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Earlier this week, Sen. Fred Thompson wrote to Field & Stream magazine, criticizing the UN’s campaign against the human right of self-defense. The Thompson campaign touted the letter on its website, and the letter got a favorable reception among many pro-Second Amendment bloggers. The Thompson letter, including its quotation of the great Dutch philosopher of […]

President Bush vetoed the pork-laden $23.2 billion water project bill yesterday. The bill was the product of compromise between the House and Senate. According to the WSJ, the House passed a $14 billion bill, and the Senate passed a $15 billion bill. Each house sought to preserve its own earmarks, so at conference they compromised, […]

Acting assistant attorney general Dan Levin apparently asked to be waterboarded when evaluating its legality, according to ABC News. After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn’t die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning. Levin, who refused to comment for this story, […]

From the Washington Post: The Transportation Security Administration promotes its programs to ensure security by using undercover operatives to test its airport screeners. In one instance, however, the agency thwarted such a test by alerting screeners across the country that it was under way, even providing descriptions of the undercover agents. The government routinely runs […]

I wasn’t following the comments on my “In Defense of Usury” post, since it was primarily just an excerpt from Karlan and Zinman’s argument. I confess that I was surprised to see that there were so many comments and so much controversy about the study described in the Wall Street Journal column. Also, I apologize […]

Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols shaking hands with Ron Paul on the Jay Leno set (at the very end of the clip).

Over at NRO, Ed Whelan responds to the Miles/Sunstein response to his critique.

Whether or not the Bush Administration is making bad arguments in defense of Judge Mukasey’s nomination, it now looks likely he will be confirmed as the next U.S. Attorney General. The Washington Post is reporting that Senators Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein will vote in favor of his confirmation.

Georgetown law professor Neil Katyal has an extensive review of Jack Goldsmith’s The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration in The New Republic. It should be available to non-subscribers who register, and it is worth a read. The review begins: Jack Goldsmith’s book is quite possibly the first sober account of the […]

I’m pleased to say that we’re among the ten finalists in the Best Law Blog category for the 2007 Weblog Awards; the awards are currently being voted on.

Ann Althouse has authored two very interesting posts on the recently argued Supreme Court case, Danforth v. Minnesota. First, she wrote, “Can state courts choose to apply new rules of federal constitutional law retroactively?“, and then, after reading the argument transcript, she added “When the Supreme Court announces a “new rule” of constitutional law, does […]

President Bush is now complaining that Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey is being treated ‘unfairly’ because some Senate Democrats are opposing his nomination based on his failure to state a position about the lawfulness of waterboarding:   The White House began a campaign Thursday to save the candidacy of Michael B. Mukasey for attorney general, with […]

I’m pleased to say that we seem to be teaming up in a pretty systematic way. The kickoff event for the partnership is today’s conference on secrecy and transparency in the civil justice system; California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron George and 9/11 compensation fund Special Master Ken Feinberg will be speaking, among others. Cool.

From The Recorder ($): U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne Brazil issued a temporary injunction against the CSU system Wednesday, in which he struck down a portion of the CSU conduct code that mandates students “be civil to one another.” That language would likely not survive First Amendment scrutiny at trial, the magistrate found. “It’s fine to […]

In considering Thomas Miles and Cass Sunstein’s effort to measure “judicial activism” and the criticism it has generated, I am increasing persuaded that it is impossible to define “judicial activism” in a way that is both 1) useful, and 2) not simply a synonym for incorrect decisions. My tentative sense is that any ideologically or […]