I have a post at SCOTUSBlog recapping yesterday’s decision in Daimler Chrysler AG v. Bauman. It begins: Readers of the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Daimler Chrysler v. Bauman may have learned two things: First, it is increasingly difficult to establish general jurisdiction over a corporation for conduct unrelated to the forum; second, the Court […]
Archive | January, 2014
Filipina Guest Worker Rose Fostanes Wins Israel’s X-Factor
We take a break from law and politics to bring you this heartwarming story of a Filipina caregiver who never sang before in public winning Israel’s X-Factor. Oh, and she happens to be gay. Here’s the audition video And here she is singing Bohemian Rhapsody (of all things). If you don’t speak Hebrew, skip to […]
Commandeering and Originalism
Will Baude’s post on commandeering prompts me to revisit the doctrine after a twenty-year absence. I have fond memories of the doctrine, because it can be traced directly to an amicus brief that I wrote for the Council of State Governments in New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992). The original understanding of the […]
Printz, Commandeering, and the Federalist
Today was the second day of Originalism and its Critics, which I’m co-teaching with Eric Posner. We read Printz, Jud Campbell’s article on commandeering, and an article by John Manning on the use of the Federalist Papers. Two general thoughts on those readings: 1. On Printz and commandeering, I have already said that I think […]
The Liberty Constitution, Or, What About Slavery?
In my first post, I said that the basic premise of the Constitution is that people are fundamentally free, and that political institutions are created through that freedom, and are legitimate only insofar as they respect that freedom. The central value of the Constitution, I argue, is the liberty that the Declaration of Independence proclaims as […]
Winning and Losing in the Net Neutrality Decision
There is lots to chew on in the D.C. Circuit’s net neutrality opinion issued today. (Full disclosure: I worked on the order and legal defense when I was at the FCC, so apply whatever filters you deem appropriate.) There are a ton of interesting administrative law issues, which I plan to write about later. But […]
Searching for Time Travelers on the Internet
Physicists Robert Nemiroff and Teresa Wilson have written an article on their research searching for time travelers on the internet. This could turn out to be the scientific paper of the year! But, sadly, no evidence of time travelers was found. Slate summarizes the study here: In a paper pre-published on arXiv, a pair of […]
Thanks to Tim Sandefur, And A Brief Comment
I very much appreciate Tim Sandefur’s careful response to my question about his view of the Constitution. If I understand Tim’s view, though, it’s actually not about the U.S. Constitution in particular. Instead, it’s a theory of all governments throughout human history. In these posts, he happens to be advocating his approach for the U.S. […]
D.C. Circuit Rejects “Net Neutrality” Rule
Today, in Verizon v. FCC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated key portions of the Federal Communications Commission’s “Open Internet Order” — aka the net neutrality” rule. The court held 2-1 that that FCC has the authority to regulate broadband providers, and that such regulation may govern broadband providers’ handling of internet […]
Islamic Law and Saudi Law in American Courts
By Eugene Volokh on January 14, 2014 12:17 pm in Foreign and Religious Law in American Courts, Islamic Law in the American Legal System
From Standard Chartered Bank v. Ahmad Hamad AL Gosaibi and Bros. Co., 2014 WL 96219 (N.Y. trial ct. Jan. 10, 2014): Defendants assert that they have standing to move to quash the instant subpoenas on the ground that the subpoenas seek all contracts between Pepsi and the defendants, documents which, they claim, include confidential proprietary […]
Using Foreign Law in Interpreting the U.S. Constitution
Those interested in this subject might want to check out today’s Supreme Court decision in Daimler AG v. Bauman. The question is whether California courts could have jurisdiction over Daimler AG, a German company whose subsidiaries do business in California, for actions allegedly committed by another Daimler AG subsidiary in Argentina: The complaint alleged that […]
Methodological Consistency in Noel Canning
One theme of the amicus brief I helped write in Noel Canning was the need for a consistent treatment of text, history, and modern practice. If the executive branch wishes to argue that modern practice trumps the text and early history on questions 1 and 2 (“the recess” and “happen”), then it should be stuck […]
Happy 10th Anniversary to Althouse
Ann Althouse celebrates 10 years of blogging. I remember the first time I met Ann. In the 1990s at the AALS annual meeting, Philip Hamburger and I put together a program on law review editing and the quality of writing in American law reviews. I invited Ann to be on the panel because of something […]
John Berlau on How American Taxpayers Saved Turin Instead of Detroit
President Obama boasted during the Presidential campaign that the taxpayer bailouts of Chrysler and GM saved “Detroit” (a particular locution that he wisely doesn’t use any more, as I noted yesterday). But as John Berlau also observed yesterday, with respect to the Chrysler bailout it might be more accurate to say that it “saved Turin,” […]
The Wolf Amendment
Prof. Kerr asks a good question, one that touches on a point that differentiates my argument from that of some of my allies, and one that gives rise to another point that I think strengthens my view. How should a judge act if the American people were to ratify a constitutional amendment that explicitly adopted […]