It is currently a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in federal prison to falsely identify cane sugar or corn-based syrups as”maple syrup.” Apparently this is not enough for Vermont’s congressional delegation. As the Los Angeles Times reports, Vermont’s senators have proposed legislation to make it a felony to represent a product as “maple […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
EPA To Regulate Fracking
Last Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it planned to propose regulations governing the disposal of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing. The WSJ reported on the announcement and initial reactions here.
WaPo Ombudsman Labels Article on Kochs “Tendentious” and “Unfair”
Earlier this month, Bloomberg published a lengthy investigative report on Koch Industries, the privately owned corporation owned by Charles and David Koch. The report documented various illegal or questionable acts by Koch Industries, its subsidiaries and affiliated entities over the past twenty years or so, including regulatory infractions, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, […]
Another Hunter on the High Court
CNN reports that in a recent speech Justice Elena Kagan acknowledged that she has gone practice shooting and hunting with Justice Scalia — and that she likes it. From the story: She recalled paying a courtesy call on Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) shortly after her nomination to the court by President Obama in May 2010. […]
War Powers Suit Dismissed
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 23, 2011 1:43 pm in Executive Branch, Separation of Powers, War on Terror
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton dismissed Kucinich v. Obama, a suit filed by ten members of Congress alleging that President Obama’s use of military force in Libya was unlawful as it violated the War Powers Act and lacked Congressional authorization. Judge Walton held the members of Congress lacked standing to bring […]
Assessing Endangered Species Science
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 18, 2011 11:01 am in Endangered Species, Environment, Politicizing Science
Last Thursday, at a congressional hearing, Assistant U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Gary Frazer said that the Interior Department’s Office of Science Integrity would conduct an independent evaluation of the work of FWS biologists accused by a federal judge of being dishonest with the court and acting in ‘”bad faith.” As the Los Angeles […]
Farmer Filburn’s Wheat
As an addendum to Randy’s post on Wickard v. Filburn, I wanted to point out some additional facts about the case, and farmer Roscoe Filburn’s activity in particular. It is commonly asserted that farmer Filburn was barred from growing extra wheat for consumption by his family. This is simply false. The Agricultural Adjustment Act expressly […]
You Can’t Read This Opinion
This morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its opinion in Abdual Latif v. Obama. I can’t tell you what the court decided, or why, because the opinion is classified. UPDATE: Lawfare blog has a brief post and a copy of the order. The government prevailed, and the case was remanded. […]
Reid: I Didn’t Go Nuclear
In today’s Washington Post, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) responds to charges that last week’s majority vote to change Senate rules and overturn a ruling by the chair constituted going “nuclear.” The Senate rule change we made last week has been inaccurately described . . . as a resort to the “nuclear option.” But […]
Econ Nobel to Sargent and Sims
Yesterday the 2011 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims. In the WSJ, David Henderson comments: On Monday the Nobel Committee announced the winners of the 2011 Nobel Prize in economics: Thomas J. Sargent of New York University and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, […]
No Ketchup Pour Vous
The LA Times reports on new limitations on school lunches in France: In an effort to promote healthful eating and, it has been suggested, to protect traditional Gallic cuisine, the French government has banned school and college cafeterias nationwide from offering the American tomato-based condiment with any food but — of all things — French […]
Senator Reid Goes Nuclear
The Hill reports: In a shocking development Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered a rarely used procedural option informally called the “nuclear option” to change the Senate rules. . . . Reid appealed a ruling from the chair that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) does not need unanimous consent to force […]
Heller Loses Round Two
Today the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released a divided opinion in Heller v. D.C. . In this case, Dick Heller (of the Supreme Court’s Heller decision) is challenging the Firearms Registration Amendment Act of 2008 (FRA), a statute adopted by the District of Columbia in response to the Supreme Court’s decision […]
The Fourth Time Is Not the Charm for Van Hook
This morning a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion in Van Hook v. Bobby for the fourth time. On three previous occasions the panel had granted habeas relief to death row inmate Robert Van Hook , and all three times the panel was overturned — twice […]
Court Without a Quorum
From today’s Order List released by the Supreme Court: 10-11054 MURPHY, CHARLES M. V. KOLLAR-KOTELLY, JUDGE, USDC DC Because the Court lacks a quorum, 28 U.S.C. §1, and since the qualified Justices are of the opinion that the case cannot be heard and determined at the next Term of the Court, the judgment is affirmed […]