Author Archive | Jim Lindgren

There were lots of news stories over the weekend previewing Wednesday’s argument in Massachusetts v. EPA, as well as several editorials urging one outcome or another (see, e.g., here and here). One of the better stories was Joel Lang’s coverage in the Hartford Courant. For a basic rundown of the legal issues, one can consult […]

Scott Turow has an interesting article in today’s New York Times Magazine on the civil libertarian effect of Justice Scalia’s formalist jurisprudence. Here’s a taste: Justice Scalia, especially in the last decade, has frequently taken an expansive view of the Bill of Rights, thus supporting defendants in criminal cases. Scalia is one of the intellectual […]

Wine makers are pleased that evidence demonstrating the health benefits of moderate wine consumption continues to mount. Yet, as the New York Times reports, wine makers can’t tell you about it. The industry has long been handcuffed by state and federal laws that discourage promoting the benefits of wine, with some of those restrictions dating […]

As Orin noted below, the incomparable Anita O’Day passed away this week. Born Antia Belle Colton, O’Day’s long and path-breaking career was marked by important recordings, as well as a series of drug problems (both of which she wrote about in her autobiography, High Times, Hard Times). Among the songs for which O’Day was known […]

This observation by Radley Balko on no-knock raids (via Instapundit) is worth repeating. If the police storm in and you — not being a drug dealer and consequently having no reason to think the police might break into your home — mistake them for criminal intruders and meet them with a gun, you are at […]

Japanese authorities are aghast at what passes for Japanese food in much of the rest of the world, today’s Washington Post reports. A fast-growing list of gastronomic indignities — from sham sake in Paris to shoddy sashimi in Bangkok — has prompted Japanese authorities to launch a counterattack in defense of this nation’s celebrated food […]

Responding to the Stern Review, Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren of the Cato Institute argue that adopting measures to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions is not (yet) a good deal for us or future generations. Not to be flip about it, but why should the relatively poor (us) sacrifice for the relatively rich (our children […]

In August, in Getsy v. Mitchell, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that inconsistent jury verdicts for different defendants accused of the same crime were unconstitutionally arbitrary. I discussed the case here, and agreed with Orin’s assessment that the case was a likely candidate for en banc […]

The spread of a pesky Asian immigrant, the emerald ash borer, has prompted the Department of Agriculture to expand the existing quarantine barring interstate transport of ash trees to include Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. (Michigan was already covered.) The borer was first found in the United States in 2002, and is already blamed for the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to regulate nanotechnology under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for the first time. Specifically, the Washington Post reports, the EPA will adopt new regulations on the use nanoparticles of silver as germ-killing agents. The decision — which will affect the marketing of high-tech odor-destroying shoe liners, […]

The University of Pennsylvania Law Review‘s PENNumbra has posted this exchange between professors Kermit Roosevelt and Richard Garnett on the former’s book, The Myth of Judicial Activism.

Roger Pielke Jr. is astounded that “the overwhelming majority of scientists, the media, and responsible advocacy groups have remained mute” about “the repeated misrepresentation of science related to disasters and climate change.” More than anything else, even the misrepresentations themselves, the collective willingness to overlook bad policy arguments unsupported (or even contradicted) by the current […]

Publication of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change appears to have had a significant impact on the climate policy debate. Yet there has been significant criticism of some of the report’s assumptions and conclusions (as I noted here). Among the more recent critiques is this assessment by Yale’s William Nordhaus (link via […]

This afternoon I am speaking on a panel at the American Enterprise Institute on Massachusetts v. EPA, which presents the questions whether the Environmental Protection Agency can or is required to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The case will be argued before the Supreme Court next week. As it happens, today’s event […]

If you are a conservative or libertarian who criticizes the Bush Administration, Andrew Sullivan reports (and Ryan Sager confirms) you are not welcome at the Heritage Foundation, even for dinner. (LvIP) UPDATE: The Heritage Foundation’s Tim Chapman comments here. His post includes Heritage’s “official response”: Failure to invite a non-member to a members-only event is […]