I predict that, every time I or another VC blogger posts with closed comments on a subject that Orin finds interesting, he will post something short with open comments soon thereafter. We will see how this prediction holds in the future.
Author Archive | Randy Barnett
Predicting McDonald
By Randy Barnett on November 18, 2009 9:52 am in Civil Rights, Constitutional History, Constitutional Theory, Guns, Originalism, Property Rights, Supreme Court, Uncategorized
Below, my colleague Orin offers his predictions as to whether the Supreme Court will restore the “lost” Privileges or Immunities Clause to constitutional law. He may well be correct in predicting but a single vote for that proposition, but I remember when many predicted Angel Raich would get 0-1 votes for her Commerce Clause challenge […]
Tom Palmer Book Event @ Cato:
For years Tom Palmer and I have been lecturing in the same summer seminar series in Europe and I have always found his lectures enormously engaging, informative and theoretically insightful. Tom is a personal hero of mine for his efforts to promote liberty behind the Iron Curtain before the fall of the USSR, and he […]
Omaha Beach
This clip from Saving Private Ryan puts the previous video of WWII vets into some perspective. WARNING: It is very intense and disturbing (which is why I am posting it).
Thanks to Those Who Served and Who Now Serve:
From Reason.tv: H/T Laura Barnett
InAlienable: The Movie is now on DVD:
Some readers may remember my chronicling my on-the-set experiences portraying a prosecutor in the independent film, InAlienable. (For those who missed the original posts you can read them all in order at this link.) I am very pleased to announce that the film now has a distributor is being officially released on DVD. It is […]
Limits on the Necessary & Proper Clause?
On January 12th, the Supreme Court will hear argument on a case that promises to find a limit to the power of Congress “To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, […]
Georgetown Panel on McDonald & the Privileges or Immunities Clause:
By Randy Barnett on November 6, 2009 9:16 am in Constitutional Theory, Guns, Originalism, Uncategorized
As many readers probably know, McDonald v. Chicago involves a constitutional challenge to the Chicago handgun ban, which raises the issue of whether the individual right to keep and bear arms, which was recognized by the Supreme Court in DC v. Heller also applies to the states. Somewhat amazingly, the Court announced that this was […]
Angel Raich to Undergo Brain Surgery; DOJ Issues New Medical Marijuana Policy
On October 28th, Angel Raich–my client in Gonzales v. Raich–will undergo brain surgery at Stanford Medical Center for a tumor, one of the conditions from which she was suffering throughout the litigation. After radiation to shrink the tumor failed, a risky surgery was deemed her only option. You can read about 43-year-old Angel’s fight to […]
More Civility from the DNC
I just received another urgent message from the Democratic National Committee, which continues its civil discourse on the merits of health care reform. It seems that someone else is a lying liar who is telling lies but the DNC does not identify what exactly is being misrepresented. Neither does the video to which it links. […]
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
I just received this urgent message from the Democratic National Committee, which seems to be implying that Senator Kyl is a liar who should be “called out”: After decades of fighting to dismantle Medicare, GOP leaders like Senator Jon Kyl are taking to the airwaves with a cynical campaign of deception about how health reform […]
Two Images of the Constitution
On his new blog, Josh Blackman compares the covers of two books on the Constitution.
Law Profs In Fed Heaven
On Hunter of Justice, my colleague Nan Hunter provides an updated list of law professors who are or will soon be working in the Obama administration. (H/T Brian Leiter)
Opinions All the Way Down?
Orin, earlier I think you and Professor Jost were reducing the Constitution itself to the Supreme Court’s opinions about its meaning–or even reducing it to the Supreme Court’s rulings in a given case regardless of whether the Court is even claiming to be interpreting the Constitution rather than interpreting its own prior decisions. Now I […]
“Constitutionality” and the Real Constitution:
I agree with the predictions of my fellow conspirators: When deciding whether a Congressional mandate to buy private insurance is “constitutional,” the Supreme Court will likely ignore the Constitution. And since this mandate is unprecedented, their actions won’t be dictated by their precedents either, even if they were inclined to follow their precedents when they […]