Author Archive | Sasha Volokh

Here and here. Also, a libertarian who thinks some Texans are stupid.

Jack Balkin says, responding to Juan’s and Glen’s posts (paragraph break inserted): Glen’s assertion that goverments should never be in the business of deciding which ideas are good and which are bad is much too broad. To a very large extent governments are in the business of deciding which ideas are better than others, because […]

Natalie Solent explains, with reference to a favorite poem of mine (written in the Northwest Midlands dialect of Middle English, and one of the Three Great Works of 14th-century English literature), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (Note: The versions I link to are edited by Tolkien, but the modern translations aren’t by him. Let […]

I know I’m supposed to be on a blogging slowdown, but how can I resist stories like this one? A group called “Presbyterian Peacemakers,” which on its website professes to pursue “a journey of racial justice and understanding,” as well as a commitment to overcoming prejudice, brought a virulently anti-Israel speaker to Wooster College who […]

I actually don’t find the case below discussed by David Bernstein all that ridiculous. Well, it may be completely wrong as a matter of First Amendment compelled speech doctrine. But as a matter of general free-speech and role-of-government principles, I do find this sort of behavior somewhat problematic. A useful role these sorts of “ridiculous” […]

Apropos of Juan’s link just below, the original version of the ’80s song Obsession, recorded by Michael DeBarr [update: Des Barres] and Holly Knight (or so I recall from WLIR, 92.7 in Long Island), had the same lyrics, but did have emotional depth in the way it was performed, unlike the Animotion version that became […]

One of the advantages of a legal education — at least American legal education, based on the case method — is that there’s a story behind every case, with real people behind it. (My Civil Procedure professor, David Shapiro, said this on the first day of law school — and qualified it with the observation […]

And while I can’t speak to the merits of Gregg Easterbrook’s latest book, I have seen some critiques of it that sound vaguely similar to my critique of his environment book (right premise, wrong recommendations), A Moment on the Earth, which I reviewed in Reason in July 1995. Therefore, I offer you my previous book […]

Below is a part of comment from the Comments section of Calpundit, arising from Kevin’s link to my posting of the email by the woman who lost her job over the eenie, meenie, minie, moe, caption:First is the reaction to Steve Kerr’s recent comment on national television. During a broadcast on TNT, commenting on Yao […]

Word is that Priceline is accepting bids for rooms at the Nashville Sheraton Downtown for $39 per night, 2/20/-22. It’s a mile and half away, so you’ll need sturdy legs, a rental car, or money for a cab, but it’s a AAA diamond hotel, and substantially cheaper than the hotel deals lined up by the […]

That reminds me, here’s a Yiddish song which I think is both one of the best Yiddish songs generally and one of the best songs to come out of the Holocaust. It’s called Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern (Under Your White Stars). The version I link to has mistakes in the Yiddish, but it’s good enough, […]

To the tune of “Desperado”: “Desperanto.” The general title idea has already been done. Also, famously, Isaac Bashevis Singer favored Yiddish over Hebrew for the official language of Israel, because Yiddish had a culture and literature and humor, while Hebrew was a “soulless Desperanto.” Maybe not that famously: I can’t find it on the Internet. […]

Alas, Eugene narrowly beat me to the Mirror of Justices post. I mention the Mirror in my article n guilty men, 146 U. Pa. L. Rev. 173 (1997), at footnote 51. In Anglo-Norman, the part I quote goes: [Alfred] pendi Freberne pur ceo qil jugea Harpin a la mort ou les jurours furent en dote […]

My “Eenie meenie” experience is similar to that of David below. Depending how far you wanted to go and who you didn’t want to get “out,” you could do as many steps of the following as you liked past the third line: Eenie meenie minie moe,Catch a tiger by the toe,If he hollers let him […]

In Queens, NY, where I grew up, it was used as an elimination game, with each word (at the end, letter) pointing to a different kid: “Eenie meenie, minee moe, catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go! My mo-ther says to pick this one and out goes Y-O-U!”If this landed […]