Author Archive | David Bernstein

I have a couple of sentences in a forthcoming manuscript that I’d either like to provide further footnote support for, delete if they are not true, or provide citations on both sides if the issue is disputed: (1) there is no historical correlation in the U.S. between levels of union membership and wage growth; and […]

Jacob Gershman has the scoop, including some details I didn’t know about: Massad had already been denied tenure once, in 2007 and, according to Gershman, the excuse for giving him the extraordinary opportunity to go up again was that “Massad had switched his field of specialty from political science to cultural studies.” It’s often alleged, […]

Boston Globe: Sweeping healthcare legislation working its way through Congress is more than an effort to provide insurance to millions of Americans without coverage. Tucked within is a provision that could provide billions of dollars for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers’ markets…. [A]dvocates, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, defend the […]

Justice Ginsburg thinks she would be. Given that Sotomayor was born in the Bronx, I assume she means that Sotomayor would be the first Justice whose grew up in a primarily non-English speaking household. I’m not sure about this biographical detail regarding Sotomayor, but I doubt she’d be the first. Justice Brandeis may be one […]

I have no strong feelings, or really any feelings whatsoever, about the right of a criminal defendant to confront the witnesses against him, protected by the Sixth Amendment. So I can examine recent Confrontation Clause jurisprudence with an unjaundiced eye, and conclude that it makes no sense. The Supreme Court, led by Justice Scalia, created […]

That’s an apt description of Dr. T.R.M. Howard, a civil rights pioneer in Mississippi and later Chicago. My friend (and University of Alabama history professor) David Beito and his wife Linda have written what promises to be a very interesting biography of Dr. Howard. Howard was a fascinating character who, among other achievements, played a […]

On Friday, co-blogger Kenneth linked to this piece in the Wall Street Journal explaining that the main cause of the “foreclosure crisis” is no-money-down mortgages. The author of the piece and critics disagree on whether the problem was primarily in non-subprime mortgages, but everyone seems to agree that 100% loan to value loans were a […]

Overlawyered, founded by my friend Walter Olson, turns ten today. I think it was the first legal blog, and I know it’s still one of the best.

I blogged a while back about this book by Shlomo Sand, a bestseller in Israel and winner of a French prize for nonfiction. The book is coming out in English this Fall, with the title, “The Invention of the Jewish People.” My previous post was very critical, based on and interview with Sand, and reports […]

Below is something I wrote in a book review a while back, that’s still pertinent today. The one thing I’d add is that because whites remain the majority, if antidiscrimination laws were applied strictly neutrally to permit reverse discrimination lawsuits, and whites sued at even one-quarter of the rate of African Americans, there would be […]

Epstein: In the end, we can’t win with either the rigidity of the conservative position or the historical guilt trip of the liberal. A little flexibility will go a long way. The government as a manager cannot be held to the same strict standards that are applicable to the government as a regulator. The libertarian […]

I’m guessing some of the Conspirators will have more to say about this, once we get to read the opinions. The vote was 5-4, along the standard lines. My quick take is that if the four liberal Justices were willing to vote with the city on this one, it suggests that there is virtually no […]

If a nation’s military, acting under the orders of its Supreme Court, moves to arrest the president of the country for openly violating its constitution in ways that will promote his own power, is that accurately described as a “coup?”

The Supreme Court today held that a school’s partial strip search of a thirteen year old girl, including requiring her to shake out her undergarments, “exposing her breasts and pelvic area to some degree,” violated her Fourth Amendment rights. School officials were looking for a prescription-strength ibuprofen (which means, in effect, 2 Advils!). Justice Souter, […]

Back in March, in Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. v. O2 Micro Int’l Ltd., the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held that the district court’s appointment of a nonpartisan expert under Federal Rule of Evidence 706 was not an abuse of discretion. That’s the good news, and it’s apparently better news than I initially thought, because […]