Author Archive | Orin Kerr

It seems that one of the detainees being tried at Guantanamo, Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al-Bahlul, wants to admit he is a member of Al-Qaeda and doesn’t want a lawyer to help him.   Mr. Bahlul at one point asked not to be interrupted. He declared that there was no evidence as important as a confession […]

The new academic year has arrived at law schools around the country, and that means it’s fall law review placement season. Professors are sending out articles they wrote over the summer, and student articles editors are selecting articles to publish. I thought I might provide a public service to law review editors out there by […]

In case dancing in the streets during the GOP convention doesn’t bring the Republican Party to its knees, Al Franken has a back-up strategy: Have people across America yell “fuggedaboutit!” just as President Bush is about to begin his acceptance speech. (Hat tip: Wonkette)

On Tuesday, a panel of the Third Circuit reversed and remanded an order of a district court judge who had simply copied verbatim the appellee’s proposed opinion in the case. Here is an excerpt from the Third Circuit’s opinion:   Judicial opinions are the core workproduct of judges. They are much more than findings of fact […]

I recently came across Kremen v. United States, 353 U.S. 346 (1957), an old Fourth Amendment decision. FBI agents located a fugitive in a secluded cabin; after arresting the fugutive and two other men, agents seized the entire contents of the cabin and sent the contents off to FBI headquarters. The Supreme Court issued a […]

is guest blogging over at Lessig Blog. Don’t miss it.

Check out this pretty cool blog post from a law firm associate blogging as The Uncivil Litigator about how he sued the INS to keep his wife in the United States– and won. The unnamed district judge in the story is a recent Bush appointee who comes off as quite a hero. Hat tip: Stuart […]

In today’s Washington Post, retired Foreign Service Officer Kenneth M. Quinn offers a theory that the attacks of 9/11/01 might originally have been planned for 9/18/01 to coincide with the Jewish holidays. It’s just speculation, but it’s pretty interesting speculation.

The 2005 U.S. News College Rankings are out. Brian Leiter’s assessment: The latest US News Fraud on the Public.

Kate Martin and Joe Onek offer an ACS Issue Brief on enemy combatants. An excerpt:   The administration claims that the conflict with al Qaeda is a war and that therefore reliance on the criminal law is misplaced. It then claims that the conflict is a new kind of war, in which the traditional law of […]

The Washington Post has a very interesting and comprehensive article in yesterday’s edition about the dynamics of bank robberies — how people do it, how banks react, and how the criminal justice system responds.

and is blogging up a storm.

tony long, copy chief at wired news, reports that wired news will no longer capitalize “internet,” “web,” or “net.” i’m not sure i approve, but what do i know. thanks to howard bashman for the link.

My friend Dan Markel has an interesting essay up at The New Republic about the Ninth Circuit’s recent shaming decision.The defendant in the case had stolen mail and was sentenced to prison. As a condition of supervised release — a sort of probationary period that follows prison sentences in the federal system — the suspect […]

Georgetown lawprof Mark Tushnet explains why it may be wrong to think that the upcoming election will have a dramatic impact on the direction of the Supreme Court. An excerpt: A justice nominated by George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate will be somewhat more conservative than a justice nominated by John Kerry and […]