Yesterday I appeared on NPR’s Dianne Rehm Show to discuss the Endangered Species Act. The show was prompted by Congressional passage of a budget rider removing gray wolves in the northern Rockies from the endangered species list. This was the first time Congress ordered a species delisted, and prompted complaints that Congress was intruding […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Did Coke Pressure King & Spalding?
According to some accounts, King & Spalding was persuaded to drop its representation of the House of Representatives in litigation over the Defense of Marriage Act due to pressure from one of the Atlanta-based firm’s largest clients: Coca-Cola. If this is true, it raises some interesting legal ethics questions that the good folks at the […]
More NLRB Overreach?
The New York Times and Associated Press are reporting that the National Labor Relations Board intends to sue Arizona and South Dakota over state-level labor law reforms. Both states recently adopted constitutional amendments that prohibit unionization other than by secret ballot, as have Utah and South Carolina. The board threatened to file suit against all […]
Cleveland Enacts Trans-Fat Ban
Yesterday the Cleveland City Council enacted the first part of the so-called “Healthy Cleveland” plan — a ban on “industrially produced trans fats.” The law takes effect at the beginning of 2013, save for doughnut makers, who have an extra six months to make the switch. The legislation also prohibits smoking in many public places, […]
Anti-DOMA, Pro-Clement
It is gratifying to see that many of those who oppose DOMA have nonetheless praised Paul Clement’s willingness to defend the law, and his refusal to abandon the representation. From the Washingtonian : Clement, who has now joined the boutique law firm Bancroft, has plenty of support among his peers in the Washington legal community. […]
Paul Clement and the New McCarthyism
Here’s my take on the Clement kerfuffle Orin and Eugene blog about below. After the Obama Administration announced it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Congress opted to defend the law on its own. The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group retained the services of King & Spalding’s Paul Clement, […]
The NLRB’s Overreach
When I first read the WSJ editorial accusing the National Labor Relations Board of filing an unfair labor practice complaint against Boeing for deciding to build an aircraft assembly plan in South Carolina instead of Washington State, I was flabbergasted. According to the editorial, the NLRB filed the complaint because statements by Boeing executives suggested […]
Standing in Connecticut v. AEP
One of the issues in American Electric Power v. Connecticut is whether the state and environmentalist group plaintiffs can satisfy the requirements of Article III standing. One might have thought this issue was settled in Massachusetts v. EPA, at least with regard to the state litigants, but it was not. Although both cases concern injuries […]
Don’t Blame the “Speculators”
Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren explain why evil oil “speculators” are not behind the recent rise in oil prices. There is no need to repair to conspiracy to answer the question about why gasoline prices are going up. The loss of Libyan crude–about 2% of global supply–has reduced the amount of oil available in […]
Wisconsin Gets a Limited Hand Recount
The Journal-Sentinel reports that Wisconsin state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and his challenger, Joanne Kloppenburg, have agreed to a partial hand recount covering select portions of the state. Dane County Judge Richard Niess approved the deal Thursday, allowing the statewide recount to continue with the hand recount in the specific areas. Jim Troupis, an […]
Are Speed Cameras Accurate?
The Washington Times has an interesting report about a Maryland business owner who has used a computer analysis to beat five camera-generated speeding tickets. Mr. Foreman, the owner of Eastover Auto Supply in Oxon Hill, examined dozens of citation photos of his company’s trucks that were issued along a camera-monitored stretch of Indian Head Highway […]
“Kloppenburg’s Folly”
After falling several thousand votes of the incumbent, Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg has requested a statewide recount. Given that she came within 0.5 percent of the leading candidate (although just barely) she is entitled to a “free” recount. The editors of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel think this is a “mistake” and note it is […]
Is FWS Asked to List Too Many Species?
The Fish and Wildlife Service claims it is overwhelmed by requests to list additional species as “endangered” or “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The NYT reports: The federal Fish and Wildlife Service is in emergency triage mode as it struggles with an avalanche of petitions and lawsuits over the endangered species list, the chief […]
Case Western Welcomes New Dean
Earlier today Case Western Reserve University President Barbara Snyder announced the appointment of Lawrence Mitchell as the next Dean of the CWRU School of Law. Mitchell is currently the Theodore Rinehart Professor of Business Law, and Executive Director of the Center for Law, Economics & Finance (C-LEAF) at the George Washington University School of Law. […]
More on AEP v. Connecticut Oral Argument
Last night I reviewed the transcript of the oral argument in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, which poses the question of whether several states (and private groups) may sue the nation’s largest utilities for contributing to the “public nuisance” of global warming under federal common law. I agree with most commentators that things don’t look […]