Author Archive | Orin Kerr

Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine widespread public opinion in the United States demanded a new Constitution to reflect current public opinion. Specifically, let’s imagine that this happened at a time when the inevitable pendulum swing of public opinion happened to be in a liberal direction. The state conventions met and ratified a new constitution — […]

A few days ago, NPR had this interesting segment on why time seems to go faster as we age. (8:37 audio) Interesting stuff. I liked the different explanations the segment offers, and I would add one more: A watched pot never boils. When you’re younger, aging is a great thing and you eagerly anticipate being […]

The National Law Journal reports on an interesting position by the Deputy General Counsel of Facebook: Facebook’s legal department is ready for a fight. Almost every day, law enforcement officials and civil litigators request information from a user’s Facebook account, Deputy General Counsel Mark Howitson told several hundred lawyers in a packed ballroom during his […]

While poking around the Web, I came across this Time Magazine article from December 1953 profiling the lawyers who argued the cases that became Brown v. Board, John W. Davis and Thurgood Marshall. Interesting to read how the case looked at the time of the argument, at least as reported by Time.

Being a law professor, I read a lot of law review articles.   And I find that a lot of law review articles on constitutional law topics offer an argument that goes something like this: 1) There is something bad going on in the world that is currently considered constitutional; 2) Of the many possible […]

In law school, it’s common for students to be taught to give a somewhat grand introduction at the beginning of their moot court arguments. “MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT!”, the student is taught to announce, very slowly and formally, followed by an extended introduction that usually goes something like this: “My name is Joe Student. […]

It’s interesting how many big law firms have started or bolstered their appellate and Supreme Court practices recently by hiring a former Assistant to the SG or otherwise added an experienced Supreme Court practitioner to the roster. The BLT notes the latest such example, Douglas Hallward-Driemeier at Ropes & Gray, and mentions a few more, […]

This Friday I’ll be in Austin, Texas at a symposium hosted by the Texas Law Review on “National Security, Privacy, and Technological Change.” The symposium is a little different than most law review symposia in its diverse mix of people. In addition to the usual group of academics, the symposium will include current and former […]

In response to David’s bewilderment that I would be bewildered by Glenn Beck’s segment about Roscoe Pound, I think it’s helpful to distinguish two very different claims. The first claim is the one that Glenn Beck appears to be making in the clip, which is that Roscoe Pound invented the concept of thinking of the […]

Today’s Boston Globe has a story about three of my law school classmates that includes commentary from several of my closest friends from that time (and a brief remark by me). I’ve mentioned parts of the tragic story before, but the Globe story provides the full picture.

The NYT Wheels Blog reports: Laws banning cellphone use while driving apparently haven’t reduced crashes, according to a study released on Friday that compared the number of total crashes before the ban with the number after. The study found virtually no difference in the numbers, a finding that had the researchers scratching their heads. “We […]