Author Archive | David Bernstein

The Supreme Court handed down two decisions today, one of which was a 5-4. As of today, that means that only five of the Court’s 56 decisions have split 5-4 thus far. If one throws in the Court’s 5-3 decision in Stoneridge and the Court’s two 4-4 splits, that is still only eight decisions, or […]

The Wall Street Journal reports: Justice Department lawyers have filed a grand-jury referral stemming from the 2006 U.S. attorneys scandal, according to people familiar with the probe, a move indicating that the yearlong investigation may be entering a new phase. The grand-jury referral, the first time the probe has moved beyond the investigative phase, relates […]

Slate’s Dahlia Lithiwick offered her thoughts on the current Supreme Court term in yesterday’s Washington Post Outlook section in an essay titled “It Isn’t Tilting in The Same Old Ways.” Lithiwick writes: Court watchers have stood dumbfounded all spring as the high court rejected and renounced the 5 to 4 conservative-liberal splits that seemed to […]

Marcy Tiffany, the wife of Judge Alex Kozinski, comes to her husbands defense. She notes many inaccuracies and distortions in media coverage about the contents of the Kozinski family server, and offers this bottom line: “The fact is, Alex is not into porn – he is into funny – and sometimes funny has a sexual […]

Michael Rosman recommended Paul Simon‘s “Father and Daughter” for Father’s Day, and I can’t think of a better song for today. It begins: If you leap awake In the mirror of a bad dream And for a fraction of a second You can’t remember where you are Just open your window And follow your memory […]

Opinio Juris is hosting an “Insta-Symposium” on yesterday’s Boumediene decision. Contributors include Steve Vladeck, Deborah Pearlstein, Ted White, Eric Freedman, and the Opinio Juris regulars, among others, with more to come. Check it out.

A few years back, I challenged the traditional “conservative” or “libertarian” approach to global warming. I wrote: The scientific debate over global warming is not so much over whether anthropogenic emissions will affect the climate. Rather it is over the nature and magnitude of the likely effects. Even the most ardent global warming skeptics within […]

This morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit once again invalidated several Federal Elections Commission regulations implementing the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA, aka “McCain-Feingold”) in Shays v. FEC. The opinion for the court, by Judge Tatel, begins as follows: Congress passed the McCain-Feingold Act, formally known as […]

Overshadowed by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Boumediene was the Court’s unanimous opinion in Munaf v. Geren, another habeas case arising out of the war on terror. In Munaf, the Court considered whether U.S. courts have jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of U.S. citizens challenging their detention in Iraq by the […]

In his post below, Orin suggests that if Congress were to object to the Court’s Boumediene decision, it could “formally suspend the Writ as it applies to Guantanamo Bay” under the Constitution’s Suspension Clause. I am not so sure. The Suspension Clause provides that “[t]he Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be […]

Among today’s opinions, the Supreme Court also issued a 5-4 decision in Irizarry v. United States, a sentencing case. Here’s the line-up: Justice Stevens wrote the opinion for the Court, joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito. Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Kennedy, Souter, and Ginsburg.

Details on SCOTUSBlog (where else), as they become available. Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. The opinions are here. UPDATE: The Chief Justice and Justice Scalia wrote dissenting opinions (each joined by the usual suspects). Justice Souter wrote a concurrence joined by Ginsburg and Breyer. FURTHER UPDATE: Lyle Denniston is giving insta-analysis of the opinions […]

It’s become a regular talking point in energy policy debates that China and Cuba are drilling for oil only 60 miles off of Florida’s coast. If true, it would mean that China is drilling for oil closer to Florida than any U.S. firm. But this report from the McClatchy news service says it’s just an […]

Former Republican Representative Bob Barr was once a committed advocate of — indeed, participant in — the “war on drugs.” One could assume that a change of heart was necessary for him to secure the Libertarian Party nomination for President. He explains why he now opposes the drug war here. An excerpt: Bob Barr, formerly […]

Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Burge held yesterday that use of the three-drug lethal injection “cocktail” considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees violates Ohio’s lethal injection statute because it does not cause death “quickly and painlessly.” As the NYT reports here, the judge ordered the administration of a […]