Last week Senate Democrats voted to end filibusters of all executive branch and lower court nominees. The filibuster of Supreme Court nominees will almost certainly follow if and when there is a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. [That is, it will be eliminated as well.] Who wins and loses from this change in the […]
Archive | November, 2013
How Is Angola Like Saudi Arabia?
Angola is reportedly taking legal steps to generally close mosques, according to onislam.net and the Angola Press Agency; stories in Xibaaru (Senegal) and Algerie Patriotique seems consistent with that, though I’m relying there on Google Translate. From onislam.net: “The process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human […]
Letter from NASA
Very funny, though unfortunately fake. Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.
Can We Crowd Audit Healthcare.gov?
The Administration has set a goal in its effort to fix the troubled Obamacare website, healthcare.gov. By November 30, according to the Washington Post, the government’s goal is that 80% of users will be able to buy healthcare policies online. The 80% target moves the goalposts back from the President’s more confident statement earlier this month: […]
Ending the Filibuster — A View from the Bench
Senior district court judge Richard George Kopf comments on the end of judicial nomination filibusters on his blog, Hercules and the Empire. (Hat tip: How Appealing.) And for those who don’t have enough of my take on this issue, here’s a piece I had Friday on NRO.
Verse for Sunday: “Spain”
The stars are dead. The animals will not look. We are left alone with our day, and the time is short, and History to the defeated May say Alas but cannot help nor pardon. – W.H. Auden, 1937
Speaking of the Kennedy Assassination
While fifty years later, much of the MSM still refuses to acknowledge that JFK’s assassin was a Communist loser, somehow it’s also apparently not cricket to point out that his brother RFK was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist. So let’s review. Sirhan Sirhan was a Palestinian refugee with Jordanian citizenship. He murdered Kennedy because the […]
Knives and the Second Amendment
By David Kopel on November 23, 2013 6:14 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, History, Militia, Non-Firearms Arms, Right to carry, Self-Defense
The Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear “Arms”–not solely “firearms.” While firearms have always been the paradigmatic Second Amendment arm, there are many other types of arms which are protected by the Second Amendment. By far the most common of the other arms are knives. Now at the printer is the first […]
Direct Deposit Advance Products
Well, as if on cue–the OCC and FDIC have issued new guidance that places new restrictions on consumer access to Direct Deposit Advance products, which are functionally similar to payday lending but offered by banks. The main beneficiaries of new guidance, however, are not likely to be consumers, but payday lenders and bank overdraft programs, […]
Attitudes Towards Handgun Bans
A very interesting graphic from Prof. Bryan Caplan (EconLog): The lines indicate the responses to a Gallup survey, which asked “What about the possession of pistols and revolvers — do you think there should be a law which would forbid possession of this type of gun except by the police or other authorized person?” (or, […]
Tax Exemption for Ministers’ Housing Expenses Violates the Establishment Clause
So holds yesterday’s Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Lew (W.D. Wisc. Nov. 22, 2013). Section 107(2) of the Federal tax code exempts from the income of “a minister of the gospel” (read broadly to not just be limited to Christian denominations) “the rental allowance paid to him as part of his compensation, to the extent […]
Don’t Cry for Argentina (Again)
Argentina remains upset that some of its creditors are none too happy with the South American nation’s 2001 default on its debt obligations. As I noted here, some of Argentina’s creditors unhappy with the way in which Argentina sought to restructure its debt filed suit in the U.S. and prevailed, prompting Argentina to file multiple […]
The Obamacare Fix’s Legality, State Law and Standing
By Eugene Kontorovich on November 23, 2013 12:33 pm in Constitutional Law, Federal Jurisdiction, Health Care, Standing, State Constitutional Law
I have a piece in POLITICO discussing the constitutional problems with the ObamaCare fix, which have been previewed here before. One aspect is whether state officials can ignore ObamaCare and instead apply “The Fix.” Regardless of the discretion President Obama has, state officials do not have enforcement discretion over federal law. It is just supreme, […]
My SCOTUSBlog “On Camera” Interview: The Complete Interview
On the off chance that you have not watched the 6 individual segments of my SCOTUSBlog “On Camera” Interview, here is the link to the interview in its entirety.
“Payday Lending, Bank Overdraft Protection, and Fair Competition at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau”
I just posted a new article on SSRN co-authored with Robert Clarke, former Comptroller of the Currency. It is entitled “Payday Lending, Bank Overdraft Protection, and Fair Competition at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau” and will be forthcoming in Boston University’s Review of Banking and Financial Law. Here’s the abstract: Abstract: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau […]