Author Archive | Sasha Volokh

Today’s New York Times features an extensive report on the actions (or lack thereof) at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under the Bush Administration. The story reports the unsurprising fact that the current administration is less aggressive at promulgating new workplace safety regulations than the Clinton Administration. Since George W. Bush became president, […]

The Associated Press reports that Lynne Stewart has been disbarred for helping one of her clients, Omar Abdel-Rahman, communicate with his fellow terrorists from prison. For these acts, Stewart was convicted of providing material support to terrorists. A particularly interesting aspect of the story is that a New York court ruled that Stewart had to […]

A few weeks back, Mathew C. Nisbet and Chris Mooney wrote an article for the Washington Post arguing that defenders of evolution undermine their cause when they seek to promote atheism as well. I wholly agree with this argument. There is no inherent conflict between a belief in evolution and a theistic worldview. The theory […]

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit partially affirmed a district court judgment granting a criminal defendant’s habeas petition in Ege v. Yukins. Specifically the court rejected the state’s argument that the petitioner’s claims were time-barred, and agreed with the trial court that the petitioner’s due process rights were violated by the […]

Federal regulations are forcing truck manufacturers to manufacture cleaner vehicles, but there’s a hitch. In reducing particulate emissions from diesel truck engines, they’ve also reduced fuel economy — and trucking firms are not too happy about it, according to this story in the Wall Street Journal (for subscribers) Previous-generation trucks average about nine or 10 […]

Today’s NYT has a fascinating article about the mystery of collapsing bee colonies. In over two dozen states, as well as in several foreign countries, bee colonies have simply collapsed. There have been dramatic declines in bee populations before, but some scientists fear this is more than a simple population drop induced by a natural […]

Eric Muller has another powerful post his great-uncle Leopold, and the significance of finding his kennkarte (“identity card”) in the gestapo file. Apparently Leopold was deported without his identification papers, but the kennkarte was found and kept in Nazi files — where it remained until Eric’s discovery. UPDATE: Eric Muller has posted an index of […]

I’ve just finished revising, for the moment, my paper on Privatization and the Effectiveness of Monitoring Agencies, and I’ve uploaded it to SSRN. I’ll be presenting the paper at the annual meeting of the American Law & Economics Association, at Harvard Law School on Saturday, May 5, in the 9 a.m. panel (Panel IA) on […]

I did not get around to posting a Sunday Song Lyric today, but at Concurring Opinions Kaimipono Wenger posted these lyrics for Brian Leiter. For those who prefer the usual Sunday Song Lyrics, here’s an index of recent postings. April 15 – Buddy De Sylva/Lew Brown, Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries April 8 […]

Washington Post reporters Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher have a new book on Justice Clarence Thomas, Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas. Based on some early reviews — Kenji Yoshino in the Washington Post and my colleague Jonathan Entin in the Cleveland Plain Dealer — it sounds like an interesting take on the […]

The Vermont Law School Land Use Institute and Vermont Journal on Environmental Law have just posted The Supreme Court and the Clean Water Act: Five Essays online. Hard copies will be published shortly. As VC readers probably know, I authored one of the contributions to the volume. The volume was edited by Kinvin Wroth and […]

The negative reviews of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ Senate Testimony are pouring in, even from those who might be expected to defend the Bush Administration. For example, here is the opening of Byron York’s coverage on National Review Online: Judging by his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, there are three questions about the […]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office has issued a clarifying statement about the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the federal partial birth abortion ban. Senator Reid opposes abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, and when the life of a mother is at risk. Consistent with this position, Senator Reid supported the Partial Birth Abortion […]

As I have noted in numerous prior posts (see, e.g. here), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit appears to be quite divided over how to evaluate habeas petitions, particularly those filed in capital cases. As a general rule, the more “liberal” judges on the court appear far more sympathetic to habeas claims, […]

[SEE UPDATE BELOW] Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was among those who denounced yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the Federal Partial Birth Abortion Act. Commenting on the decision, Reid said “A lot of us wish that Alito weren’t there and O’Connor were there,” indicating his desire that there has been a fifth vote to […]