Lyle Denniston and the AP report on today’s oral argument in American Electric Power v. Connecticut. Neither suggests the state and environmentalist plaintiffs have much chance of prevailing, as even the Court’s most liberal justices seemed skeptical of the arguments in favor of letting these lawsuits proceed, though it is unclear what rationale will attract […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Climate Change Back in the High Court
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, which presents the question whether states and environmentalist groups may sue utilities seeking injunctive relief for contributing to the “public nuisance” of global warming. This case languished before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for years before […]
The UN’s 50 Million Missing Refugees
In 2005, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) predicted that there would be 50 million refugees in 2010 due to climate change. An enterprising reporter wondered what happened to UNEP’s prediction, and found that those areas UNEP claimed were most at risk have actually gained population. How did UNEP respond? According to Anthony Watts, UNEP […]
When Merit Selection Isn’t
The Chicago Tribune reports that political influence appears to have tainted the “merit” selection of associate judges in Cook County. (Insert feigned surprise here.) (Hat tip: Andrew Morriss)
The Green Roots of Anti-Immigration Groups
The NYT has an interesting and revealing profile of John Tanton, the former President of Zero Population Growth (now known as “Population Connection”) who went on to found some of the nation’s most prominent anti-immigration organizations, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform, and U.S. English. I covered a bit of this in my 1995 […]
Extra Screening for “Contempt” of TSA
CNN has obtained a list of behavioral indicators that TSA personnel are supposed to use to identify “high risk” passengers who should receive extra scrutiny at airport security. Among the indicators is arrogance or “contempt” toward TSA screening. From CNN: Many of the indicators, as characterized in open government reports, are behaviors and appearances that […]
Defanging Fang
Lee Fang is a blogger at Think Progress who spends a great deal of time trying to demonize the Koch brothers. His conspiracy theories are quite fanciful, such as this effort trying to show that Wisconsin Supreme Court justice David Prosser conspired to allow more phosphorous pollution by Koch Industries. (For a critique of the […]
In Defense of Fracking
The NYT‘s Joseph Nocera defends hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) for natural gas. To begin with, fracking is hardly new. In Texas and Oklahoma, it has been used for decades, with nobody complaining much about environmental degradation. It must be a coincidence that these worries surfaced when a natural gas field called the Marcellus Shale was […]
The Decline of Free Speech at Yale
Glenn Reynolds has a full report. I hope he’s over-reacting, but I fear he is not. UPDATE: Peter Berkowitz has more here.
The Dead Are Registered, But Do They Vote?
A new report from Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted found that over 18,000 dead people are still registered to vote in the state. (The AP reports here.) The report is being given to local Boards of Election who are to investigate further and remove the deceased from the voter rolls. The report only looks […]
Only TSA Can Touch You This Way
ABC News reports on the TSA’s invasive pat down of a six-year-old girl, complete with hands along the thighs and inside the waist-band. (Video at the link.) The Drexels said they stood powerless, watching as their daughter was patted down. “I did ask for alternatives, I asked for her to be rescanned,” Selena Drexel said. […]
Banning Lunches from School
In some school districts, there is debate over whether to sell chocolate milk at school. Some schools require more healthier formulations, while others bar it altogether. Fairfax County and D.C. schools, for instance, do not offer chocolate milk in elementary school the Washington Post reports. In Chicago the issue is not chocolate milk, but lunches […]
Democratic AG Opposes Individual Mandate
The New York Times reports that Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit opposing the constitutionality of the individual mandate. This is significant because Koster is a Democrat (albeit one of recent vintage, having switched parties in 2007). In Missouri, a ballot referendum […]
The Costs of Campaign Contribution Disclosure
James L. Huffman, former Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School and the 2010 Republican nominee for Senate from Oregon, has an op-ed in Monday’s WSJ explaining how his experience as a political candidate convinced him that mandatory disclosure of campaign contributions is a bad idea. The reality is that public disclosure serves the interests […]
Meanwhile, Back in Wisconsin
Justice David Prosser remains ahead of JoAnne Kloppenburg by over 6,700 votes in the high profile Wisconsin Supreme Court election, but there still may be a recount, either statewide or of Waukesha County. The fate of the controversial legislation restricting public sector collective bargaining remains unclear. On Thursday, the state’s Attorney General filed a petition […]