I’m delighted to report that Profs. John McGinnis & Michael Rappaport will be guest-blogging this coming week about their new book, Originalism and the Good Constitution. Both are among the most prominent originalist scholars in America, and their book sounds extremely interesting; here is a summary from the publisher: Originalism holds that the U.S. Constitution […]
Author Archive | Eugene Volokh
Wisconsin Lawyers Interested in Being Pro Bono Local Counsel for an Interesting First Amendment Criminal Harassment Case?
A student and I will be filing a brief in an interesting Wisconsin First Amendment/criminal harassment case, and we need pro bono local counsel, for help with filing and for review for compliance with Wisconsin formatting details. (UCLA will pay any filing and printing fees.) Might any of you folks be interested? If so, please […]
New Florida Self-Defense Case
It’s the Gabriel Mobley case, State v. Mobley (Fla. Ct. App. Jan. 2, 2014) (2-1 vote). Here’s the summary from the end of the majority opinion: The record — as corroborated by a video of the events — is that (1) Mobley found himself in the middle of a violent, unprovoked attack on a companion […]
Illegal Aliens May Get License to Practice Law in California
So holds this morning’s In re Garcia (Cal. Jan. 2, 2014), interpreting the relevant federal and state statutes. I’m not an expert in this field, but the court’s analysis of the statutes seems sound to me (whether or not one thinks that the statutes themselves are sound).
Wrongful Convictions and Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Montgomery v. Commonwealth (Va. Ct. App. Dec. 20, 2013) sets aside a man’s rape conviction, because the supposed victim had come forward (several years after the conviction) to say she made up the story and her admission led her to be convicted of perjury. An excerpt: In October of 2007, Elizabeth P. Coast, then seventeen, […]
Do Pistol Grips Make Semi-Automatic Rifles More Dangerous, Because They “Aid Shooters when ‘Spray Firing’ from the Hip”?
Laws that ban so-called “assault weapons” often define them with reference to various features, such as a rifle’s having a bayonet mount or “a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon” (to quote the New York assault weapon ban upheld by N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Cuomo (W.D.N.Y. Dec. […]
George Will on Ilya’s New Book
I’m delighted to say that George Will’s column for today talks in some detail about Ilya’s Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government Is Smarter (Stanford Univ. Press). Quite a feather in Ilya’s hat!
Double Check, Where the Moved Piece Is Not One of the Checking Pieces
An interesting thing happened yesterday in a game between my son and my father: a double check, in which the moved piece was not one of the checking pieces. (In a usual double check, a piece moves, placing the king in check but also discovering a check by another piece. To quote a formulation on […]
Blasphemy Death Sentences in Pakistan
Two men were sentenced to death in Pakistan for “claim[ing] that they had seen God” and “invit[ing] other people to join them in their union with God through Chaman Sarkar” (apparently a local religious leader), The Express Tribune (affiliated with the International New York Times) reported Sunday. Thanks to Religion Clause for the pointer.
Drinking the Kool-Aid
Today’s Abidor v. Napolitano (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 31, 2013), which deals with border searches of electronic equipment, includes the following passage: Plaintiffs try to bolster their claim for standing in several ways. The NACDL [National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers] alleges that its members routinely travel abroad to “collaborate with foreign colleagues and/or as part of […]
New York 7-Round Limit Struck Down on Second Amendment Grounds, Assault Weapons Ban and >10-Round Magazine Ban Upheld
The decision, by a federal trial court, is today’s N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Cuomo (W.D.N.Y. Dec. 31, 2013). The court’s conclusion: [T]his Court finds that the challenged provisions of the SAFE Act — including the Act’s definition and regulation of assault weapons and its ban on large-capacity magazines — further the state’s […]
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, David
Usually the words used to represent letters are “alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, …” but in one instance (that I know of) it’s “alpha, bravo, charlie, david, ….” What is it, and why?
O Hear the Angel Voices
An interesting case, In re Stephen O. (Alaska Dec. 17, 2013), dealing with the recurring question of how religious claims can be relevant to mental commitment proceedings. From the three-Justice majority (some paragraph breaks added): Shortly after Christmas 2009 Stephen O. experienced what he believed to be a religious conversion and, as he described it, […]
Somalia Outlaws Christmas Celebrations
So report GhanaWeb and SomaliCurrent: A directive released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs stated that no Christian festivities could be held in Somalia…. “We alert fellow Muslims in Somalia that some festivities to mark Christian Days will take place around the world in this week,” said [the Director of the […]
The Crime of “Annoy[ing]” Local Governments Through “Offensively Repetitious” Threats of Litigation
From Tennessee House Bill 540, which has been recommended for passage by the House Local Government Committee: A person commits an offense who intentionally, without or prior to the filing of a [lawsuit] … communicates, in writing or by electronic communication, with a local government unit or local public servant in an offensively repetitious manner […]