A recent Yale Law Journal Online article by Northwestern law professor Andrew Koppelman argues that the Obamacare individual mandate is obviously constitutional, especially in light of how McCulloch v. Maryland construed the Necessary and Proper clause. Bad News for Mail Robbers: The Obvious Constitutionality of Health Care Reform (April 2011). Gary Lawson (Boston Univ.) and I […]
Author Archive | David Kopel
Delta Airlines complicit in Saudi discrimination?
In January, Delta Airlines announced that Saudi Arabian Airlines is joining Delta’s SkyTeam network of international airline partners. Yesterday, WorldNet Daily reported that Delta employees would be enforcing a no-Jews policy when checking in passengers on SAA flights from the United States to Saudi Arabia. I looked around the web for verification, and found the […]
Republican presidential candidates pledge to appoint judges to overturn the unconstitutional anti-abortion law they will sign
By David Kopel on June 18, 2011 4:42 pm in Abortion, Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Federalism, Fourteenth Amendment, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Judicial Nominations, Originalism, Supreme Court
At CNN, Politico, National Review Online’s “The Corner” blog, and at the Susan B. Anthony List website, you can read the developing controversy over some Republican presidential candidates’ refusal to sign the SBA Lists’ “2012 Pro-Life Citizen’s Pledge.” Signers thus far are Bachmann, Gingrich, Pawlenty, Paul, and Santorum. The items on the pledge are: FIRST, […]
Debate on Libya and the War Powers Act
By David Kopel on June 9, 2011 12:56 am in Constitutional Law, Global Governance/World Government, International Human Rights Law, International Law, Russia
Featuring British NGO representative Leslie Vinjamuri (pro-intervention, sees no legal problem), American peace activist Robert Naiman (anti-intervention, considers the intervention unconstitutional), and me (pro-intervention, but opposed to Obama doing it in violation of the Constitution and the War Powers Act). On the RT (formerly, “Russia Today”) television program “Crosstalk.” 27 minutes.
Is carrying an unloaded handgun an effective means of self-defense?
Currently before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is Peruta v. San Diego, in which plaintiffs challenge the San Diego Sheriff’s refusal to issue concealed handgun carry permits to ordinary persons who wish to carry handguns for lawful self-defense. The district court held that the Sheriff’s actions were not Second Amendment violations because, inter alia, […]
Second Circuit reverses Judge Weinstein’s order against firearms stores. Concurrence harshly rebukes him.
City of New York v. Mickalis Pawn Shop was recently decided by a unanimous 3-judge panel of 2d Circuit Judges Sack and Wesley, plus Judge Eaton (Court of International Trade) sitting by designation. The case began several years ago when New York City Michael Bloomberg brought a public nuisance lawsuit against several firearms stores located […]
The individual mandate is neither “necessary” nor “proper”
By David Kopel on May 11, 2011 4:51 pm in Commerce Clause, Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
That’s the argument of an Independence Institute amicus brief submitted to the 11th Circuit in Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services. Here’s the summary of argument: The Necessary and Proper Clause was one of a large family of similar clauses commonly appearing in eighteenth-century legal instruments delegating authority from one party to another. […]
Campus Carry passes Texas Senate
As an amendment to a broader bill on education. Details here, from the Austin American-Statesman. Campus carry already passed the House as a stand-alone bill, so it seems likely that the House will concur with the Senate amendment. Texas Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly indicated his support for the measure. The floor discussion of the amendment […]
Dog Wars and the First Amendment
A new app for Google’s Android phone is “Dog Wars.” The player takes the role of a thug who trains a pit bull to fight. In Denver television Channel 7’s coverage of the story, I explained that the First Amendment protects the right of the game producers to make and distribute the game, and also […]
Stun gun prohibition violates Second Amendment
So rules a state judge in Bay City, Michigan. According to the ruling, the regulation of stun guns would be constitutional, but not their prohibition. Other than Michigan, the only states that prohibit stun guns are New Jersey and Rhode Island. Eugene Volokh’s Stanford Law Review article, Nonlethal Self-Defense examines the Second Amendment issues involving […]
Cert. Petition in Right to Carry Case
By David Kopel on April 22, 2011 4:19 pm in Constitutional Law, Guns, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Standing, Supreme Court
Filed earlier this week by Stephen Halbrook, in the case of Williams v. Maryland. In short, Maryland bans all handgun transportation or carry without a permit, and has a permitting process which formally declares that it will deny permits to almost everyone. As the petition explains, “the Maryland State Police, the Maryland Handgun Permit Review Board, […]
Interview with Cato’s Ilya Shapiro on the legal challenges to the new federal health control law
By David Kopel on April 20, 2011 6:18 pm in Commerce Clause, Constitutional Law, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Taxing and Spending Clause
Ilya Shapiro is senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. On Monday, I interviewed him for 39 minutes about Cato’s litigation program on constitutional issues, his traveling the country during the last year to debate the health control law, and the constitutional issues involved in […]
Today in history: “Juden…waffen!”
From my article Armed Resistance to the Holocaust, 19 J. on Firearms & Public Policy 144 (2007). (For Polish translation click here). On January 18, 1943, the Germans rounded up seven thousand Jews and sent them to the extermination camp at Treblinka; they killed six hundred more Jews right in Warsaw. But on that day, […]
National Firearms Law Seminar
Every year at the NRA Convention, the NRA Foundation puts on a day-long National Firearms Law Seminar. For attorneys in search of Continuing Legal Education that is actually interesting–or who are just in search of knowledge–the Seminar presents a nice balance of cutting-edge law, along with helpful advice for legal practice. This year’s panelists include […]
The Libyan intervention is not wholly legal
That’s my argument in a new article for The Daily Caller. As I’ve previously explained, I strongly support the use of force against the Gaddafi tyranny. Indeed, I wish that President Obama were not so half-hearted in taking action to remove Gaddafi. However, the war against the Libyan dictator still needs to be voted on […]