part of my research as an urban policy professor at The New School, I recently spent four months working weekly, eight-hour shifts as a teller at RiteCheck, a check cashing business in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx. I wanted to […]
Cut Crop Insurance Before Food Stamps
At NRO, Henry Olsen explains why every argument House Republicans and conservative activists make against food stamps — they “cost too much, have grown too quickly, encourage government dependency, and discourage work” — applies even more to crop insurance, yet Republicans only seem to care about the former. America’s crop-insurance program is obscene. Farmers receive […]
EPA Proposes New Carbon Standards for Power Plants
Today the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing carbon dioxide emission standards for new power plants that will, in effect, bar the construction of new coal-fired power plants without costly carbon capture technology. The proposed standards would require both natural gas and coal-fired power plants to meet stringent new limits — limits that most new natural […]
“Average is Over” and The Future of Lawyers
I’ve just finished reading, and rather enjoyed, Tyler Cowen’s latest book: Average is Over. At a macro level, it is a claim about the dramatic changes we can expect in the economy and our society over the next century. But it has a lot of strange side discussions I wasn’t really expecting. I still can’t […]
Can You Hand Out the Constitution on Constitution Day?
Ken White at Popehat reports on the bureaucratic blindness of officials at Modesto Junior College, where a student was told he needed to fill out a form in order to obtain permission to handout copies of the U.S. Constitution on campus in honor of Constitution Day, and that he could only hand out the materials […]
Review of John Lott’s New Book on Judicial Nominations
I’ve just started reading John Lott’s new book Dumbing Down the Courts: How Politics Keeps the Smartest Judges Off the Bench and this review caught my eye because it discusses one of my law school professors, Lillian BeVier, who was nominated for the 4th Circuit back when I was in law school at UVA.
A Case for Law School Grade Inflation?
Joshua Silverstein says yes, George Leef says no. Law students overwhelmingly agree with Silverstein. (That’s just a joke).
The VC (Apparently) Produces Results at Amazon
In my Amazon bleg yesterday, I asked for readers’ help in contacting Amazon to persuade them to fix the mistake of charging an unrealistically high price for the Kindle version of my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. I am happy to be able to say that, today, Amazon lowered the […]
Is there a Generational Divide over “Judicial Restraint” Between Reaganites and Libertarians?
By Ilya Somin on September 19, 2013 4:23 pm in Conservatism, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Judicial Power, Libertarianism
Various commentators such as Garrett Epps, Mark Tushnet, and recent guest-blogger Josh Blackman argue that there is a generational divide among right of center jurists between Reaganite advocates of “judicial restraint” and later, more libertarian figures who are less willing to defer to legislatures and more eager to strike down laws they consider unconstitutional. They […]
Bill Introduced by House Republicans Offers Broad Exemptions to Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage (and Non-Marital Sex)
By Dale Carpenter on September 19, 2013 12:51 pm in Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, Same-Sex Marriage
Sixty members of the U.S. House of Representatives (58 Republicans and 2 Democrats) have introduced legislation, the “Marriage and Religious Freedom Act” (MARFA), that would prohibit any “adverse action” by the federal government against any “person” who acts on the basis of a religious belief opposing same-sex marriage or opposing sexual relations outside of opposite-sex marriages. “Adverse actions” […]
My New York Times Entry on Retroactivity and Juvenile Sentencing
The New York Times “room for debate” feature is on the surprisingly technical question of the retroactivity of Miller v. Alabama — i.e. should those currently sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed while they were juveniles be allowed to reopen their final convictions? (Here’s a ton of background from Doug Berman for the […]
Labor Department Extends ERISA Protections to Same-Sex Spouses
By Dale Carpenter on September 18, 2013 11:04 pm in Beyond DOMA, ERISA, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Same-Sex Marriage
The effect of United States v. Windsor continues to ripple through federal law, expanding by leaps and bounds the rights and protections afforded to same-sex spouses. The effect has been magnified by a friendly federal bureaucracy under the Obama administration, which is widely adopting a place-of-celebration rule for recognizing same-sex marriages under federal laws using […]
Why is Joe Biden Appearing at JStreet’s Annual Conference?
An acquaintance remarked how odd it was that Biden is appearing at the conference, for two reasons: (1) Biden is presumed to be running for president in 2016, and playing kissy-face with JStreet is likely to antagonize a significant part of his potential donor base; and (2) unlike the more mainstream AIPAC, which enthusiastically lobbied […]
New Labor Guidance on Same-Sex Marriage and ERISA
Thanks to the indispensable Chris Geidner, I see that the Department of Labor has issued “guidance” about how to deal with same-sex marriages under ERISA. Like just about every federal agency other than the Social Security Administration, the labor department takes the view that a marriage is valid for federal purposes if it was valid […]