Media Matters raised some eyebrows when it issued talking points defending the Justice Department’s seizure of AP phone records. After all, it seemed odd that an ostensibly liberal media watchdog would side with the government over the press. So the Washington Post‘s Erik Wemple asked Media Matters for comment, prompting this reply from Media Matters David Brock: […]
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President Calls IRS Conduct “Inexcusable”
President Obama harshly condemned the apparent politicization of the IRS today and announced the resignation of Acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller. From the Washington Post: In a furious statement at the White House, Obama said the IRS’s actions were “inexcusable and Americans are right to be angry about it and I’m angry about it.” He […]
Floyd Abrams & the First Amendment: Enter Alex Bickel
Sometimes Fortuna deals a hand that forever changes the arc of one’s life. And so it was when Floyd Abrams met a remarkable man from Romania. After graduating from Cornell in 1956, Floyd Abrams ventured to New Haven to study law at Yale Law School, home of many renowned constitutional law scholars. Once there, Abrams […]
Did the Leak of the CIA Operation in Yemen Justify “Very Aggressive Action” to Investigate Its Source?
Attorney General Eric Holder recused himself from approving the AP subpoenas in the CIA operation leak case because he himself had been interviewed in the investigation. But at a press conference today, Holder defended the DOJ investigation on the ground that the nature of the leak required “very aggressive action.” Here’s what Holder said: This […]
Justice Launches Criminal Investigation into IRS
The Washington Post and New York Times report that Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a criminal investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups. UPDATE: Via the Huffington Post, here’s a link to the Inspector General’s report on the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. Rick Hasen has already flagged some choice quotes.
Marriage in Minnesota
Today, along with thousands of others who made it possible, I’ll be at Governor Dayton’s signing of the bill extending marriage to same-sex couples in Minnesota starting August 1. Obviously, this is the culmination of years of effort, but especially the hard work we’ve done since a constitutional amendment was first placed on the election ballot in […]
Dear IRS
I don’t want to make America a better place to live and I hate the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Sincerely, Todd PS: Does this mean you won’t audit me?
Floyd Abrams & the First Amendment: Nuance & Absolutism
Prior to Nuanced Absolutism I had known Floyd Abrams for years, but largely in a professional capacity as a colleague in the First Amendment community. When my book The Fundamental Holmes: A Free Speech Chronicle and Reader. (Cambridge University Press, 2010) came out, I sent him a copy. He read it and replied with a […]
The Non-Story of the AP Phone Records, At Least So Far
A lot of blogs are expressing outrage at the AP story reporting that the government collected logs of telephone numbers used by the AP. The AP’s story appears to have been written to get people upset. The first sentence of the AP report is not subtle: “The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone […]
IRS Disclosed Confidential Material Too
ProPublica reports: The same IRS office that deliberatelytargeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year. The IRS did not respond to requests Monday following up about that release, and whether it had determined how the applications were sent […]
“Space Oddity”
“A revised version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.” Way cool.
Colorado Bill Would Restrict Distribution of “Magazines Whose Primary Focus is Marijuana or Marijuana Businesses”
The bill, HB1317, provides that an agency must set rules Requiring that magazines whose primary focus is marijuana or marijuana businesses are only sold in retail marijuana stores or behind the counter in establishments where persons under twenty-one years of age are present. Uh, no, you can’t do that. That the government may regulate marijuana […]
Lawyers Beware
From RLI Insurance Co v. JDJ Marine (2d Cir. May 10, 2013): John F. Karpousis, Freehill, Hogan & Mahar, LLP, New York, New York, for Movant–Defendant–Counter–Claimant–Appellant…. PER CURIAM: Appellant JDJ Marine, Inc., moves to reinstate an appeal dismissed after its failure to comply with this court’s second scheduling order for filing a brief. The motion […]
Floyd Abrams & the First Amendment
Ronald Collins May 13, 2013 As a longtime reader of this blog I was quite pleased when Eugene invited me to write a few words about my new book and also about Floyd Abrams’s forthcoming book, which will be out very soon. My book is titled Nuanced Absolutism: Floyd Abrams and the First Amendment. […]
When There Are Many Ways to Lose a Single Case
Today a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Platinum Sports Ltd. v. Snyder. The opinion by Judge Sutton begins: In 2011, the Michigan legislature enacted two laws. One barred sexually oriented businesses from displaying signs on the premises that contained more than “words or numbers.” Mich. […]