Author Archive | Todd Zywicki

Maggie: Thanks for guest-blogging with us this week. You raise some great questions. Historically, you are correct when you state: Sex makes babies, Society needs babies, babies need mothers and fathers. My question (and I am genuinely asking–I think that this is an unusually difficult issue to which I certainly don’t have any easy answer): […]

Here’s a pretty narrow question to which I have never been able to figure out the precise answer, so I will ask our readers if any of you have ever seen this. Assume that the trustee avoids a transfer in bankruptcy under 544(b) of the Code, using the UFTA as applicable state law. Section 550 […]

Although signed into law in April, most of the provisions of the bankruptcy reform legislation become effective today. If you are not sick of hearing about the topic, I will be discussing it on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer either today or tomorrow depending on the press of other business. For those who wonder whether […]

In response to my post on Anti-Kelo legislation in Pennsylvania, Skip Oliva calls my attention to this interesting use of the eminent domain power. The facts are a bit sketchy and he seems to be relying primarily on an antitrust complaint filed by the Pennsylvania AG’s office–I’m relying on his post as well as the […]

Pennsylvania is considering legislation that would limit Kelo-style takings: The idea that one taxpayer’s property can be taken by government and turned over to another private person for non-governmental purposes is outrageous,” said state Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola, R-Dauphin. He is sponsoring legislation to restrict municipalities’ rights to take property by eminent domain. Similar legislation […]

The Washington Times reports “Conservatives call to withdraw Miers“: The nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court has splintered President Bush’s base and triggered a growing demand from his own supporters to withdraw her nomination. “What a stupid, stupid mistake,” said Mark W. Smith, a member of the conservative Federalist Society who has actively […]

Steve Bainbridge is running a poll on the Miers nomination–For, Against, or Wait and See. Vote here.

This week’s Legal Times contains my op ed on the Miers nomination (subscriber only). The column expands on some of the points I made last week on “The Court and the Legal Culture” and responds to those who have suggested that I should be careful what I wish for. (Also, I didn’t choose the title […]

Intersting post by Ben Barros looks at the SCOTUS conference notes on Midkiff and Justice O’Connor’s effort to retreat in Kelo from the sweeping language she used there. An excerpt: In light of the recent furor over Kelo v. New London, Justice O’Connor’s opinion in Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff, 467 U.S. 229 (1984), seemed […]

My colleague Craig Lerner has a brilliant new piece exploring the implications of modern cognitive science for the idea of “hunches” by experienced police officers and the dilemma they present for the modern police system. As he puts it in the Abstract to his new article “Reasonable Suspicion and Mere Hunches“: In Terry v. Ohio, […]

I see that a group of Dartmouth Alumni have qualified for the ballot as petition candidates to run for the leadership of the Dartmouth Alumni Association Executive Committee. As Dartmouth alumni may be aware, a new Dartmouth alumni constitution has been proposed that would dramatically change the election process for voting for trusteees, and in […]

You may have heard about this from the Today show already, but c’mon, this is ridiculous: Asked whether the nominee’s detractors are sexist, Mrs. Bush, appearing alongside her husband, said, “That’s possible, I think that’s possible.” The statement echoed comments by presidential adviser Ed Gillespie, who last week suggested that conservatives who opposed Miss Miers […]

Right now things are obviously frothy on the political front–both of the Washington papers (the Times and the Post) report on the heated meetings that took place yesterday between conservative activists and the White House on the Miers nomination. Democrats seem to be standing back and enjoying the show for now. Here’s what I will […]

I will be speaking tomorrow at the national conference of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, ACTA, describing my adventures with the Dartmouth trustee election. The program, which this year celebrates ACTA’s 10th Anniversary, looks quite interesting. It kicks off today with a screeing of Evan Coyne Maloney’s new film “Indoctrinate U” and continues […]

Professor Elizabeth Warren challenges my criticism of the ill-informed New York Times Editorial the other day. Unfortunately, it appears that she falls into much of the same confusion as the New York Times itself did. First, Warren takes issue with my insistence that the “special circumstances” exception in the legislation will protect the victims of […]