Archive | September, 2013

LEC Faculty Workshops

The GMU Law and Economics Center has just announced a slate of new programs for law professors.  This year the LEC will be doing special programs in “Risk, Injury, Liability, and Insurance,” “Public Choice Economics,” “Empirical Methods for Law Professors,” and, of course, the LEC’s traditional two-week summer seminar on “Economics for Law Professors” (to […]

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CFPB “Plain Vanilla” Through the Back Door

For those who recall the initial proposal for the CFPB, one of the cornerstones of the agency’s agenda would be the power to provide preferential treatment for so-called “plain vanilla” financial products that lenders would be required to offer to consumers.  This proposal was a non-starter on Capitol Hill and was quickly dismissed from the […]

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Illinois Supreme Court: Second Amendment Protects Carrying Outside the Home

From today’s unanimous decision in People v. Aguilar (Ill. Sept. 12, 2013): As the Seventh Circuit correctly noted, neither Heller nor McDonald expressly limits the second amendment’s protections to the home. On the contrary, both decisions contain language strongly suggesting if not outright confirming that the second amendment right to keep and bear arms extends […]

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My Upcoming Talk at the Introductory Meeting of the George Mason Law Students For Liberty

This post is mostly intended for George Mason law students. On Monday, September 16, from 5-6 PM, I will be speaking at the introductory meeting of the George Mason Law Students for Liberty, for which I am the faculty adviser. Students for Liberty is the nation’s largest and most successful libertarian student organization, and the […]

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It’s Such a Great TV Show That Even The Criminals Like It

From the facts of United States v. Cross, a decision from Chief Judge Garland handed down yesterday involving a wiretap that targeted a large-scale heroin conspiracy: On the wiretap, the agents overheard a series of conversations between Toure and appellant Cross. On several occasions, Cross used coded language to place narcotics orders. Cross and Toure […]

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Wall Street Journal Reviews Unprecedented – “Excellent”

Today the Wall Street Journal reviewed Unprecedented, along with Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s new book, the Last Line of Defense, as part of a discussion of the role of the states in combatting the sprawling federal government. The Journal said the two were “excellent books.” Here is a flavor: Republican governors and attorneys general […]

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The Great Dissent – A Response from the Author

[Editor’s note: Author Thomas Healy asked me to post a response to my brief review of his book, and I was happy to agree. I’m even happier now, because it’s a nicely illuminating response.] Thanks to David for starting a discussion about my book, “The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind – […]

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American Revolution and English Civil War

Does anyone know of some classic (or just good) history or legal-history book about how the American Revolution and constitution(al thought) were influenced by the English civil wars and Glorious Revolution? UPDATE: Right now plausible candidates seem to be Bailyn’s The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and Pocock’s The Machiavellian Moment. Any comments on […]

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The 12th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks

Today is the twelfth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I don’t think anyone who lived through that day at an age old enough to understand what was happening is likely to ever forget it. I doubt I can say anything about that event which has not already been better said by others. But, for what […]

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