According to U.S. News, One scenario making the rounds in Washington is that if Sen. John Kerry is elected, he’ll nominate New York’s Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to the U.S. Supreme Court. There she’d judge as a “law-and-order feminist” to build credentials to eventually run for president after Kerry. Sound crazy? Senate and even White […]
Author Archive | Orin Kerr
October Surprise?:
With the polls opening tomorrow, time is running out for the oft-predicted October Surprise. Talkleft isn’t ready to give up, though: We won’t be suprised if Osama turns up between now and Monday night. Particularly if he turns up dead. The [recent bin Laden] tape is too strange. In addition to the physical and situational […]
The Internet and Democratic Debate:
A new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project concludes that “[w]ired Americans hear more points of view about candidates and key issues than other citizens. They are not using the internet to screen out ideas with which they disagree.”
Interview with Josh Rushing:
Former Marine Captain Josh Rushing, known for his appearance in the recent documentary Control Room, has left the Marines and sat down for an extensive interview with NPR. It’s pretty fascinating stuff, even if you haven’t seen the movie. Ted Barlow blogs a helpful summary of Rushing’s commentary here.
Will They Believe Bin Laden?:
According to this site, 26% of Palestinians believe that Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks. The theory, apparently not uncommon in the Arab world, is that Israel attacked New York and DC to trick the United States: they wanted the U.S. to think that it was Osama bin Laden in order to trigger a backlash […]
Supreme Court Betting Pool:
Over at Crooked Timber, Henry links to a political science paper on a 1992 document discovered in the Blackmun papers. The document reveals a betting pool among the Justices about the outcome of the ’92 presidential election; in case you’re wondering, Justice O’Connor won. The 4-page long paper also offers some tongue-firmly-in-cheek analysis of the […]
Birdbrains:
Talkleft links to this story about thieves who came back to the scene of a crime to silence a talking parrot: Fearing a parrot named Marshmallow could identify them, three thieves returned to the scene of the crime to silence the bird — only to be caught by police. After making off with a booty of […]
American Cars in Cuba:
Today’s New York Times has an interesting article on the belief that Cubans are in love with American cars from the 1950s. A number of recent books and movies such as Yank Tanks have left this impression, but the Times offers a different view: “Nothing could be further from the truth. Cubans love new American […]
Age of Consent to the Act Versus the Video:
In Nebraska, the age of consent to engage in sexual activity is 16; however, sexually explicit images of those under the age of 18 count as criminal child pornography. So what happens if a 31-year old man creates a videotape of himself and his 17-year old girlfriend having sex? The sex is legal, but the […]
New Terrorist Tape?:
Drudge has the scoop.
Deconstructing the Indymedia Server Story:
Two weeks ago, Indymedia’s servers being seized by the FBI was a big story around the web. The reports were very vague on the facts, but gave the impression that the FBI knocked on Indymedia’s door and grabbed their servers to shut down Indymedia’s service. The story generated a great deal of attention: a google […]
Leiter on Dworkin:
Brian Leiter has posted a short and entertaining essay criticizing the jurisprudential contributions of Ronald Dworkin. If you have any interest in legal theory, give it a read.
Different Take on Missing Explosives:
ABC’s The Note describes an NBC News report that offfers a different perspective on the recent stories about 380 tons of high explosives missing in Iraq: There is a strong and not always unwarranted suspicion on the right that the press likes to end-load the pre-election news cycle with lots of hard-hitting, negative stories … […]
User’s Guide to the Stored Communications Act:
The final version of my new article on the Stored Communications act is now online: A User’s Guide to the Stored Communications Act, and a Legislator’s Guide to Amending It. The Stored Communications Act is the federal law that governs access to stored Internet communications and other Internet records held by ISPs. Although the SCA […]
The Length of Law Review Articles:
Over at Crooked Timber, Micah Schwartzman offers a response to Richard Posner’s critique of law reviews. This section on the length of law review articles caught my eye: Posner faults students for the ridiculous length of legal articles. But most articles are submitted at lengths well over 25,000 and frequently over 40,000 words. . . […]