Author Archive | David Bernstein

In the wake of the Mohammed cartoon controversy, and the often craven reaction in Europe and the U.S., I thought the concluding paragraphs from my You Can’t Say That! have special resonance: One price of living in a free society is having to tolerate those who intentionally or unintentionally offend others. The current trend, however, […]

Courtesy of John Rosenberg, here’s an article praising the ABA’s new “diversity” standard on the theory that it will require California law schools to create more African American attorneys. Putting aside the issue of Proposition 209, to the extent that as a result of the new standards California law schools bend their admissions standards in […]

There’s lots of buzz about this N.Y. Times piece by Frank Fukayama, attacking neoconservative foreign policy. It is indeed a well-written, provocative, and persuasive analysis of the foibles of neoconservatism. However, I disagree with Fukayama’s contention that only since the fall of Communism has neoconservatism abandoned its initial distrust of government in favor of an […]

Ole Miss:”The resolution adopted by the law faculty Thursday didn’t state a quota because that would be unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions, Davis said. The resolution expresses the aspiration that a “critical mass” of minority enrollment should be closer to numbers achieved in 2005, rather than 2004. Davis said.” It would be […]

Ha’aretz: “In the first poll in the territories since Hamas’ victory, 66 percent of respondents said the new government should honor the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to negotiations with Israel. Among Hamas voters, only 12 percent said they chose Hamas for its political agenda, while 43 percent said they were fed up with Fatah’s corruption. The […]

Sitemeter shows that last week the VC had an average of 34,500 visitors per day, including the weekend. The only time we’ve approached such vistor totals in the past was in weeks when Supreme Court nominations were in the news. Thanks for reading.

Bracey: “But asking a law school to articulate and stand behind its normative commitments regarding race preferences – one way or the other – strikes me as a good thing to do.” I vehemently disagree that this is what the ABA is asking law schools to do; rather, it is requiring all schools to have […]

Below is the text of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s new “Equal Opportunity and Diversity” standard for law school accreditation, which will go into effect this Summer if approved by the ABA’s House of Delegates. Standard 211. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND DIVERSITY (a) Consistent with sound legal […]

Which Supreme Court Justice called the Necessary and Proper Clause “the last, best hope of those who defend ultra vires congressional action”? Click “show” for answer. (show) Justice Scalia, in Printz v. U.S. Scalia relied on that very clause in the Raich case to justify regulation of medical marijuana. And no, I’m not on a […]

An interesting report on the arguments yesterady from the N.Y. Sun. My take on the case can be found here. In short, if the Lyle opinion is allowed to stand, any Californian whose job involves dealing with controversial matters that raise issues potentially offensive to some people — AIDS education, abortion counseling (pro or con), […]

Turns out that Ronald has been insulting Islam. Classical Values has the details. But, in fact, the Islamic world should nevertheless be grateful to Ronald for his heroic actions.

Scalia on originalism: “That’s the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break.” “But you would have to be an idiot to believe that,” Scalia said. “The […]

Via Drudge.

who is criticizing wasteful government spending.

[UPDATED and EDITED for easier reading] My Weekend Wall Street Journal op-ed (now available slightly updated at OpinionJournal.com) on the ABA’s new “diversity” requirements is causing a bit of a stir: a letter to the editor in today’s Journal by the ABA president; a puff piece on the new standards in today’s Journal (which doesn’t […]