The latest issue of the libertarian magazine Reason has an interesting essay by Brian Doherty on the briefing in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Second Amendment incorporation case. Notably, the article includes the responses of Alan Gura, counsel for McDonald, to those who have disagreed with his approach to briefing the case. In response […]
Author Archive | Orin Kerr
Protecting Your Privacy in the Age of Google
Many wonder how much privacy you can have when a simple Google query reveals so many details of your life. I think there’s an easy answer to this problem. Just change your name to something that already pulls up a lot of Google hits. If your name is Jernicky Washington, for example, just change your […]
Light Blogging Ahead
I’ll probably be off-blog for a few days, as I have an oral argument before the Sixth Circuit in a Fourth Amendment case on Friday. I’ll chime in if something big happens, but probably not otherwise.
Responses to “Rethinking Blogging-As-Scholarship”
Last night’s post Rethinking Blogging-As-Scholarship has triggered some interesting responses, and I wanted to provide links for those interested: Doug Berman, Steve Bainbridge, Ann Althouse. In collective response to Doug, Steve, and Ann, I agree that the question isn’t whether blogging “is” scholarship, “can be” scholarship, or “has to be” scholarship. Rather, I think the […]
“Writing to Impress Rather than Inform”
Here’s an interesting essay about the incomprehensibility of some academic writing. (Via Althouse) I can’t speak for the problem in academia generally, but I think the problem in legal scholarship is that complex and sophisticated words create the impression of complex and sophisticated arguments. Indeed, it’s much easier to create that impression through words. (I’m […]
How the U.S. News Rankings Influence Law Schools
Read all about it here: Fear of Falling: The Effects of U.S. News & World Report Rankings on U.S. Law Schools, by Michael Sauder and Wendy Espeland. Via links from Brian Leiter.
A Snack Incident to Arrest
Note to Law Enforcement Personnel: If you arrest a suspect for bank robbery, and you find the stick-up note in his pocket, don’t put the note on the car near the suspect. The note might not be there when you’re done the search incident to arrest: Background here, via Josh Blackman. Oh, and don’t miss […]
Rethinking Blogging-as-Scholarship
Back in 2005 and 2006, a lot of law-professor bloggers wondered whether blog posts could and would serve as ways to advance scholarly ideas about law. At the time, I was very skeptical: Can blogs help advance legal scholarship? I think the answer is that they can, but that the format isn’t well-suited for the […]
Is Facebook So Ubiquitous That No Explanation is Needed?
A story on Tareq and Michaele Salahi in today’s Washington Post begins as follows: E-mails turned over to the Secret Service show that Tareq and Michaele Salahi had sought a top Defense Department official’s help to gain access to last week’s White House state dinner. People familiar with the inquiry into how the Salahis were […]
Criminal Charges for the White House State Dinner Crashers?
CBS/AP reports: America’s most successful party crashers, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who stormed the gates of a White House state dinner and somehow managed to get in, may soon be facing criminal charges, according to the Secret Service. Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin says the agency is moving closer to beginning a criminal investigation. He […]
A Great Line
From an opinion by the Supreme Court of Wyoming, describing a drunken party that led to a fight (with the great sentence in bold): On June 12, 1996, at about 10:00 or 11:00 a.m., Duckett went to the home of Mary Carlson bearing his guitar and a 12-pack of beer. Duckett, Carlson, and her boyfriend, […]
An Unpersuasive Word
“Obviously.” In my view, the word “obviously” should only be used in arguments when the point asserted is generally beyond debate. Consider an example. When discussing judicial nominations, you could say, “Obviously, Obama has the constitutional authority to nominate anyone he wants.” The word signifies that the point is a shared view that isn’t genuinely […]
Originalism and the Sixth Amendment Right “to have the Assistance of Counsel”
The briefs filed in McDonald v. City of Chicago have raised a lot of questions here about the role of originalism versus stare decisis in constitutional interpretation. Some have argued that stare decisis must give way to correctness on these issues as a matter of constitutional purity: We should always follow the original public meaning […]
DOJ Files Brief Supporting Super-En-Banc in CDT
Yesterday the Justice Department filed its Brief in Support of Rehearing En Banc By the Full Court in United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, the blockbuster computer search and seizure case I have blogged a lot about. From the introduction: The en banc panel’s decision announced sweeping new rules for warrants to search computers that […]
Against Congressional Briefs
I have occasionally criticized judges and Justices who use their official positions to try to influence the legislative process. In this post I want to criticize the mirror image: Legislators who sign on to “congressional briefs” in the Supreme Court, such as the one David Kopel links to below, designed to influence the outcome of […]