Today’s WSJ has an interesting story about the potential impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, a 5-4 decision rejecting Javaid Iqbal’s effort to sue various high-level government officials for his alleged mistreatment and detention after September 11. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, released in May, will make it harder to bring a lawsuit […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Mr. Roberts & Mr. Jackson:
An interesting tidbit about the late Michael Jackson and Chief Justice John Roberts.
The End of Transparency (Before It Ever Began):
Earlier this week, the White House officially abandoned President Obama’s “Sunlight before Signing” pledge (which I discussed here and here). As the NYT reported: During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised that once a bill was passed by Congress, the White House would post it online for five days before he signed it.
The 1969 Cuyahoga River Fire — Forty Years Later:
Forty years ago today, some oil and debris floating on the surface of the Cuyahoga River began to burn. The resulting fire was not much of a local event — it was out within 30 minutes and caused minimal damage — but soon became a national symbol of environmental ruin. The image of a river […]
Monday Bear Blogging:
I’ve been in Montana the past several days for a conference and some talks. Over the weekened, my wife and I hit Yellowstone National Park, and got quite a few wildlife photos. One of my favorites — more for the subject than the picture quality — is this picture of grizzly bear taken between Madison […]
Court Takes Commerce Clause Case:
This morning the Supreme Court accepted cert in United States v. Comstock, a commerce clause challenge to post-sentence civil commitment of sex offenders. This case will be the first test of the Roberts Court’s commitment to the federalism principles embraced (even if somewhat inconsistently) by the Rehnquist Court. The cert papers are on SCOTUSBlog here. […]
Sunday Song Lyric – Father’s Day Edition:
By request, a Sunday Song Lyric for Father’s Day: “My Father’s An Accountant” by Peter Himmelman. The song begins: My father’s an accountant and I used to think that he was dull He sits all day long crunching numbers in his skull He’d get up to sharpen his pencil Or put a spoon of sugar […]
Off to Montana — Then Back to Columbus:
I’m off to Bozeman, Montana early tomorrow for a few talks and a conference, so there will be light blogging ahead. I’ll be back next week in time to give a talk before the Columbus Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society on Thursday, June 25 on “Judge Sotomayor, the Confirmation Process, and the Future of […]
Goldstein on Sotomayor and Race Cases (Again):
SCOTUSBlog’s Tom Goldstein has an op-ed in today’s NYT on how Sonia Sotomayor has handled cases involving race on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Given my high opinion of Goldstein’s work, I found the article disappointing. Goldstein frames the article as a response to the charges that Sotomayor is biased or, […]
Rosen on Sotomayor, Part IV – The Liberal Dissenter:
Jeff Rosen will have another article on Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the July 1 TNR. This article focuses on her dissenting opinions and concludes that Sotomayor is, in fact, quite liberal, and could help push the Court to the left in economic and criminal law cases. Here’s a taste of the article: If Sotomayor’s majority […]
Snuffing Out Tobacco Ads:
The NYT reports that provisions of the new tobacco legislation likely to be signed by President Obama this week is certain to face a First Amendment challenge in federal court. While bill sponsor Rep. Henry Waxman claims it was “carefully drafted” to survive court scrutiny, the legislation contains provisions virtually identical to some struck down […]
Did Judge Sotomayor Issue an Advisory Opinion?
Senator Cornyn thinks she may have. [Note: I have no intention of linking to every Cornyn question of the day. I linked this one because it raises an interesting issue that I have not seen discussed in the context of the Sotomayor nomination.]
Tobacco Regulations and Norms:
The New York Times believes legislation passed by Congress granting the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products is an “enormous victory for public health.” For reasons I explain in this NRO article, I am not convinced the legislation does much for public health, let alone the public good. Among other things, the legislation could […]
Whelan v. publius Post-Script:
Two last posts from Ed Whelan and one from publius that should end the matter.
Anti-Anti-Sotomayor:
Judge Sonia Sotomayor would not have been my first pick to replace Justice David Souter