Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

Boys Don’t Cry was always my favorite album by The Cure. The American version of Three Imaginary Boys, it has some of the bands best songs, including the title track, “10:15 Saturday Night,” “Plastic Passion,” the Camus-inspired “Killing an Arab.” This song was assailed in the 1980s as an anti-Arab song, and is rarely played […]

The Goldsmith-Katyal proposal for a “National Security Court” that could authorize preventative detention has provoked an extensive debate in the comments to this post at Opinio Juris. At Is That Legal? Eric Muller thinks the proposal “has a lot going for it,” but is surprised that Goldsmith and Katyal would propose authorizing the preventative detention […]

Slate‘s Jack Shafer thinks “Yellow journalism now comes in a new color: green.” Often as sensationalistic as its yellow predecessor, green journalism tends to appeal to our emotions, exploit our fears, and pander to our vanity. It places a political agenda in front of the quest for journalistic truth and in its most demagogic forms […]

In 1987, Abdul Haliym (then known as Wayne Frazier) was sentenced to death by an Ohio court for his role in the murders of Marcellus Williams and Joann Richards in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. After exhausting his state law remedies, Haliym filed a federal habeas petition asserting some 20 grounds for relief, all of which were […]

Ed Whelan has a useful summary of the status of judicial nominations to federal appellate courts at NRO’s Bench Memos. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts also has this tabular summary of vacancies.

Is there anything wrong with the Ninth Circuit? Anything that splitting the Court would solve? For more on these questions see this post at SCOTUSBlog by Ben Winograd and this post by Ethan Leib on Prawfsblawg.

A New York attorney has filed a class action lawsuit against several Manhattan nightclubs, alleging that by hosting “ladies nights” they are engaged in unlawful gender discrimination. He is seeking a declaratory judgment that the nightclub policies in question constituted “state action” due to their regulation by the state Alcoholic Beverage Division. Such a finding […]

Americans for Safe Access, an organization that promotes the legalization of medical marijuana, is launching a legal challenge against the federal government’s claim that marijuana has “no currently accepted medical use.” According to this story, ASA is using the Data Quality Act to challenge the scientific basis of such statements, in an effort to force […]

Yesterday, in Hartman v. Bagley, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit denied capital defendant Brett Hartman’s appeal of the denial of his habeas corpus petition. Hartman was convicted for the brutal murder Winda Snipes — he tied her up, stabbed her over 130 times, and then cut off […]

Vanderbilt law professor Brian Fitzpatrick looks at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (where he clerked), and how it fared before the Supreme Court this past year. The 9th Circuit, which hears appeals in federal cases in the Western United States, is the largest of the 13 such courts, with 28 active […]

Yesterday the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on “The Surgeon General’s Vital Mission: Challenges for the Future.” According to Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA): Political interference is compromising the independence of the Office of the Surgeon General. On key public health issues, the Surgeon General has been muzzled. The Surgeon […]

In 2002, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, working with other federal agencies, constructed an underwater electric fence across the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent aliens — in this case, Asian carp — from making their way into Lake Michigan. Five years later, it appears to be working, at least for now. The […]

Despite Al Gore’s best efforts, it seems that the Live Earth concerts (aka “private jets for climate change”) were largely underwhelming. Despite performances by many big name acts, this was not Live Aid for the planet. Not every band was eager to play the show. Some, like British indie-pop sensations the Arctic Monkeys, found the […]

This morning I received the following note from Professor Steve Lubet of Northwestern University Law School that I thought would be of interest to VC readers. Dear Colleagues: As you probably know, the British University and College Union recently passed a resolution advancing a boycott of Israeli scholars and academic institutions. Whatever your political views […]

Mary Ann Glendon and Douglas Kmeic offer this Legal Times commentary on the Supreme Court’s OT2006 and the roles of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. Despite some ideological carping from those who lost cases that depended upon the extension of past decisions, Roberts and Alito have also shown themselves to be strongly respectful of […]