Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

Last week a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit handed down an interesting opinion in U.S. v. Hardin, concerning whether police may enter a residence to execute an arrest warrant need to have probable cause to believe the suspect is inside, or is “reason to believe” sufficient? In Payton […]

Over at Obsidian Wings, Hilzoy has a post decrying the blogosphere’s rumor-mongering about the Palin family children that is worth quoting at length. After noting the Palins’ statement about their daughter’s pregnancy, and then writes: It’s easy, in the midst of a political campaign, to forget that the people involved are, after all, people. Some […]

Jeralyn Merritt has unearthed some information on Governor Palin’s sole appointment to the Alaska Supreme Court. With a retirement pending, Palin may make another appointment later this year.

The Washington Post has an extensive analysis of Al Gore’s plan to power the United States with “100 percent clean electricity within ten years,” and finds it exceedingly impractical and unrealistic, to say the least. The answer is simple: This is where Gore must be pulling our collective leg. Because most people who study the […]

The National Association of Manufacturers, American Iron and Steel Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Petroleum Institute have filed another challenge to the Fish & Wildlife Service’s decision to list polar bears as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Interestingly, one aspect of the listing they are challenging is the federal government’s differential treatment […]

Voters in three states will consider ballot initiatives on abortion this Fall. The most aggressive is in South Dakota, where voters will consider a virtual ban (with exceptions for rape, incest, and threats to the mother’s life). Anti-abortion activists hope to use the law as the basis for an eventual Supreme Court challenge to Roe […]

The Washington Post has an interesting story on how McCain settled on the Palin pick. According to this story, she was on the short-short list ever since McCain first met with her in February, and (contrary to some speculation) she was fully vetted. UPDATE: Byron York reports on the McCain campaigns fuller explanation of their […]

This week, John McCain looked north, to Alaska, to find his running mate. In 1960, Johnny Horton recorded “North to Alaska,” the title song for the John Wayne movie of the same name. The Horton song, penned by Mike Phillips, was a hit (and was subsequently covered by several folks, including Dwight Yoakam and Johnny […]

Tony Mauro has a short item on Gov. Sarah Palin and the Supreme Court’s Exxon decision. Interestingly enough, Palin and her husband qualified as members of the class in the litigation, but did not file. Nonetheless, Palin was supportive of the plaintiffs’ claims, and critical of the Supreme Court’s decision. After the Supreme Court ruled, […]

Senator Hillary Clinton made the following statement about John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate: “We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin’s historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain. While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to […]

Back in January, Governor Palin had an op-ed in the NYT arguing against the proposed listing of polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. It began: About the closest most Americans will ever get to a polar bear are those cute, cuddly animated images that smiled at us while dancing around, pitching soft drinks on […]

My New Atlantis article on the FWS decision to list the polar as a “threatened species” under the Endangered Species Act is now available online. Here’s my conclusion: the polar bear’s ESA listing will do little to preserve bear populations in the wild. It could complicate other conservation efforts. It will have no effect on […]

Today a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held in Creekstone Farms Premium Beef v. USDA that the USDA may prohibit Creekstone Farms from testing its cows for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), aka “mad cow disease” with the so-called “rapid” BSE test. At issue was whether the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act (VSTA) authorized the […]

I am having a hard time figuring out when “experience” is important on a presidential ticket. Until yesterday, we were told that “judgment” was more important than any meaningful foreign policy experience for a Presidential candidate. Now that John McCain has selected Alaska’s maverick governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, we’re told that foreign […]

The loss of arctic sea ice is bad for walrus populations, which means the walrus may soon be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Though drops in walrus population haven’t been documented, scientists and Natives are afraid the ripple effects of climate change could thin walrus numbers. Walrus need to rest on sea ice […]