Below. I did one of the advanced institute seminars in September, it was excellent. My impression is that “serious (not necessarily Orthodox) Jews” are preferred over other applicants. Interested in the intersection between Jewish and Western thought? Engaged with questions of domestic or foreign policy? The Tikvah Fund is pleased to announced several exciting, stipend-bearing […]
Archive | 2014
“We All Declare for Liberty; but in Using the Same Word We Do Not All Mean the Same Thing”
Apropos the “imposing beliefs on others” post — and in particular debates related to abortion — I thought I’d post this excerpt from a Lincoln speech (his Address at a Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Apr. 18, 1864). I’ve long found this to be a thoughtprovoking piece, and a useful reminder that “liberty” in the abstract is […]
Your Side Tries to Impose Its Beliefs — My Side Seeks Justice
In many ways, the U.S. News & World Report op-ed condemning Catholics verges on self-parody. The beginning is pretty telling: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor just dropped the ball on American women and girls. Et tu, Justice Sonia Sotomayor? Really, we can’t trust you on women’s health and human rights? The lady from the Bronx […]
Bankrupt: How Cronyism and Corruption Brought Down Detroit
I was recently interviewed as part of a forthcoming web documentary on the decline and bankruptcy of the once-great city of Detroit. The trailer for the film is here. The production team was excellent and smart and I expect the movie to be terrific. Here’s a photo just before being interviewed.
Our Ridiculous Copyright Regime, Cont’d: Part 239
A federal court in Illinois has recently decided that Sherlock Holmes — or, more precisely, the characters and incidents in the Sherlock Holmes stories published prior to 1923 — have, indeed, finally fallen into the public domain. Not, mind you, anything post-1923 – but, via the complex workings of the Copyright Act, the pre-1923 stuff […]
Scandal!
The front page of today’s (print edition) New York Times has the following lead headline in the upper right: “Christie Faces Scandal on Traffic Jam Aides Ordered” That strikes me as a very odd headline. “Facing” a “scandal” is not a reportable fact – is it? Where, exactly, is this scandal? The answer, of course, […]
ABA Teleforum on Recess Appointments Friday
If you haven’t yet heard enough from me about Noel Canning and recess appointments — or if you want to actually hear me talk rather than just read me — I will be doing a teleforum for the American Bar Association on the case on tomorrow morning at 11:30 EST. (You could catch much of […]
Originalism and An Intermediate Theory of Precedent
By Profs. John McGinnis & Michael Rappaport, guest-blogging on January 9, 2014 8:49 am in Originalism and its Critics
Precedent poses a problem for originalism, because much of Supreme Court jurisprudence is nonoriginalist. Originalists have had two ways of treating such precedent. The first is to dismiss nonoriginalist precedent as inconsistent with the Constitution. Under this view, the Constitution must be interpreted according to its original meaning because nothing in the document permits precedent […]
Resolved: President Obama’s Recent Purported “Recess” Appointments Were Unconstitutional
By Nick Rosenkranz on January 9, 2014 12:01 am in Constitutional Law, Recess Appointments, Separation of Powers
Professor Victor Williams and I will debate at the Cato Institute tomorrow. Information here, and live video, Friday at noon, here.
Senator Ted Cruz: Limits On The Treaty Power
By Nick Rosenkranz on January 8, 2014 11:29 pm in Constitutional Law, Federalism, Tenth Amendment, Treaties
Senator Ted Cruz has an excellent essay in the Harvard Law Review Forum entitled Limits on the Treaty Power. Here is a taste: The Necessary and Proper Clause does not give Congress power to implement treaties in a way that contravenes the structural limitations on the federal government’s powers …. The President should not be […]
CFIUS Fatalities Set Record
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, reviews foreign investments for national security risks. It is now beyond doubt that Chinese investment is getting much closer scrutiny from CFIUS. A total of ten transactions failed to survive review in 2012, according to a just-released Treasury report. That may not sound like […]
Seventh Circuit Upholds $30 Booking Fee For Being Arrested
The decision is here, with a vigorous dissent by Judge Hamilton. Hat tip: Mike Scarcella. UPDATE: Exchange from comments: Nick: So if Mr. Markadonatos had refused to pay the booking fee, would [he] have been refused booking?Miles: No. He would have been arrested again for violating the ordinance. Another $30.
Proposed Virginia Criminal Ban on “Bullying”
Just introduced today by Delegate Mark Keam: If any person, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass any person, … uses a computer, including an electronic communication device, or computer network to … engage in bullying, as defined in § 22.1-276.01, he is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. [§ 22.1-276.01:] “Bullying” means any […]
Heller As an Advertisement for Originalist Methodology
Eric Posner has posted a few comments on our first class on originalism, including his thoughts on Heller: It seems to me that the text of the Second Amendment suggests that the right to bear arms is tied to serving in a militia, though not unambiguously, and that the exhaustive historical research discussed by the […]
The Shorter Matt Blaze: NSA Hacking Is OK, As Long As We Take Away Its Best Hacking Tools
Matt Blaze, a well-known public cryptographer and NSA critic (but I repeat myself), offered what seemed like a modest concession in the relentless campaign against NSA intelligence gathering: The NSA’s tools are very sharp indeed, even in the presence of communications networks that are well hardened against eavesdropping. How can this be good news? It […]