Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

Believe it or not, gangster rap pioneers N.W.A. (aka “N***az With Attitude”) formed twenty years ago, in 1987. Their first album, N.W.A. and the Posse, did not do so well, but their second, Straight Outta Compton, caused quite a stir. Featuring exceedingly violent and misogynist lyrics, harsh criticism of the police, and a stark portrayal […]

Majid Khan claims that evidence used by the U.S. government to classify him as an “enemy combatant” was obtained through the use of torture or other illegal interrogation methods. Khan argues that this should make the evidence inadmissible. Yet Khan’s specific allegations are not public. His lawyers may not disclose Khan’s allegations and his motion […]

Via Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft comes a disturbing Boston Globe story about Bush Administration efforts to assert greater political control over the JAG corps. The administration has proposed a regulation requiring “coordination” with politically appointed Pentagon lawyers before any member of the Judge Advocate General corps – the military’s 4,000-member uniformed legal force – can […]

Today the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is launching a new website, USASpending.gov, to increase transparency and accountability in the federal appropriations process. As Glenn Reynolds notes, this is “good news on the pork front.”

The ABA Journal has named former AG Alberto Gonzales as one of their “lawyers of the year” for 2007. More here.

As Eugene noted below, the Pentagon did not let Col. Morris Davis testify before the Senate about military commissions. As it turned out, the military sent Brigadier General Hartmann instead, and he was “not equipped to answer” some of the Senate Committee’s questions, such as whether it would violate the Geneva Convention if Iran waterboarded […]

President Bush has been notably stingy in his use of the Presidential pardon power over the past seven years. Today, however, he issued 29 pardons. The full list is here.

Here’s a new negative ad for the ages. (Thanks to Dan Lowenstein for the tip.)

The AP reports that Lewis “Scooter” Libby has dropped his appeal of his conviction in the Valerie Plame case.

Colonel Morris Davis was the chief prosecutor for the Office of Military Commissions until he resigned his position in October. Today, in the Los Angeles Times, Col. Davis explains his decision. According to Davis, he reluctantly concluded that “full, fair and open trials were not possible under the current system” and that “the system had […]

Inside Higher Education notes the interesting case of Richard Colling, a biology professor stripped of certain teaching assignments because his views about evolution did not comport with those embraced by the university at which he worked. He’s a professor at Olivet Nazarene University, in Illinois, who has been barred from teaching general biology or having […]

Of potential note in Kimbrough and Gall is the breakdown of the justices in each case. Each decision was 7-2 with Justices Alito and Thomas dissenting. That’s not the sort of 7-2 split that one would have expected, either on either traditional right-left or formalist-pragmatist grounds.

Entries for the America’s Future Foundation‘s college blogger contest are due by December 31. As I noted here, AFF is searching for the best college-age (25 or younger) conservative or libertarian blogger. I am one of the judges, and the grand prize is $10,000. More details here.

Kamil Idris, Secretary-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), apparently falsified his age and experience to advance his career. As a consequence, he will leave his UN post a year early, but he will still receive one more year of his $300K+ salary and a full pension, according to this report (see also here).

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has a powerful op-ed in today’s NYT lamenting the lack of public outrage within the Muslim community over clear injustices within the Muslim world. It is often said that Islam has been “hijacked” by a small extremist group of radical fundamentalists. The vast majority of Muslims are said to be moderates. But […]