Author Archive | Sasha Volokh

I like the libertarian quiz David linked below. It’s much better than most general-purpose political quizzes, because it does a better job of expressing the questions in a form that libertarians would find valid (i.e., policy-oriented, not result-oriented), and better tracks actual divisions among libertarians. I’m also medium-core, with a score of 70. Hanah got […]

That’s the theme of an article by Prof. Stephen Cox in the most recent issue of Liberty Magazine (not available online, hey, get with it guys!), tracking points I made here, and in the followup posts linked to there.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court, overturning a 24 year old precedent, held in Crawford v. Washington that the Confrontation Clause means what it says and says what it means: the accused in a criminal trial has the right to be confronted by witnesses against him. This holding replaced the Roberts precedent, which reduced the […]

Does anyone know where I can find numbers, or credible estimates, on the total amount paid out by the tort system? I don’t mean “the cost of the tort system” in terms of products taken off the market or anything like that, just total tort payments. Ideally, this would even include the amounts paid out […]

And freedom of chess. (Via Will Baude of Crescat.)

I’ve just been listening to the CD of We’re All Dead, a show I saw in New York in December on the recommendation of my friend Todd Seavey. One of the good songs in the show is “The Traditional Greek Drinking Song,” which begins: Dress me up in a tunic, boys,Dress me up in some […]

Brian Weatherson has a good discussion of Friedman and positivism at Crooked Timber. Also, John Quiggin on why Borda counts are fatally defective.

The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss. (Hat tip: Jeremy Blachman at Crescat Sententia.) Other ideas for Seuss-inspired works: a poem about the general election called “One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State.” (“Why are they keen and Green and mean? I do not know. Ask Howard Dean.”) UPDATE: Reader Jim Thomason points out that […]

Re Eugene’s recent post on a Saudi gay marriage, at least the religious police there are called the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which is a more holistic goal than just promoting virtue or preventing vice. They may want to consider, though, that any two goals may not always be […]

Every once in a while, I’ll notice a liberal blogger querying why libertarian bloggers, who, after all, tend to be rationalistic, scientifically oriented, and not especially religious folks, aren’t up in arms about the Bush Administration’s politicization of science, generally on behalf of the Christian Right–everything from the rigged Kass bioethics panel to the delays […]

Prager:For two hours, Christians watch their Savior tortured and killed. For the same two hours, Jews watch Jews arrange the killing and torture of the Christians’ Savior…. Why does this bother Jews so much? Because for nearly 2,000 years, attacked as “Christ-killers,” countless Jewish men, women and children were tortured and murdered in ways that […]

This paper, which is discussed over at Crooked Timber, has the Volokh Conspiracy in its title [basic thrust: those on the left shouldn’t read, for example, the Volokh Conspiracy, because we are not morally wise, and given their lack of expertise on the issues we are experts in, may lead them astray], but, oddly enough, […]

About Eugene’s post below, whether a statute can deprive the Supreme Court of jurisdiction is actually not clear. Cribbing from Hart & Wechsler’s The Federal Courts and the Federal System (5th ed. 2003), by Fallon, Meltzer & Shapiro, I find that: First, there’s Ex parte McCardle, 17 U.S. (7 Wall.) 506 (1869), which basically says […]

New Review of You Can’t Say That! Published, of all places, in Industrial Heating, “The International Journal of Thermal Technology.” [UPDATE: David Boaz of the Cato Institute notes that it’s a *warm* review.] Also, Amazon.com Top 1000 review Tucker Anderson has posted a thoughtful and well-written review.

Here’s what I want, one day. Something like an iPod, where I can store a ton of audio files and, say, play it on “random,” with the following features: I get to put files into categories and randomize within categories only, i.e., “randomize within Classical,” or “randomize between Classical and Rock 50-50, and randomize within […]