Author Archive | David Bernstein

Coercive egalitarianism versus traditional Islam: Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA is guilty of sex discrimination by showing only men putting together furniture in its instruction manuals, Norway’s prime minister says. IKEA, which has more than 200 stores in 32 nations, fears it might offend Muslims by depicting women assembling everything from cupboards to beds. Its […]

Alterman has a new column in the Nation, attacking Cathy Young for criticizing his insipid defense of the British Muslim Affairs Council boycott of Holocaust memorial ceremonies. A Fisking follows (and here’s Young’s most recent take): [UPDATE: Alterman is running a campaign to get the Boston Globe to fire Young as a columnist. She’s a […]

Actually, I’m waiting for the National Council of Churches and other left-wing church groups to display a fraction of the concern over Syria’s occupation of Lebanon that they have displayed over Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza.

Good piece in the March American Spectator on the asbestos mess. It doesn’t seem to be online. I am quoted as follows: “Money attracts lawyers like bees to honey,” said David Bernstein, a George Mason University law professor who has written extensively on asbestos litigation. “In the absence of courts enforcing medical standards, the only […]

This is almost unbelievable: in a case in which a jury awarded $28 million to a plaintiff in a rollover case, “The trial was interrupted last week when Ford lawyers discovered one of the jurors, Diana Palacios, was the girlfriend of plaintiffs’ lawyer Jesse Gamez. In a hearing over a defense request for a mistrial, […]

You will find much more accurate coverage of many recent events involving Israel at EyeonthePost than at its target, the Washington Post. My favorite recent point: The Post consistently refers to Israel as “occupying” the West Bank and Gaza, though the only other sovereign countries to have recently held these lands, Jordan and Egypt, have […]

A well known tactic in getting a good placement for a law review article is for the author to thank in the first footnote important friends and colleagues who read and commented on the piece. The message to student editors is, “you may know who I am, or anything about the subject matter, but this […]

has come under fire from Jewish groups for comparing the Republicans’ “nuclear option” threat regarding filibusters and judicial nominations to Nazi tactics.

The BBC’s report on the suicide murder in Tel Aviv last Friday opened with footage of the family of the terrorist suicdie-murderer in mourning–and showed no footage of the victims, or their families. The BBC eventually apologized, but you have to wonder about what kind of sick mindset their reporters have. (Via Honestreporting.com)

I agree with Orin that, as a general rule, it’s wise to pick a much higher-ranked law school over a lower one. Depending on the extent of the difference in rank, however, other factors can tip the balance: (1) Geographic preference: If one wishes to work in Cincinnati when he graduates, it’s likely better to […]

In You Can’t Say That!, I have a chapter discussing the ACLU’s gradual abandonment of civil liberties when they conflict with antidiscrimination laws. As an example of the decline of the ACLU’s traditional commitment to freedom of expression, I note that the ACLU gave Professor Mari Matsuda of Georgetown Law Center, a leading advocate of […]

Are you considering attending George Mason, academic home of me and co-conspirator Todd Zywicki? People telling you that it’s crazy to consider Mason over a “superior” (i.e., higher-ranked in U.S. News) school? Well, I’m meeting an increasing number of GMU law students who have turned down, among other schools, local and regional competitors William and […]

Peter Schuck, author of the wonderful Diversity in America, takes on his Yale Law School colleagues over the issue of military recruiters. Schuck points out (as I have) the hyprocrisy of professors who want to assert expressive association rights for themselves, but not for, say, Bob Jones University (or the Boy Scouts), and also, correctly […]

I’m going to be a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School for the 2005-2006 academic year. My wife and I are therefore looking for a house to rent in Ann Arbor, furnished or unfurnished, starting approximately August 1 and ending approximately May 31, with some flexibility on either side of both dates. […]

I’m about halfway through Democracy Off Balance: Freedom of Expression and Hate Propaganda in Canada. It’s not easy reading, but it is a comprehensive, learned, and generally right-headed view of the subject. The views of the Canadian elite on such matters are very similar to the views of much of the American law professoriate and […]