Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

The Washington Post reports on another court case involving allegations of torture. No one really disputes that Chad Hudgens was waterboarded outside a Provo office park last May 29, right before lunch, by his boss. There is also general agreement that Hudgens volunteered for the “team-building exercise,” that he lay on his back with his […]

I’ve been taking in Consolers of the Lonely, the new album from The Raconteurs (Jack White of the White Stripes’ other band.) While I like the first single, “Salute Your Solution,” I am also quite fond of the title track. The lyrics begin: Haven’t seen the sun in weeks, My skin is getting pale. Haven’t […]

As part of its symposium on “What’s Next? The New Progressive Agenda,” the webzine Democracy: A Journal of Ideas includes “tradable water rights” among the “progressive” ideas our nation’s leaders should adopt. In a short essay, MIT environmental economist Michael Greenstone explains how tradable water rights could help overcome water allocation and scarcity problems, particularly […]

The NYT reports what many of us have been predicting: Thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government’s biggest conservation program, which pays them not to cultivate. They are spurning guaranteed annual payments for a chance to cash in on the boom in wheat, soybeans, corn and other crops. Last fall, they […]

There are many legitimate reasons to be concerned about climate change (such as its likely effects on water supplies. The potential of a warmer world to spread insect-borne diseases is not one of them, however. Given current technology, climate is a relatively insignificant factor in the distribution of malaria and other such ailments around the […]

James Taranto reports on a plaintiffs lawyer’s effort to stifle voices skeptical of a vaccine-autism link. (LvIP). UPDATE: Walter Olson has more here, here, and here.

Since the publication of David Boaz’s op-ed, several readers have tried ordering their own personalized Starbucks cards emblazoned with “laissez faire.” Whatever Starbucks’ policy was before, they now allow such cards, as at least one VC reader received his “Laissez Faire” Starbucks card in the mail today. I’ll post the picture once I figure out […]

New Republic legal affairs editor tries his hand commenting on environmental law in “States of Nature: How George Bush’s legal war against the environment backfired,” and makes a complete hash of it. Rosen’s thesis is that conservatives have waged a “long-standing campaign against environmental protections” in which they “have taken a kitchen sink approach,” deploying […]

I received an examination copy of Randy Barnett’s new constitutional law casebook, Constitutional Law: Cases in Context, today. I look forward to perusing it this summer and, who knows, maybe even adopting it for my ConLaw class.

Lyle Denniston has the details on SCOTUSBlog here.

Starbucks allows its customers to purchase somewhat customized Starbucks cards. As David Boaz reports, it’s okay to get a card emblazoned with the slogan “People not Profits” or “Si Se Puede,” but not “Laissez Faire.” The former is just fine, but Starbucks finds the latter to be “inappropriate.” Apparently the folks at Starbucks (and Arroweye, […]

The AP reports that former Congressman Bob Barr has formed a presidential exploratory committee in preparation for a possible run as the Libertarian Party candidate for President.

For some reason, “The Torture Never Stops,” by the legendary Frank Zappa, seems an appropriate song lyric for this week. The song begins: Flies all green and buzzin’, in this dungeon of despair. Prisoners grumble and piss their clothes, and scratch their matted hair. A tiny light, from a window hole, a hundred yards away, […]

Jeffrey Rosen has a very positive review of Eric Lichtblau’s new book,Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice in today’s NYT. Among other things, Lichtblau writes of the “titanic battle” between the Times and the Bush Administration over his and James Risen’s investigative reporting about the administration’s domestic surveillance efforts. In a series of meetings […]

The Supreme Court’s decision in Rapanos v. United States reaffirming the existence of limits of federal regulatory jurisdiction over wetlands and other non-navigable waters generated significant uncertainty about the scope of federal authority — uncertainty the Bush Administration’s post-Rapanos regulatory guidance did little to resolve. This morning I am debating Jim Tripp, general counsel of […]