The Monkey Cage has an interesting guest post from Georgia State University’s Gregory Lewis examining why initiatives to prohibit same-sex marriage succeed at the polls when public opinion surveys suggest reasonably strong support for same-sex marriage. Among the key points is that support for same-sex marriage varies quite widely by state.
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Is JP Morgan’s $2 Billion Loss a Mountain or a Molehill?
Yale Law School’s Jonathan Macey places JP Morgan’s $2 billion loss in perspective. His article begins: Regulators, politicians and news reporters are hysterical at the news of J.P. Morgan’s recent $2 billion trading loss. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating to see whether laws were broken. We appear to be on the verge of […]
Jeffrey Toobin on Citizens United
The latest New Yorker has an extensive excerpt of Jeffrey Toobin’s forthcoming book, The Oath: The Obama White House vs. the Supreme Court, focusing on the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. The story, “Money Unlimited: How Chief Justice John Roberts orchestrated the Citizens United decision,” is everything you’d expect from a Toobin piece. It’s engaging […]
Henry Kissinger Gets TSA Pat Down
The Washington Post reports that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger got a full pat down by the TSA at Laguardia. Maybe one of the TSA agents had been reading Christopher Hitchens. UPDATE: Kissinger told James Taranto there was “nothing untoward” about his search and that the patdown was necessary because of his leg brace.
EPIC Loses FOIA Appeal Against NSA
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided Electronic Information Privacy Center v. National Security Agency. Here’s the summary from the beginning of Judge Brown’s opinion for the court. Plaintiff-appellant Electronic Privacy Information Center (“EPIC”) filed a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request with the National Security Agency (“NSA”) seeking disclosure of […]
The Incoherence of President Obama’s Stance on Gay Marriage
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 10, 2012 12:59 pm in Federalism, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Same-Sex Marriage
Yesterday the President told ABC News that he believes same-sex couples should be able to get married. So far so good. He further told ABC that he believes this is an issue that should be left to the states which are “arriving at different conclusions at different times.” I have nothing to complain about here, […]
NASA’s James Hansen Is Right
NASA’s James Hansen can be a bit unhinged when he talks about climate change. Although one of the world’s more prominent climate scientists, he has a penchant for selectively presenting only the most apocalyptic global warming scenarios and adopting unduly inflammatory rhetoric, as when he compared coal-laden trains, aka “death trains,” to the railcars carrying […]
When Should the Court Account for Errors?
Lyle Denniston has an interesting post on SCOTUSBlog discussing whether the Court will reconsider its judgment in Nken v. Holder because the decision was based, in part, on erroneous factual premises. The Justice Department last month told the Court that it had provided faulty information in that case about U.S. immigration policy, but it suggested […]
Maker’s Mark’s Mark Prevails
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued its opinion in Maker’s Mark Distillery v. Diageo North America. The opinion begins: Justice Hugo Black once wrote, “I was brought up to believe that Scotch whisky would need a tax preference to survive in competition with Kentucky bourbon.” Dep’t of Revenue v. James […]
Heartland’s Mad Billboard Stunt
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 9, 2012 10:40 am in Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Politicizing Science
The folks at the Heartland Institute are mad, and that seems to have driven them a little mad. For years environmental activists have compared climate skeptics and those who raise questions about the likelihood of a warming-induced apocalypse to Holocaust deniers and worse. In 1989, then-Senator Al Gore famously compared those who downplayed the climate […]
IG Inspector Claims White House Obstructed Gulf Drilling Moratorium Report
The New Orleans Times Picayune reports the White House denied the Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General access to e-mails and communications about White House revisions to a report Interior Secretary Ken Salazar relied upon to justify a moratorium in oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The story begins: A senior federal investigator […]
Assessing Gary Johnson
Conor Friedersdorf compares former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson with prior Libertarian Party candidates for President. His post concludes: A former governor of New Mexico, he was re-elected by that state’s voters, left office popular after two terms, and therefore has the most executive experience of any Libertarian Party presidential nominee. He can also cite […]
NLJ on Misreporting Law School Costs
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 6, 2012 10:38 am in Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
The National Law Journal reports on the under-reporting of estimated cost-of-living expenses at many law schools. The story begins: The news just keeps getting worse — at least as far as financing a legal education goes. Law School Transparency has recalculated its estimates of the debt that law students stand to incur after discovering that […]
Are States Required to Help the Federal Government’s “War on Terror”?
Last month, Virginia enacted a law forbidding state officers, including police, from helping the federal government investigate, surveil, or detain terrorist suspects who are U.S. citizens. This may or may not be good policy. David Rivkin and Charles Stimson argue it’s also unconstitutional. They write: It trenches on the federal government’s war powers and violates […]
“Obama Has Become More Hostile to Medical Marijuana Patients than Any President in U.S. History”
The Marijuana Policy Project’s Rob Kampia writes: During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama raised hopes among those who support medical marijuana by pledging to respect state laws on the issue. But his administration has reversed course and massively escalated the federal government’s attacks on medical marijuana businesses, most of which are legal under their states’ […]