Watching the Roberts hearings today, it is striking how ineffective most of the senators on both sides are in their questioning. They used most of their time to make speeches and often didn’t listen to Roberts’ answers. Most senators seemed extensively but poorly prepared and had trouble reading their own notes. The senators were in […]
Author Archive | Jim Lindgren
Roberts’ Umpire Analogy is not Quite as Simple as it Seems.–
In his brief statement to the Judiciary Committee (beginning at 16:55 of the link for Roberts’ statement at this C-Span page), John Roberts twice likened a judge’s role to that of an umpire: At 18:53: Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules, they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge […]
Rehnquist was the first justice to die in office since Jackson in 1955.
Before William Rehnquist‘s death on Saturday, one would have to go back to 1955 to find a Supreme Court justice dying in office, Robert Jackson. Jackson was succeeded as an Associate Justice by the second John Harlan, who begat Rehnquist, who begat Antonin Scalia (when Rehnquist was elevated to Chief Justice in 1986). Between the […]
Political Diversity on Law School Faculties.–
In an earlier post, I mentioned John McGinnis’s forthcoming Georgetown Law Journal study of political diversity on law faculties. Adam Liptak has a fair account of it in the New York Times: The study, to be published this fall in The Georgetown Law Journal, analyzes 11 years of records reflecting federal campaign contributions by professors […]
Wholesale Gas Caps: An Economic Experiment in Hawaii.–
I hadn’t realized until I read Jane Galt that the Hawaii gas price controls are on the wholesale price of gas, not the retail price. That is really shocking, because economic theory would suggest that prices are set by supply and demand, not simply cost. If the wholesale cap is set above the market price, […]
KC Johnson on Intellectual Diversity in Universities.–
The historian KC Johnson has an interesting, link-filled article on ideological and intellectual diversity at Inside Higher Ed: Inside Higher Ed recently reported on four University of Pittsburgh professors critiquing the latest survey suggesting ideological one-sidedness in the academy. According to the Pitt quartet, self-selection accounts for findings that the faculty of elite disproportionately tilts […]
The Stephanopoulus Option.–
The excerpts from George Stephanopoulus’s December 1, 1997 Newsweek column (“Why We Should Kill Saddam”) that I’ve seen on the web come from Newsmax. Yet there is a lot that is interesting in the rest of the piece, besides the portions already quoted. I have been unable to find a link for those who don’t […]
Is Justice Breyer channeling John Hart Ely?–
The Wall Street Journal has a teaser story on Justice Stephen Breyer’s new 161-page book to be released in a few weeks: “Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution.” I didn’t know that Breyer was a disciple of John Hart Ely (and he may not be), but the interpretive theory described in the WSJ’s account of […]
The Debate over using the Koran in the courtroom.–
There has been a minor debate over using the Koran for oaths in North Carolina. Here is FOXNews account (tip to LGF): Traditionally, witnesses taking the stand in court are sworn in by placing their hand on the Bible (search). But when Muslims in Guilford County, N.C., tried to donate copies of the Koran (search) […]
The Intelligence Wall and the Culture of the Wall.–
At Captain’s Quarters, a member of the intelligence community writes in describing his experience with the wall that was observed before 9/11 against sharing intelligence about terrorists: From 1984 until 2002, I worked as a contractor doing mainly threat assessment and projection for most of the USG intelligence services but primarily CIA, DIA, Air Force […]
The Bobby Riggs–Margaret Court Mothers’ Day Massacre in 1973.–
In today’a NY Times, reporter Selena Roberts has an excerpt from her book on the Billie Jean King–Bobby Riggs Battle of the Sexes tennis match. The excerpt tells the story of the earlier match between Riggs and Margaret Court, which Riggs won handily. It is a fascinating look at an earlier era: The sprite-sized Riggs, […]
London Times reports that British intelligence foiled a planned sarin attack on Parliament.–
According to the Times of London, British intelligence cracked Al Qaeda codes and believes that it prevented a chemical attack (involving sarin) on Parliament (tip to Hewitt): SCOTLAND YARD believes it has thwarted an Al-Qaeda gas attack aimed at ministers and MPs in parliament. The plot, hatched last year, is understood to have been discovered […]
Did Lawyers Hinder Bin Laden Capture?–
It is quite depressing to read descriptions of how investigations or captures of Osama Bin Laden or other Al Qaeda were hindered by lawyers, rules developed by lawyers, or fears of lawyers. For example, there were the FBI lawyers who wouldn’t allow seeking a search warrant to look into Zacarias Moussaoui’s laptop computer in Minnesota […]
Did Senator Dick Durbin lie to Jonathan Turley about Roberts?–
Betsy Newmark has been doing a good job covering the flap between Illinois Senator and Minority Whip Dick Durban and Jonathan Turley. Here she reviews the basics of the story and comments: Remember the story about Dick Durbin asking John Roberts about conflicts between his faith and decisions he might have to make on the […]
Protestant Denominations and Israel.–
John Hindreaker has a nice article in the Weekly Standard about the biased attitude toward terrorism in Israel of the largest Lutheran denomination, the EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA (ELCA): The ELCA’s pronouncements on the Middle East are so one-sided as to suggest a dissociation from reality. Hamas gunmen brandish firearms as they celebrate Israel’s […]