Author Archive | David Kopel

The CivPro version of “99 Problems” is fun, but criminal law junkies might be partial to “Twas the Night before Booker” or “Take a Walk on the Blakely Side.” I’m partial to the first one myself. Both items are courtesy of Begging the Question’s Milbarge. A VC reader with somewhat different musical tastes than my […]

On the subject of inserting pop culture references into exams and other academic material, noted libertarian author Tibor Machan, who teaches business ethics at Chapman University, writes: Although I do not know enough pop culture to reference it routinely, I wish I did. At 65 I need every pedagogical device available to connect with my […]

In response to my posting an excerpt of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems,” a Harvard law student offers his take on the song, “99 Problems but 12(b)(6) Ain’t One.” This version was prepared for Professor Heather Gerken’s annual Civil Procedure Poetry Slam, but neither me nor the author vouches for its legal accuracy. (CivPro professors take note: […]

Ever notice how some professors who feel compelled to prove their hipness by inserting pop culture references into their exams? One of my professors used characters from Austin Powers for all the names in his exam, while another based the exam on a plotline from “Dawson’s Creek,” inserting a murder in the show’s love triangle. […]

Jonathan Chait wrote a rather dismissive LAT column on why there are so few conservatives in academia. Stephen Bainbridge, who has a rather different (and more accurate — but not just because he agrees with me) assessment from within the academy, takes Chait to task for “peddling shopworn lies.” Specifically, Bainbridge notes that neither of […]

Stuart Buck reports that Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has caught lots of folks flip-flopping on the use of filibusters.

The Creators Syndicate felt that a Sam Francis column complaining that recent episodes in popular culture celebrate interracial relationships was acceptable, according to this report; “Did I disagree with the column? Yes,” responded Anthony Zurcher, a Creators editor who saw the Francis piece before it was syndicated. “Did I feel it was so reprehensible that […]

The Detroit Free Press reports this morning that Oakland County prosecutor David Gorcyca will files charges against ten individuals — five Indiana Pacers players and five fans — for their respective roles in the Nov. 19 melee in Detroit.

I do not believe that criticizing French history and culture is “essentialist,” let alone racist (see here). Cultural criticism is not tantamount to racism. Alas, real racism still exists, and it finds its way into print all too often. One recent example is this column by Samuel Francis, decrying the “brazenly” interracial subtext of ABC’s […]

A French intellectual reviews of “Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship with France,” by John Miller and Matt Molesky for the New York Times and (translated from the original French) accuses the authors of “racism”: [t]he whole book is a mad charge (whose only equivalent I know is the fascist French literature […]

In yesterday’s L.A. Times, law professors Erwin Chemerinsky (Duke) and Michael Gerhardt (William & Mary) argue against Republican proposals to eliminate the availability of filibusters for judicial nominations. This so-called “nuclear option,” Chemerinsky and Gerhardt write, would be “a cynical exercise of raw power and not based on constitutional principle or precedent.” Elimination of the […]

There will be an arbitration hearing this week to review NBA Commissioner David Stern’s suspensions of Indiana Pacers players involved in the Nov. 19 brawl in Detroit. The NBA contends that there is no legal basis for the hearing, however, and has apparently filed suit in federal district court to prevent a negative arbitration ruling. […]

A story in today’s New York Times about the federal Superfund progra observes: “Since 1995, when Congress did not renew a special tax on polluters, the cleanup money has come entirely from taxpayers.” Huh? The money in Superfund always came from “taxpayers” — that is, it has always come from those paying taxes. One might […]

My recent media column in the Rocky Mountain News examined the press’s moral bankruptcy in its coverage of the death of the mass-murdering terrorist Yassir Arafat. A reader sent his own memories of one of Arafat’s many crimes against humanity: When I was living in Israel from 1977-78 Yasir Arafat sent a group of terrorists […]

What if The Weekly Standard were turned into country music songs? It would probably sound a lot like the music of Eric Free and the Freedom Band. The band sings catchy country numbers like “Saddam Insane” (“Saddam Insane, twisted brain, gotta say goodbye to his evil reign”), “There’s No God in Old Bin Laden” (“they […]