Author Archive | Sasha Volokh

Over at Southern Appeal, guest blogger Owen Courrèges finds my note below (the part about the “Marxism had little to do with actual socialism” argument) misguided and writes: Sure, there are people who assume the label of ‘communist’ who claim to be anarchistic, and these people are different from the Stalins and Castros of the […]

In reaction to Eugene’s post about a pharmacist who refused to prescribe the morning-after pill, and laws that prohibit “discrimination” against such employees, such laws are foolish, and pervert the concept of discrimination. Employers should be permitted to fire any employee who refuses to do his job, because of his religious convictions, or for any […]

For my previous comments on the Holocaust (prompted by David Bernstein’s post on Mel Gibson), see post #1 and post #2. Lynn B. at InContext was “simmering” after my first post; but in her update (after my second post) she says that she still disagrees but now understands where I’m coming from, and promises a […]

Kerry is so very, for those of you who remember the ad slogan for Keri lotion. (I watched a lot of TV commercials during the ’80s.) Of course, when you run anything by Google, you find that others have been there first. See here, here, here, etc. UPDATE: Thanks to reader Reid Palmeira for finding […]

Proculian Meditations says, commenting on my earlier post: Here’s the sad part, the state of politics in the capitalist (so-called) democracies is now so degraded that anyone who points to the fundamental importance of class struggle can be dismissed as a joke or as the intellectual equivalent of a single-celled organism (aka “strident libertarian”). This […]

You Can’t Say That! Website: The site, just launched, is meant to provide complementary and supplemental materials for readers of my You Can’t Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws, especially for students interested in pursuing related topics for research papers for First Amendment seminars or undergraduate courses in Civil Rights […]

Bush’s latest budget apparently isn’t as profligate as his first three, but the way the Times and Post are going on, you would think we were seeing the second coming of Grover Cleveland (whose portrait proudly hangs in my office). Here is the money quote from the Post: “In all, Bolten said, the budget would […]

Think Again.

As Eugene reports, Proculian Meditations is a hoot. There’s even more than I thought from reading Eugene’s post! But just when I think it might be serious, I see: Link courtesy of capitalist dupe Larry Lessig. Now if that isn’t parody, what is? Also see: “New age neanderthal Judge Alex Kozinski” and “Ultra-right wing New […]

An Extraordinary Fact about Lochner: I am doing final editing on an article in which I state that “between the demise of Lochner in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish in 1937 and the publication of Bernard Siegan’s Economic Liberties and the Constitution in 1980, only a single article that expressed even mild support for Lochner […]

An opinion piece by me in Insight on the News discussing a favorite topic: the clash between antidiscrimination laws and civil liberties.

Roger Simon urges bloggers to reveal who they will vote for in the upcoming election. I may vote for the Libertarian candidate, to protest the fact that government is growing out of control and neither party cares. I may vote for Bush, because despite his disastrous domestic policy, and a few questionable judicial nominations, I’d […]

I think the strongest case against Mel Gibson (based on the evidence below) is (as David suggested) that Mel Gibson’s phrasing was ambiguous and that he knows better, having been exposed to actual Holocaust denial. Since this is still circumstantial evidence, though, I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt so far. There’s […]

I haven’t wanted to prejudge Mel Gibson’s film on Jesus, nor have I wanted to judge him based on his affiliation with a sect that rejects Vatican II, nor based on the anti-Semitism of his father. I’ve gotten many concerned emails from Jewish friends on all of the latter topics, and have basically ignored them, […]

Did CBS interfere with Moveon.org’s “right to free speech” by declining to air its anti-Bush ad during the Super Bowl? Nope.