Here is a strange piece in the Washington Times by editorial writer Kerry Picket criticizing the Department of Justice because it willl only investigate bullying cases if the victim is considered protected under the 1964 Civil Rights legislation. In essence, only discrimination against a victim’s race, sex, national origin, disability, or religion will be considered […]
Author Archive | David Bernstein
Klein on the Koch Brothers
Ezra Klein has a generally sensible post about the ongoing demonization of the Koch brothers. Two quibbles: first, I think Klein underestimates the Kochs’ underlying ideological commitment to libertarian, as opposed to conservative ideals (though perhaps he doesn’t accept this distinction); second, Klein cites a post of mine in criticizing those he says claim that […]
Nuclear Radiation
Almost two decades ago, MIT Press published a book I co-edited called Phantom Risk: Scientific Inference and the Law. The meat of the book is a series of essays by leading scientists reviewing the scientific literature regarding various allegedly toxic exposures that had led to litigation. Several chapters dealt with the risks of low-level nuclear […]
Jonathan Chait Completely Misses the Point
[Note to “The ExileD” readers: George Mason University is a state university, funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia. My paycheck comes from the Commonwealth [which in turn gets the money to fund the university from our students’ tuition dollars, as law school tuition is over 35K for the majority of our students], and that is […]
U.S. News Leak!
The rankings aren’t officially out until tomorrow, but there has been a serious leak. Thanks to a prematurely released press release dated tomorrow, I can report that the University of Arkansas Law School is ranked number 84 for 2012. Now that that’s cleared up, you can sleep soundly.
Law School Admissions and the Wisdom of Crowds
With U.S. News rankings due out tomorrow, I thought I’d repeat part of a post from two years ago. First, U.S. News has several methodological problems. E.g.: Consider how U.S. News ranked part-time programs [for the first time in 2009]–it sent out a survey asking professors and deans to list fifteen schools with outstanding part-time […]
The Broken Window Fallacy Rears it Ugly Head
WSJ: “Some economists have argued that a quake could actually lift the economy in the long run, by requiring a surge in rebuilding spending.” Sure. And instead of sending American aid, let’s follow up the earthquake with a few bombing runs over Tokyo. That will really “lift the economy.” Jeez.
New Underground Organization
An anonymous source tells me that the first meeting of Lawprofs Exploring their Interest in Terrorism (or other forms of violence) for Employee Rights will be held at the University of Chicago faculty dining room on Monday. Don’t know the password, though. Eugene and Ken have more.
Stephen Walt on Libya
As regular readers know, I’ve been highly critical of Professor Stephen Walt for his shoddy coauthored “Israel Lobby” book. One response of my critics has been along the lines of “how dare an ignoramus like you criticize a great foreign policy expert like Stephen Walt.” Call me an ignoramus if you will, but at least […]
The Further Death of “Liberaltarianism”
[Response to Jonathan Chait here.] The ongoing twenty minutes of hate against the billionaire libertarian Koch brothers for being, well, billionaire libertarians is yet another nail in the already well-sealed coffin of “liberaltarianism”–the attempt of some libertarians to ally with the progressive left. The underlying premise of liberaltarianism was that libertarians could emphasize their policy […]
Birthright Applicants vs. Peter Beinart
Last May, I began a post this way: Peter Beinart has written a scathing indictment of organized American Jewry’s “conservative” views on Israel. He claims that “right-wing” Israeli policies, combined with American Jewish groups’ unflinching support for Israel, are alienating young American Jews, and reducing their attachment to Israel. Beinart’s essay has received a remarkable […]
The Progressive-Conservative View of Judicial Restraint
By David Bernstein on February 26, 2011 11:50 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Rehabilitating Lochner
From the U. Va. Fed-Soc blog on the student conference that took place this past weekend: Professor [Jeffrey] Rosen responded with a call to resist Professor Barnett’s libertarian interpretive approach and look to the traditional conservative model of judicial deference to the political process…. Professor Rosen proposed a framework of three divergent “conservative” approaches to […]
Rehabilitating Lochner Talks in So. Cal
A bunch of talks in Orange County and L.A. this coming week. Monday: The U.C. Irvine Law School Federalist Society will be hosting me at 5:00 pm. Tuesday: (1) Orange County Federalist Society Lawyers Chapter, noon at the Oliver Cafe in Irvine ($35 for buffet luncheon); (2) Whittier Law School Federalist Society, 4:30 pm. Wednesday: […]
More on DOMA
AG Holder’s memo explaining why Justice is declining to defend DOMA begins, “After careful consideration, including review of a recommendation from me, the President of the United States has made the determination that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), 1 U.S.C. § 7, i as applied to same-sex couples who are legally […]
Brad Delong
I gave up on Brad Delong after these two exchanges back in 2004. I suggest that Ilya, and anyone else subject to his misrepresentations, just ignore him.