The Supreme Court held argument this afternoon in an important case on the scope of patentable subject matter, Bilski, et. al. v. Kappos. The Justices were very skeptical of business method patents during the argument; read a summary here or the transcript here. I personally agree with the Federal Circuit’s standard, so I was glad […]
Author Archive | Orin Kerr
Podcast on the Fourth Amendment and E-mail
Yesterday I participated for the first time in the Legal Talk Network’s Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast. The topic: The Fourth Amendment and E-mail. It’s about 30 minutes long, and it covers some of the recent developments in the law of e-mail privacy.
Ninth Circuit Considers Super-En-Banc for Comprehensive Drug Testing
By Orin Kerr on November 5, 2009 5:39 pm in Criminal Procedure, Cyberspace Law, Fourth Amendment, Uncategorized
I haven’t blogged recently about the Ninth Circuit’s blockbuster computer search and seizure decision in United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, although not because it hasn’t been on my mind: Among computer crime law folks, it’s topic #1 these days. Indeed, since the en banc decision was handed down, it seems that every conference and […]
The Deputy Who Helped Himself to the Defense Attorney’s Casefile
A lot of people have e-mailed me asking for my thoughts about a disturbing video that Radley Balko posted recently. The video shows a criminal court hearing in which a deputy assigned to court security walks over to the defense attorney’s papers on the counsel table and starts to look at the papers. Eventually he […]
The Role of the Audience in Legal Writing
In an interesting post on the goals of legal scholarship, Marc DeGirolami writes: [It] doesn’t particularly matter to me who is or is not interested in my ideas. It probably is true that I hope vaguely that someone, somewhere, now or in the future, will be interested in them. If no one ever thought them […]
Four Obvious Lessons from Tonight’s Elections
I think there are four obvious lessons to draw from tonight’s election returns: 1. For Conservative Republicans: The America people reject Barack Obama and obviously want true conservative leadership. The Governorships of two states have switched to the “R” category, showing a grassroots conservative movement that is alive and well. 2. For Moderate Republicans: The […]
More on Bystanders Who Cheer on a Criminal
In his post below, Eugene asks whether a bystander who cheers on a criminal can be criminally liable as an accomplice. His answer: Probably yes, on the grounds that the cheering tends to encourage the criminal and thus constitutes “abett[ing].” “An aider and abettor is one who acts with both knowledge of the perpetrator’s criminal […]
Law Professor Sues Above The Law
Ben Sheffner has the story, with legal analysis, over at Copyrights & Campaigns.
Jones v. Harris Blog Symposium
The Conglomerate is hosting an interesting blog symposium about Jones v. Harris, a Supreme Court case argued today. The Question Presented: Whether a shareholder’s claim that the fund’s investment adviser breached its fiduciary duty by charging an excessive fee – more than twice the fee it charged to funds with which it was not affiliated […]
Woman Calls 911 to Report Herself as Drunk Driver
No, it’s not The Onion. Story here.
In Memoriam: Mike Weston
I learned recently that my law school classmate Michael Weston was one of the DEA agents killed last week in Afghanistan in the helicopter crash following a drug raid that killed all ten on board. Here’s a story about him from his hometown paper. I wanted to say a few words about Mike. He was […]
The Origins of Security Screening at Airports
Some readers may be familiar with the origins of airport security screening. I wasn’t, however, and the history is pretty interesting. In the 1960s, airplane hijacking became surprisingly common: The first skyjacking of a United States airliner occurred in May, 1961 with Cuba as the destination. Thus, a reverse flow of refugees from non-Communist to […]
Ninth Circuit Adopts National Standard for Internet Obscenity
In Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), the Supreme Court announced a three-part test to determine whether a work counts as “obscenity” for purposes of constitutional law: (a) whether “the average person, applying contemporary community standards” would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work […]
Lederman on the Constitutionality of Hate Crimes Legislation
Marty Lederman has this new post up at Balkinization on why he thinks the new hate crimes legislation is constitutional. (Okay, so technically it’s an OLC opinion signed by Marty Lederman that Jack Balkin posted over at Balkinization, rather than just a blog post. Same idea, anyway.)
Opinion on Fourth Amendment and E-mail — An Important Correction
I blogged yesterday about a new opinion on e-mail and the Fourth Amendment. I received a few requests for a copy of the opinion, so I formatted a version of it and have posted it here. In the course of re-reading the opinion to post it, I recognized that I was misreading a key part […]