The Department of Defense announced yesterday that William J. Haynes will be stepping down from his post as DoD General Counsel. Haynes’ tenure was particularly controversial, due to his involvement in the development of rules governing the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants. He was also nominated by President Bush to the U.S. Court of […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Another Internal Justice Investigation:
The Washington Post reports the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the “circumstances surrounding” the drafting of the so-called “torture memos” within the Office of Legal Counsel. According to one DoJ attorney, the investigation will consider “whether the legal advice contained in those memoranda was consistent with the professional standards that apply to […]
A Texas Wind Boom:
Wind power is on the rise in the United States, even if offshore projects continue to have a difficult time (see, e.g. Cape Wind). The New York Times reports: Wind turbines were once a marginal form of electrical generation. But amid rising concern about greenhouse gases from coal-burning power plants, wind power is booming. Installed […]
Was There a Global Cooling Consensus?
Most climate scientists believe that human activity is contributing to a gradual warming of the atmosphere. But these same scientists used to believe that human activity was producing a “global cooling,” right? Not quite. In the 1970s, several popular publications ran high profile stories about the threat of “global cooling,” but such concerns were not […]
Sunday Song Lyric:
The songwriting team of Alan Menken (music) and Stephen Schwartz (lyrics) received Oscar nominations this year for three of their songs from Disney’s Enchanted: “Happy Working Song,” “So Close,” and “That’s How You Know.” Their compositions account for a majority of the songs nominated for “Original Song.” Of the three, I think the first best […]
From Greenhouse Gas to Gasoline:
The New York Times reports on an interesting scientific undertaking: If two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are correct, people will still be driving gasoline-powered cars 50 years from now, churning out heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — and yet that carbon dioxide will not contribute to global warming. The scientists, F. Jeffrey […]
Adam Kolber Signs Off:
My guest blogging stint comes to an end today. You can find my previous posts here: neurolaw, memory1, memory2, chimpanzees, punishment1, and punishment2. Let me also point you to a few topics I would have liked to have addressed in more detail, if time permitted: Brain imaging and politics: See here and here. Brain imaging […]
Paris Hilton and Punishment Experience:
In my previous post, I suggested that our prevailing theories of punishment require us to take account of variations in prisoners’ experiences of punishment. Admittedly, we have dueling intuitions about doing so. I think most people are sympathetic to the genuine claustrophobe who has an unusually difficult time in prison (and claustrophobic symptoms are likely […]
The Subjective Experience of Punishment:
Suppose that Sensitive and Insensitive commit the same crime, under the same circumstances. They are both convicted and sentenced to spend four years in identical prison facilities. In fact, their lives are alike in most respects, except that Sensitive is tormented by prison life and lives in a constant state of fear and distress, while […]
Audio/video on the Amicus briefs in DC v. Heller
Heritage Foundation event last Thursday, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) and Jon Tester (D-Montana) discuss their congressional amicus brief in D.C. v. Heller. Independence Institute iVoices.org podcast, in which I discuss the law enforcement amicus brief I wrote. Tonight on NRA News, at 11:20 Eastern Time, I will be interviewed about the brief. (The broadcast […]
District Attorneys, the ABA, and precedent in DC v. Heller
In the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment, the American Bar Association filed an amicus brief in support of the DC handgun and self-defense ban. The brief argued that respect for stare decicis should compel the present Court not to recognize the Second Amendment as an individual right. A related brief was filed by the District Attorney […]
State-level Battle of the Attorneys General in DC v. Heller
Thirty-one state Attorneys General filed an amicus brief in support of Heller. Part I.A. is a solid textual and historical argument for the Second Amendment as a meaningful individual right. Well-written, but I’m not sure it adds much to the treatment of these issues in Respondent’s brief. Part I.B. adds some material on post-Miller cases […]
The “Failed State” Brief in DC v. Heller:
On behalf of several association of private security guards and detectives, and the Buckeye Firearms Foundation, a brief in DC v. Heller supplies the facts of the appalling mismanagement and institutional incompetence of DC’s Metropolitan Police Department. Almost everyone who lives or works in the District of Columbia is well aware that the District’s government […]
Women’s Rights Brief in DC v. Heller:
A brief on behalf of 126 women state legislators, and several academics, presents a women’s rights perspective on the DC ban on handguns and on home self-defense with any firearm. Part I points out that, compared to the past, women are more likely to live alone. Young women are less likely to move straight from […]
Respondent’s Brief in DC v. Heller:
On Monday, the brief for Respondent was filed in DC v. Heller, the Supreme Court’s case involving the DC handgun ban. The brief for Petitioners (DC and Mayor Fenty) is here. The first portions of each brief raise textual and historical arguments. DC argues that the preamble of the Second Amendment (“a well-regulated militia”) controls […]