Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

Today’s Washington Post reports: The Bush White House so strictly controlled access to its warrantless eavesdropping program that only three Justice Department lawyers were aware of the plan, which nearly ignited mass resignations and a constitutional crisis when a wider circle of administration officials began to question its legality, according to a watchdog report released […]

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit invalidated yet another of the Bush EPA’s air pollution regulations. In this case, NRDC v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit struck down various rules promulgated in 2005 and 2007 involving implementation of the 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. As I have noted before […]

Stuart Taylor has an interesting post on how the Ricci case almost evaded the attention of other Second Circuit judges, let alone the Supreme Court.

Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned a federal district court’s dismissal of a suit challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s diploma privilege. Under Wisconsin law, graduates of the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University law schools are automatically admitted to the Wisconsin bar. All others must either fulfill an out-of-state practice […]

Miguel Estrada, a native of Honduras who was also part of the official U.S. delegation to ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya’s 2006 inauguration, makes a powerful case in the L.A. Times that there was no “coup” in Honduras, and that Zelaya was lawfully removed from office (even if unlawfully removed from the country. His article […]

The AP reports: Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is serving a 30-year sentence at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colo., for joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate then-President George W. Bush. Last year, Abu Ali requested two books written by Obama: “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” But prison officials, citing guidance […]

The Senate Judiciary Committee has released the list of witnesses who will testify at Judge Sonia SOtomayor’s confirmation hearings. There are some familiar names on the list, including two of conspirators: Ilya Somin and David Kopel.

Today the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s School of Law released a report by Monica Youn, Judge Sotomayor’s Record in Constitutional Cases. The study looked at over 1,000 constitutional cases heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit during the time Judge Sotomayor was on the court. Here is how the […]

The Washington Post has an interesting report on Judge Sotomayor today based upon a fairly extensive review of her opinions. Two aspects of the story caught my eye. First, the article suggests that there is a problem with teh high level of factual detail in Judge Sotomayor’s legal opinions. During nearly 11 years on the […]

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee posted a letter supporting confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court signed by over 1,100 law professors from around the country. Organized by the Alliance for Justice, and promoted by professors at various schools (including Columbia, which released the letter to the press), the letter makes the standard […]

Georgia’s Judicial Nominating Commission has released a list of nine individuals it recommends Governor Sonny Perdue consider in naming a replacement for Justice Leah Ward Sears on the Georgia Supreme Court. As reported in the AJC, those on the list are all prominent attorneys and judges from within the state. One nominee in particular should […]

Ever in search of new rankings to drive magazine sales, U.S. News has announced it will join with Best Lawyers to produce a national ranking of law firms. Blog Emperor Paul Caron has more.

These are pretty cool. I like the penguins and the whales. Alas, I am no relation to the designer, and I don’t get a cut.

This morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released its opinion in SoundExchange, Inc. v. Librarian of Congress. A three-judge panel consisting of Judges Ginsburg, Henderson, and Kavanaugh, largely rejected SoundExchange’s challenge to the royalty rate set by the Copyright Royalty Board that satellite radio services must pay to copyright owners for […]

Larry Ribstein has posted a copy of a lengthy open letter from several prominent members of the University of Illinois School of Law faculty responding to the Chicago Tribune‘s breathless coverage and editorializing on the University’s response to political pressure to admit unqualified applicants. It concludes: The Tribune