Daylight savings time ends this weekend, but should it be ended for good? Georgia State economist Spencer Banzhaf has an op-ed in today’s WSJ questioning the case for shifting the clocks over the summer. Here’s a taste: The United States adopted the annual use of daylight-saving time permanently in 1966, then lengthened its duration on […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
High School Football Goes to Court
There’s a bit of confusion about how a late season forfeit should affect seeding for the Ohio High School Athletic Association football playoffs, which are scheduled to start tonight. And so the confusion is being resolved in the typical fashion: A lawsuit. Make that multiple lawsuits that have already resulted in conflicting court rulings. According […]
An Election Recount without Voter Registrations?
The North Dakota Senate election could be close — close enough to trigger a recount. Given that control of the Senate could be at stake, the party lawyers will no doubt descend ready for battle. But in ND there’s a twist: No voter registration. As Sasha Issenberg explains in Slate, North Dakota is the only […]
How Should Libertarians Vote?
Continuing the series of posts examining how libertarian-leaning folks should vote (assuming they think it’s worth voting at all), Reason has published essays on the libertarian case for Obama (Mike Godwin), Romney (Robert Poole) and Gary Johnson (Nick Gillespie). Some may also be interested in this post by law professor Brad Smith explaining why he […]
When Will We Know How Ohio Votes?
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the outcome of the Presidential election in Ohio may not be known until mid-November. This is because state election officials will not count provisional ballots until at least ten days after the election. Given the large number of provisional ballots in Ohio — a number that could increase due […]
The Popular Vote and Presidential Legitimacy
Recent polling results present the possibility that Mitt Romney could win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote. Would this matter? It shouldn’t. We’ve seen this before, and it is not at all unusual for a President to be elected with less than 50 percent of the popular vote, as some voters support third-party […]
Putting Sandy in Perspective
How does Sandy compare with prior hurricanes to make landfall on the eastern seaboard? Roger Pielke Jr. has posted a table of the ten most damaging storms to make landfall within 50 miles of Sandy. If Sandy doesn’t top the list, it’s likely to be close.
Because One Department of Commerce Isn’t Enough
The Hill reports: President Obama says he would like to establish a “secretary of Business” if he wins a second term. In an interview with MSNBC, the president said he wants to consolidate a number of business and trade-related agencies, creating a “one-stop shop” for oversight. “I’ve said that I want to consolidate a whole […]
Judge Declares Mistrial in “Liberal Bias” Lawsuit
A lawsuit against the University of Iowa law school alleging ideological discrimination in faculty hiring has ended in a mistrial. The jury sided for the University on one charge, but deadlocked on the other. The AP reports: During a weeklong trial watched closely in higher education, Wagner claimed that the overwhelmingly liberal faculty refused to […]
Could Obama Benefit from Bush v. Gore?
Rick Hasen writes in Slate how Bush v. Gore‘s equal protection holding could benefit President Obama’s reelection effort, especially in Ohio. For years, voting rights advocates have tried to make lemonade from lemons, arguing that the Equal Protection holding of Bush v. Gore should apply more broadly to require equality and uniformity in conducting elections. Until recently, these […]
How Dodd-Frank Benefits the Biggest Banks
Former White House counsel Boyden Gray and Adama White explain how Dodd-Frank effectively subsidizes large financial institutions at the expense of smaller institutions and “Main Street.” Gray and White are also representing some of the plaintiffs who are challenging Dodd-Frank’s constitutionality (see here and here).
The “Progressive” Case Against Obama
The Roosevelt Institute’s Matt Stoller, a former Democratic congressional aide, offers an interesting progressive critique of President Obama’s economic policies that may have some resonance with libertarians, particularly those who believe federal government policy tends to benefit entrenched economic interests. A taste: There are many good arguments against Obama, even if the Republicans cannot seem […]
Law Blog Mottos
Noncuratlex, “Another Law Blog, Dedicated to Old Law Stuff, Mostly,” has suggests some mottos for other law blogs. (Hat tip: How Appealing)
Mann v. Steyn — The Defendants Respond
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 25, 2012 8:51 pm in Climate Change, Defamation, Freedom of Speech, Politicizing Science
On Monday, famed climate scientist Michael Mann filed suit against National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute over some allegedly defamatory blog posts. Now some of the defendants have responded. Here is CEI’s official response, and a legal analysis from their lawyer. Of note, while CEI refused to apologize for the initial blog post (which […]
Re: Libertarian Law Professors and Presidential Candidates
I think David is absolutely correct in his post below that judicial appointments are a big issue for most libertarian-leaning law professors, and on this issue Republican presidents (and their judicial nominees) have done far more to advance libertarian legal views than Democratic presidents. I would add two points to David’s analysis. First, even on […]