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The headline in today’s lead New York Times story (page 1, column 8 top): ” Studies on Pupils Say Bad Behavior Is Not Dooming.” “Dooming” as an adjective?? In a New York Times headline? Aargh . . . (And interestingly enough, the headline of the web version of the story was the grammatically less grotesque […]

If the Phelpsians magically went to their reward tomorrow, public debate would suffer very little. But I think their speech needs to be protected, because allowing the restriction of such speech — especially using the “intentional infliction of emotional distress” tort — would lead to the restriction of much more valuable speech. Now it’s true, […]

I hope to see some of our readers — and some of my cobloggers — at the Federalist Society Lawyer’s Division Conference in Washington, D.C. (at the Mayflower Hotel) late this week. I’ll be there at the Thursday night event and most of the day Friday; I’m sorry that I’ll be missing the Saturday events, […]

A surprising bit of etymology — “nice,” it turns out, comes from the Latin “nescius,” meaning “ignorant.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “The semantic development of this word from ‘foolish, silly’ to ‘pleasing’ is unparalleled in Latin or in the Romance languages. The precise sense development in English is unclear. N.E.D. (1906) s.v. notes […]

Classical Values blogs about a Pennsylvania court decision invalidating a marriage performed by a minister of the Universal Life Church, on the grounds that “the friend didn’t qualify as a minister under state law because he had no regular congregation or place of worship”; the post condemns this decision, and also a Pennsylvania bill “that […]

Lyle Denniston (SCOTUSblog) reports. “The next date for possible action … is likely to be Nov. 26, following a pre-Thanksgiving Conference of the Justices set for Tuesday, Nov. 20.” I offer no speculation about what the delay means.

Looking around the Internet for the answer to the Kingsfield question I came across this list of “Bests” about College films (e.g., “Best College Student,” “Best Argument in a College Classroom,” etc.). Some amusing entries. I can’t believe that the list-maker doesn’t give Rodney Dangerfield some props for the best execution of “The Triple Lindy” […]

Can anyone tell me who was the basis for Professor Kingsfield’s character in “The Paper Chase”? Kingsfield, of course, does the famous “hairy hand” case of Hawkins v. McGee in the first day of class. So presumably he is using Fuller’s casebook on contracts, which as I understand it, used to begin with remedies. To […]

Jews for Ron Paul 2008. With nifty Hebrew Ron Paul merchandise.

The Federalist Society puts out occasional podcasts featuring expert commentary on Supreme Court cases, and it has put up some interesting ones in the last few weeks on some pending decisions. Worth checking out if you’re following the Court’s current docket.

No international agreement to control greenhouse gas emissions will have a meaningful effect on future projections of global climate change without the active participation of the United States and China. Yet as University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein argues in his paper, “The Complex Climate Change Incentives of China and the United States,” neither […]

A few days ago, the Washington Post had an extremely interesting article about the US Army’s efforts to potentially use eminent domain to take some 418,000 acres of property belonging to Colorado ranchers in order to expand a key training area for its troops (hat tip – VC reader Howard Owens, whose relatives are among […]

The Houston Chronicle has a new story revealing some of the details of the sexual harassment accusations against District Judge Samuel B. Kent (hat tip: several VC readers who pointed out the story to me). At this point, it is difficult to tell whether the accuser’s account is accurate or not. Undoubtedly, Kent has his […]

News update here, although it’s hard to know what to make of it without reading the opinion. An earlier and related story is here.