Author Archive | Randy Barnett

Although I certainly do not agree with it in its entirety, this op-ed, The importance of determining Alito’s brand of conservatism, is unusually sensitive to the differences amongst judicial “conservatives.” Perhaps it is a sign that these differences are starting to be more widely appreciated. Here is just a teaser from the middle: Liberals may […]

I just returned from seeing a preview screening of the new King Kong. At the risk of losing all credibility for film sensibilities, I would rate it as one of the best movies I have ever seen—certainly the best “big picture” blockbuster film. It is everything the original famously wanted to be, and the remake […]

David Cameron, the newly-elected leader of the Conservative Party (after defeating David Davis last week) questioned Prime Minister Tony Blair in Parliament for the first time earlier today. You can view their two exchanges using RealPlayer here and Windows Media Player here. His questioning concerned education (at 2:05) and environmental policy (at 13:15). Blair is […]

Today is my last day as a visitor at the Georgetown Law Center. Although the semester was very draining—in part due to my commuting by air to Boston most weekends—it was also highly rewarding. I really enjoyed my time participating in what is an amazingly warm and intellectually engaging community. Before my visit, I was […]

A column in The Harvard Law Record makes fun of this survey by The Record of Harvard Law Students ranking law schools in which, surprise, Harvard Law School is ranked #1: The 2005-06 Record rankings have revealed that Harvard Law School is the best law school in the nation. Because HLS students have a knack […]

I have been working over the weekend on our brief to the Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit in Gonzales v. Raich. Yes, the case goes on. The Supreme Court only ruled on the Commerce Clause theory we won on below. This left us on remand to the Ninth Circuit to reassert our claim that the […]

This from Hit & Run: Attn, DC Reasonoids: Happy Hour, Wed., Nov. 16 Come out Wednesday, November 16, and join Reason’s DC staff as we celebrate our December issue and back-to-back months of record-setting traffic at Reason Online (over 1.7 million visits in September and October). And come meet our extra-special special guest stars for […]

Ann Althouse comments on (and quotes from) a report in the NYT analyzing Judge Alito’s dissents: Liptak and Glater don’t manage to pull out any inflammatory dissents, and they seem most drawn to the conclusion that his brand of conservatism is not the pursuit of politically conservative outcomes but simply judicial restraint: “One theme that […]

For some time now I have been wrestling with the issue of keeping my files current and synced on my home PC, my office PC, and my laptop. And for years now I have also been flying with virtually no backup to my precious data files. Once I knew I was visiting at Georgetown, I […]

In the comments on my previous post, Marty Lederman asks, [W]asn’t the Madisonian view of the *Necessary &Proper Clause*, in particular, laid to rest in McCulloch v. Maryland, for better or for worse . . . ? If so, are you genuinely proposing a reconsideration of Justice Marshall’s apparent resolution of that question? This is […]

I have been too swamped with teaching and writing commitments to comment on the nomination of Judge Alito. I cannot say that I am enthused, however, which also probably accounts for my silence on the subject. To appreciate my reservations take a look at one endorsement of the Alito nomination by the thoughtful law professor […]

John Eastman has an interesting take on the reaction to the Miers nomination. Why has there been such a firestorm over President Bush’s most recent nominee to the Supreme Court? One answer: the nomination of Harriet Miers exposes the fault lines of disagreement within the conservative coalition, and appears to have boxed out one significant—perhaps […]

Some of you may remember Senator Arlen Specter asserting the existence of what he called “Super-Precedent” during his questioning of John Roberts. Now two highly-regarded academics, Dan Farber (UC Berkeley) and Michael Gerhardt (UNC) have defended the idea that some precedents are so foundational or “bedrock” that they, in effect, supersede the written constitution and […]

There is a nice column by Dennis Coyle on the Miers nomination entitled Dubya Closes a Door? What Harriet Miers may mean for constitutional law. While the whole column is well worth reading, one passage in particular succinctly explains why it is ever so realistic to demand a certain kind of qualifications for a Supreme […]

Despite a steady rain here in New England, a marker was installed today commemorating the birthplace of Lysander Spooner. On January 19, 1808, Spooner was born in this house in Athol, Massachusetts (about 75 miles west of Boston)[click to enlarge photo], and in it he later wrote The Unconstitutionality of Slavery. Ever since I first […]