Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

Patterico has some questions: Did a prosecutor in the New Orleans U.S. Attorney’s Office commit misconduct which could jeopardize the conviction of former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards? Did a defendant who turned state’s evidence against Edwards bribe Congressman William Jefferson to influence the former U.S. Attorney to get a better deal for himself? Did the […]

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a facial challenge to Indiana’s voter ID law, 6-3 The judgment of the Court was announced by Justice Stevens (!), joined by the Chief Justice and Justice Kennedy. Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito concurred in the judgment. Justices Souter, Breyer and Ginsburg dissented. The opinions are here. I […]

Former Guantanamo Bay prosecutor Col. Morris Davis is scheduled to testify in the military commission trial of Salim Hamdan today — for the defense. The WSJ reports: Col. Morris Davis, for two years the chief Guantanamo prosecutor, is expected to testify that the operation he once led has been infected with political agendas and corrupted […]

Seventy years ago today, the Massachusetts towns of Enfield, Greenwich, Dana and Prescott held their last annual Fireman’s Ball before they were disincorporated to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir. Several years ago, Boston musician Mark Erelli wrote a song commemorating it, “The Farewell Ball.” It begins: The government man Started building his dam Then […]

Forget Obama-Clinton. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Washington Capitals in overtime in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series. This is the first time the Flyers have won a playoff series since 2004 (a long time for Philly fans), and an amazing rebound for a team that had the worst record last season.

Orac provides an update on one plaintiff’s attorney’s shameful efforts to harass and intimidate those who’ve (correctly) disputed evidence of a vaccine-autism link. UPDATE: Quashed.

In June, the Songwriters Hall of Fame will bestow the Hal David Starlight Award on John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls. The relatively new award is given to “gifted songwriters who are at an apex in their careers and are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs.” Among the […]

John Burnett, author of Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas, has more on Britain’s new approach to piracy. On April 11, French commandos went in with guns blazing and captured a gang of pirates who days earlier had hijacked a luxury cruise ship, the Ponant, and held the crew for ransom. […]

And here he demonstrates that Paul Campos does not. One point that Leiter makes is particularly worth repeating: There is lots of speculation that maybe what Yoo did (writing the torture memos) constitutes a crime or legal malpractice. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t: it is unclear based on the available facts (though, on both […]

Today the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on the “Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007,” a bill to expand the jurisdictional scope of the Clean Water Act by removing any reference to the navigability of waters. Specifically, the bill replaces references to “navigable waters of the United States” with “waters of […]

The Washington Post says enough is enough: It is time to stop playing games with judicial nominees. As senators cross swords and point fingers, seats remain empty, sitting judges get swamped, and cases drag on. Those who pay the highest price are the plaintiffs, defendants, crime victims and businesses relying on the courts to resolve […]

Yesterday the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a set of combined cases raising the question “Whether 316(b) of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1326(b), authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compare costs with benefits in determining the ‘best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact’ at cooling water intake structures.” The grant was […]

The Houston Chronicle reports that a leading scientific expert on a potential link between hurricane activity and global warming may be reconsidering his views in light of subsequent research. The hurricane expert, Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, unveiled a novel technique for predicting future hurricane activity this week. The new work suggests […]

My former colleague Andrew Morriss and William Henderson have an interesting article in the National Law Journal identifying some practical reasons some prospective law students should pay less attention to U.S. News rankings. Morriss and Henderson are not U.S. News bashers. They recognize that the rankings provide a useful sorting function, particularly given the lack […]

Today the America’s Future Foundation announced that Joe Malchow, founder of Dartblog, won AFF’s $10,000 College Blogger contest. The runners up were the Oregon Commentator and Surveillance State. I was one of the judges for the contest, and it was a pleasure. I learned there are many good college bloggers out there, and these three […]