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in the Sixth Circuit, since a 500-foot circle seems to contain “750,000 sq. feet.” Such a circle actually contains pi x 500 x 500 = about 785,000 sq. feet, assuming the polling place is a dimensionless point, and a bit more for polling places that have length and width themselves (if the polling place, for […]

The Cincinnati Post reports: Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Niehaus . . . suggested this may be one of the last obscenity cases of its kind if U.S. Supreme Court rulings are considered. In an Alabama case, a woman was arrested and charged with pandering obscenity for selling “marital aids” and sex toys. Although it […]

Harry Brighouse writes: As the primaries creep up on us (in the US), I want to make a point against the primary system that seems obvious to me but I’ve not heard made elsewhere. It is simply this: it constitutes an unwarranted violation of the principle of freedom of association. The States which have primaries […]

According to a British newspaper, A PREACHER who spoke out against the “sin” of homosexuality — inflaming a Bournemouth crowd and sparking a furore over freedom of speech — was rightly convicted of a public order offence, top judges have ruled. . . . The late Mr Hammond, a preacher for 20 years, was prosecuted […]

I’m pleased to report that the Volokh Conspiracy has apparently become the federal judiciary’s go-to location for song lyrics, or at least lyrics to certain federal-judiciary-related songs. See this recent court decision. (Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer.)

A reader responds to my earlier post on boomer politicians in which I wrote, “Now that they are much older and hold political power, they are arguably more puritanical–at least in how they govern–than were their parents.” He retorts: “Naah- they’re just scared to tell the truth because they’re afraid it might lose them votes.” […]

“I’m pretty skeptical about this $1.5 billion for marriage promotion. I mean, if our mothers can’t chivvy us into marriage, when they’re right there, nagging us constantly, starting every other goddamn sentence with “You know, if I had grandchildren, this would be a great opportunity to . . . “, mentioning ever-so-casually how nice we […]

It is very very cold today, even in Virginia. One estimate notes that about 770 Americans a year die from cold temperatures, supposedly more than die from hot temperatures (note: here is a measure of heat deaths, the comparison is a difficult one). We are also offered the following on the economic effects of extreme […]

A New York appellate court has just upheld — against an Establishment Clause challenge — an employment contract under which a public school district provided up to three paid days for an employee’s religious observance, apparently for any “Sabbath or other holy day” observed as a “requirement” of an employee’s religion. The case is In […]

Steve Bainbridge makes an excellent point yesterday in his Kerry’s Pot Joke and Kerry’s Policy on Drugs: Fox News just ran a home video of John Kerry singing along to Puff the Magic Dragon at a private party, during which he fakes puffing on a joint. Fox ran it three times in about 5 minutes […]

I just found out that we were apparently finalists for Week magazine’s Blogger of the Year award, together with Mickey Kaus, Joshua Micah Marshall, Gawker, and Winds of Change; the winner was Marshall. I’m very pleased.

A California assembly committee just rejected proposed AB 600, which would among other things “prohibit any local, state, or other public agency from imposing or implementing a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person” — which included “communal worship, religious meetings, religious education, and […]

Originally I was not an originalist. For most of my career, I rejected originalism because I accepted as valid the standard academic criticisms of the version of originalism that became popular in the 1980s, which was based on the intentions of the framers and justified on grounds of popular sovereignty. Gradually I was moved in […]

See Tyler’s post below, Lawrence Solum, and Tyler’s Marginal Revolution post. Would immortals-by-lifespan who were not invulnerable be very, or infinitely, risk averse? Would they be very unambitious and inactive, since there would always be time for stuff later? I’m not going to get into the genuine intellectual issues at stake, just going to enjoy […]

I just received in my mailbox a copy of Foundation Press’s Constitutional Law Stories, edited by Michael Dorf of Columbia Law School. The book provides in-depth background on fifteen leading constitutional cases; I wrote the chapter on Lochner vs. New York. The other chapters, which I read in draft form, are excellent. The book is […]