Author Archive | Eugene Volokh

Mirror of Justice: Just saw this new group blog — “dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory” — and was very impressed by its authors (all law professors): My friend and colleague Stephen Bainbridge (author of his own blog), my friend and former clerk for the Chief Justice, Rick Garnett, Mike Scaperlanda and Greg […]

If you’re interested in just what may or may not be broadcast (apropos the Janet Jackson incident, for instance), here’s the FCC’s Industry Guidance On the Commission’s Case Law Interpreting 18 U.S.C. § 1464 and Enforcement Policies Regarding Broadcast Indecency. Little by way of a clear rule, but lots of examples.

The Fifty Minute Hour has another criticism: Paul Craig Roberts believes that the Heritage Institute’s Index of Economic Freedom rates the United States too highly because they fail to give sufficient weight to the immorality of taxation. . . . I have to contest the premise of the entire piece: that the level and scope […]

“TiVo watchers uneasy after post-Super Bowl reports”: On Monday, TiVo said the exposure of Jackson’s breast during her halftime performance was the most-watched moment to date on its device, which, when combined with the TiVo subscription service, lets viewers pause and “rewind” live television broadcasts, among other features. TiVo said users had watched the skin-baring […]

My brief mention of the Chevy Nova in the Trojan Doctrine article reminded me of the old claim that the Nova failed in Spanish-speaking countries because “No va” means “doesn’t go” in Spanish. It turns out that, according to the indispensable Snopes, it isn’t so; and the Snopes analysis strikes me as quite persuasive: First […]

from my former student Kevan Choset:1 quadrillion picketers = 1 PETA protester.43,560 dark square feet = 1 Blackacre.4 educated inches = 1 Learned Hand.

My latest article, in the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Special bonus: It’s only two pages long!

(For more, see here.)16.5 feet of silver in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod Sterling.101.94 g of falling figs = 1 Fig Newton (at standard Earth gravitational acceleration, 9.81 meters per second squared).1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin.10^21 piccolos = 1 gigolo. 3 1/3 tridents = 1 decadent.1/1000 of a female sheep = 1 milieu.1 […]

Sonoma State University speech code: Just ran across this — it prohibits, among other things, “disparaging comments about women as a group,” “the use of sexist humor or demeaning sexual allusions,” “making statements which communicate to students . . . limiting preconceptions about appropriate and expected behaviors, abilities, career directions, and personal goals which are […]

As you may recall, the Paul Craig Roberts column that I criticized argued: Compare an American taxpayer’s situation today with that of a 19th century American slave. Not all slaves worked on cotton plantations. Some with marketable skills were leased to businesses or released to labor markets, where they worked for money wages. Just like […]

Clayton Cramer, who knows a lot about antebellum history (he is the author of Black Demographic Data, 1790-1860: A Sourcebook (Greenwood Press, 1997)), has a detailed response to various statements Roberts has made about slavery. Readers of this blog know that I have many differences with Clayton Cramer; but I have always found him to […]

Paul Craig Roberts understandably takes exception to my criticism of his work. He writes: I believe your comments on my article criticizing the Heritage Foundation’s economic freedom index misrepresents my message. Historically, self-ownership is defined as ownership of the products of one’s labor. “Free labor” is labor that owns itself. This is the only comparison […]

An AP story reports: About 40 people gathered outside an Eckerd store Monday, protesting what they said was a decision to deny a rape victim a prescription for the morning-after pill. A spokesman for the Largo, Fla.-based company confirmed that Eckerd has taken disciplinary action in response to an incident at the pharmacy. . . […]

John Rosenberg points to a Detroit Free Press article by a columnist who says that Establishment opposition has also hampered the initiative’s efforts to find legal counsel. Most of the lawyers who specialize in state constitutional law work for firms affiliated with one of the two parties, and law firms who work for the University […]

“all entrances and exit points and all interior spaces, excepting bathroom and private office areas,” so that they can “delineat[e] on playback . . . the activity and physical features of persons or areas within the premises”: That’s what a Garden Grove, California city ordinance requires — because apparently three of the 22 cybercafes in […]