Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a capital defendants petition for post-conviction relief under Section 2254 in Slagle v. Bagley. As we’ve come to expect on the Sixth, the panel was divided. Judge John Rogers wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Judge Danny Boggs. […]

Professor Bainbridge has an idea. Hint: It wasn’t General Motors.

One of the perverse effects of the Endangered Species Act is that it encourages private landowners to make their land inhospitable to potentially endangered species. This effect is well known (as I’ve written about here and here). Further evidence comes from Boiling Spring Lakes in North Carolina as reported in the News-Observer: Since word got […]

The Sun-Herald reports more details on the plea agreement Regina Rhodes made with federal prosecutors concerning her role in the beating death of Jesse Lee Williams, Jr. while he was in the custody of the Harrison County, Mississippi sherriff’s department. Regina Lynn Rhodes, 29, faces up to 13 years in a federal prison and a […]

Radley Balko is outraged by the death of Jesse Lee Williams, Jr. while in the custody of the Harrison County, Mississippi, sherriff’s department. Williams was arrested on misdemeanor charges. After his arrest, witnesses claim he was savagely beaten to death of department personnel. The account is quite sickening. Apparently everything that happened to Williams was […]

The New York Times reports: Added to the chronicles of great beasts that have descended upon New York City in the year 2006 is one that is arguably the greatest of them all. A beast, upwards of 1,000 pounds and a cousin to the elephant, which dwarfs the coyote, the deer and the dolphin that […]

Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued another divided opinion in an death penalty case, Getsy v. Mitchell. Writing for the panel majority, Senior Judge Gilbert Merritt held that Jason Getsy’s death sentence was unconstitutionally arbitrary under the Eighth Amendment “because like crimes are not being punished alike in the […]

It’s not every day that a senior official in a Republican Administration quotes song lyrics from an irreverent, punk-influenced pop band. Then again, Stewart Baker is probably not your average Bush Administration official. Baker is assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security. On Thursday, he quoted Bowling for Soup’s hit song “1985” […]

I am often asked why I decided to specialize in environmental law. Not many folks with my political perspective choose to do so; environmental law is hardly a “glamor” subject on the political right. My primary answer is that I find environmental law very challenging and rewarding because of the nature of the trade-offs involved. […]

Today’s Bozeman Chronicle reports that the state Fish, Wildlfe and Parks Commission endorsed a plan to increase the number of bison hunting licenses for the second time this summer. Whereas last year only 50 licenses were issued to hunters who wish to shoot bison that come into Montana from Yellowston National Park, it looks like […]

This morning, during some quick, pre-fishin web browsing, I cam across this article on change in Montana. Without a doubt, the state has changed, particlarly in the Bozeman area, as it has grown and the economy has shifted away from traditional resource extraction industries. For a decade or two, college-educated people who want to live […]

This morning, the Washington Post appended a correction to Senator Kennedy’s op-ed attack against Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts.

Later today I will be testifying before the Senate Environment Committee’s subcommittee on fisheries, wildlife and water on the implications of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Rapanos v. United States. In short, I will be discussing how to interpret the Court’s 4-1-4 split, how the Rapanos decision imposes some meaningful limits on the scope of […]

This morning on NRO, Ramesh Ponnuru responds once again to Emily Bazelon on how Senators and the Supreme Court (mis)handled the legislative history of the Detainee Treatment Act.

I was surprised and impressed by the debut album of Fort Minor (aka Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda), The Rising Tied. The album has the obligatoy unrepresentative single (“Where’d You Go”), highlight-reel track (“Remember the Name”), and rejoinders to critics (“Get Me Gone”, “High Road”). Shawn Carter served as executive producer, and there are guest spots […]