Speaking of law professors at the University of California at Berkeley, the Los Angeles Times reported this morning that President Obama will nominate Professor Goodwin Liu to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today. I blogged on this possibility a few weeks back when this nomination was first floated. […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
John Yoo Fires Back
John Yoo has an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. The piece is titled “My Gift to the Obama Presidency,” though I doubt many in the Obama Administration will view it as much of a “gift.” It begins: Barack Obama may not realize it, but I may have just helped save his presidency. How? By […]
Justice Obama?
GWU law professor Jeffrey Rosen suggests Barack Obama may have the wrong job. He’s too detached and cerebral . Too deferential to Congress. Too willing to compromise . And he’s too much of a law professor and not enough of a commander in chief, as Sarah Palin recently admonished. These are some of the qualities […]
Sunday Song Lyric
There have been quite a few songs on “torture” — but most are about the loves lost or relationships gone wrong, something quite different from the subject of the infamous OLC memos. Consider the “Torture” lyrics by The Psychedelic Furs (song), The Replacements (s0ng), Berlin (song), and (who can forget) the Jacksons (video). Leave it […]
Yoo-Bybee OPR Report Commentary
At the Legal Ethics Forum, John Steele has an incredibly useful post rounding up links to documents and commentary related to the Justice Department’s OPR report on the “torture memos” and AAG David Margolis’ memo, including drafts of the OPR report, responses from John Yoo and Jay Bybee’s lawyers and then-AG Michael Mukasey, and loads […]
“The EPA’s Carbon Footprint”
My article from the March 2010 Reason on the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding” that triggers the regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act is now available online. It begins: On December 7, as delegates from around the world gathered in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate conference, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa […]
Is Dissent Today Any Less Patriotic?
In December 2001, then-Attorney General provoked howls of outrage when he made the following statement at a Congressional hearing: To those who pit Americans against immigrants, citizens against non-citizens, to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists for they erode our national unity […]
Sunday Song Lyric
In March 1985, USA for Africa released the star-studded single “We Are the World,” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, to raise money for famine relief in Africa. The song rapidly become the fastest-selling pop single. This weekend, the We Are the World Foundation released “We are the World 25 for Haiti,” a remake […]
Why “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Is Doomed
Now that top military officials have said that the presence of openly gay service members will not undermine unit cohesion, David Rivkin and Lee Casey argue there is no legal basis upon which the policy can be maintained. Congress, of course, has broad constitutional power to adopt rules and regulations for the armed forces that […]
Court Clerk-in-Chief
In response to political blowback over the Administration’s decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City, President Obama has decided to become personally involved in determining where KSM should be tried. The Washington Post reports: President Obama is planning to insert himself into the debate about where to try the accused mastermind of […]
Edwards’ Affair Spawns Litigation
I have not been paying much attention to the sordid details of former Senator John Edwards’ personal life, and it seems I’ve missed quite a bit — and there are even some interesting legal issues. For instance, this morning I learned that Elizabeth Edwards is threatening to sue Andrew Young, a former aide to Senator […]
“The ABA Should Get a New Life”
David Ingram has an interesting post on The BLT on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s criticism of the American Bar Association’s criteria for evaluating judicial nominees. “I think the ABA should get a new life and look at whether people are qualified, not whether they have judicial experience,” Reid said at a hearing of the […]
Gun Nuts vs. Constitution Nuts
Brian Doherty reports on the jockeying between the gun owners challenging Chicago’s gun ban and the NRA in McDonald v. Chicago.
Weather Is Not Climate
What does the “snowpocalypse” tell us about the likelihood of climate change? Nothing. As Roger Pielke Jr. explains: What happens in the weather this week or next tells us absolutely nothing about the role of humans in influencing the climate system. It is unjustifiable to claim that a cold snap or heavy snow disproves or […]
Who’s to Blame for Nomination Bottleneck?
President Obama entered office with a nearly unprecedented opportunity to remake the federal courts, but he has yet to take advantage of it. The President has only made 38 judicial nominations, and the Senate has only confirmed 14. Who is to blame for the slow pace? It depends on who you ask — and when […]