Over at NRO’s Bench Memos, Matt Franck points out that insofar as the Reid bill alters Senate rules in order to entrench some of the bill’s reforms, there may not have been enough votes for cloture on the bill. while cloture to end debate on legislation ordinarily takes “three-fifths of all the Senators duly chosen […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Will States Challenge the “Nebraska Compromise”?
The AP reports several state attorneys general are looking into potential legal challenges to the health care bill (assuming it passes). The top prosecutors in seven states are probing the constitutionality of a political deal that cut a funding break for Nebraska in order to pass a federal health care reform bill, South Carolina’s attorney […]
Future Amendments Are Out of Order
By Jonathan H. Adler on December 22, 2009 11:01 am in Congress, Government Transparency, Health Care
The Senate health care bill contains provisions that purport to prevent a future Congress from revising portions of the legislation my majority vote. Specifically, at pages 1019-1021, the bill requires a three-fifths vote in order to alter or repeal recommendations made by the Independent Medicare Advisory Board. The relevant language is below. As noted here, […]
Richard Epstein on the Reid Bill
While most of us have not had the time to peruse the Senate health care bill, much less analyse its various provisions, the University of Chicago’s Richard Epstein has already penned a sizable essay on why portions of the bill should be found unconstitutional. He summarizes: In effect, the onerous obligations under the Reid Bill […]
Do Blogs Influence Judicial Decisions?
J. Robert Brown considers the potential effect of legal blogging on judicial decisions. Any such influence would be difficult to quantify. Even when a judicial decision cites a blog, it is hard to know whether the blog in question actually influenced the case’s outcome. Nonetheless, there are occasional instances in which it is quite probable […]
Opening the Archives
The AP reports President Obama is likely to sign an executive order before year’s end to create a National Declassification Center to review Cold War era documents for potential declassification and discourage the classification of documents going forward. This would be a very welcome step.
The Politicization of Peer Review
Among other things, the release of e-mails and documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit has laid bare the efforts of a handful of climate scientists to manipulate how the peer review process handled research that could undermine claims of a climate science “consensus.” As climate scientists David Douglass and John Christy […]
AsteroidGate – For Real?
From Wired: Any number of undiscovered near-Earth objects could one day careen into the Earth, and there is a lot of talk here at the American Geophysical Union meeting about tracking them. So far, though, only one discovered object has seemed even mildly likely to hit our planet.That asteroid is Apophis, a 900-foot asteroid. Calculations […]
Sunday Song Lyric
We know Eugene’s least favorite Christmas song, but what’s your favorite? I agree with Eugene that Silent Night, Holy Night is “suberb.” It’s always been one of my favorite “classic” carols. Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright Round yon Virgin Mother and Child Holy Infant so tender and mild Sleep in […]
Justice Department Seeks to Reverse ACORN Ruling
The AP reports: The government has asked a federal judge to let it cut ACORN’s funding, saying a report commissioned by the embattled community activist reinforces Congress’ concern about misuse of federal funds.In papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, government lawyers sought a reversal of Judge Nina Gershon’s ruling last week that […]
Congressman Seeks to Send Critic to Jail
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Rep. Alan Grayson is unhappy with a critic who created a website, mycongressmanisnuts.com, mocking Rep. Grayson’s congressmanwithguts.com website and seeking donations against him. Indeed, Rep. Grayson is so upset that he’s filed a complaint with the Department of Justice requesting “investigation and prosecution” of the website’s creator, Angie Langley. According […]
Copenhagen’s Carbon Footprint
It takes a lot of energy to hold a UN climate conference — and lots more for delegates, activists, journalists and others to get there. That means a lot of carbon emissions. Reuters reports: “Despite efforts by the Danish government to reduce the conference’s carbon footprint, around 5,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be created […]
NYT on CRS Dismissal of Col. Davis
Today’s NYT editorializes against the Congressional Research Service’s decision to dismiss Col. Morris Davis because of his public writings on proposed civil trials of detainees. It begins: Morris Davis, a retired Air Force colonel who was chief military prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, showed courage and respect for democratic principles when he resigned rather than […]
It’s Cheap to Hack a Drone
This doesn’t sound good. From today’s WSJ: Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected […]
Over the Limit
CBSNews.com reports that, at least by some measures, the U.S. has exceeded the legally authorized debt limit, but this doesn’t mean the government is about to shut down or stop spending money — at least not yet. The ceiling was set at $12.104 trillion dollars. The latest posting by Treasury shows the National Debt at […]