We’ve moved to the Reason site — at http://reason.com/volokh — as part of a new joint venture with Reason; if you aren’t redirected automatically, please click here.| The Volokh Conspiracy
The Passport Case is not about recognition power. Rather, it is about whether Congress can use its foreign relations power effectively.| The Volokh Conspiracy
We’ve moved to the Washington Post site, as part of a new joint venture with the Post; if you aren’t redirected automatically, please click here.| The Volokh Conspiracy
The WSJ has an interesting article today on the Target credit card security breach. As the article notes, the US card system is less secure than elsewhere in the world, most notably Europe, which has a “chip and PIN” system, which has a computer chip embedded in the card and requires the purchaser to insert a PIN […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
This book, by journalist Charlie Savage was published six years ago, but I just finished it. It’s a well-written, well-researched critique of the George W. Bush’s Administration’s abuse of executive power based on often extremely dubious constitutional theories. If you’re interested in the subject matter, it’s well worth reading, despite its age. Of particular interest […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I think President Obama has been better to Israel than his critics acknowledge, and has been very pro-Israel by any standard except perhaps that of the prior two presidents, who were the most pro-Israel of any American presidents. But it’s hard to imagine him giving a speech like this: “It is a Canadian tradition to […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Here are some speaking engagements I will be doing in the next two weeks: Thursday, January 22: I will be delivering the annual Brennan Lecture at Oklahoma City University. My topic (picked because it interested the organizers) is “NFIB v. Sebelius and the Constitutional Debate Over Federalism.” Perhaps Justice William Brennan would turn over in […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I recently wrote a guest post for the Open Borders blog on migration and political freedom. The connection between the two is often ignored in debates over immigration policy. Here’s an excerpt: There is widespread agreement that political freedom is a fundamental human right – that everyone is entitled to substantial freedom of choice in […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Copernicus Publications, “the innovative open access publisher,” recently announced it was terminating one of its journals, Pattern Recognition in Physics due to concerns about the journal’s editorial practices. PRP was not even one year old. It seems the problems began when the journal’s editors agreed to a special issue on “Pattern in solar variability, their planetary origin and […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
It is perhaps worth mentioning that the two teams that made it to the Super Bowl on Sunday represent Colorado and Washington – the two states that recently legalized marijuana. If this somehow helps accelerate the recent decline in public support for the War on Drugs, it will almost be enough to offset my disappointment […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I just wanted to thank the many people who helped me with Obsidian Finance v. Cox: Benjamin Souede of Angeli Ungar Law Group LLC, our pro bono local counsel for the motion for new trial in district court and for the motion to block plaintiff’s zany attempt to seize the appeal rights. Mayer Brown LLP, […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
So reports the Washington Post (thanks to Prof. Howard (Friedman) Religion Clause for the pointer): A Germantown mother and another woman accused of killing two toddlers and trying to kill two other children believed that they were releasing demonic spirits that had possessed the siblings, Montgomery County police said Saturday. The two dead children — […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
The Guardian (UK) reports: A man who created a Facebook page poking fun at a revered Greek Orthodox monk has been sentenced to 10 months in prison in Greece after being found guilty of blasphemy…. Filippos Loizos, 28, … used a play on words to portray Father Paisios as a traditional pasta-based dish [pastitsio -EV] […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
My thanks again to the VC for lending me the podium this week to talk about The Conscience of The Constitution. I hope you’ll join me—in person or online—on January 30, when I speak about the book at the Cato Institute’s book forum. Then I’ll be participating in February’s Cato Unbound to discuss the debate […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I mentioned in a previous post that Progressivism has a curious definition of “democracy” that largely takes the form of unaccountable administrative agencies wielding enormous power to regulate people’s behavior. Perhaps the most extreme example of administrative power—the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB—is the subject of the latest constitutional challenge to Obamacare to be […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I have a few upcoming talks that are open to the public and may be of interest to VC readers. On January 21, at noon, I will be speaking at the National Constitution Center’s “Affordable Care Act Town Hall” with Simon Lazarus of the Constitutional Accountability Center. Jeff Rosen will moderate our discussion of continuing […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
At SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston has an interesting post on an effort by lawyers who represented Fred Korematsu and other victims of the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II to persuade the Obama administration to advocate the overruling of Korematsu v. United States, the notorious 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld the forcible internment of […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Sunday at 10pm Eastern, Fox News will be rebroadcasting John Stossel’s special, War On The Little Guy, which includes a segment about my lawsuit on behalf of Kentucky entrepreneur Raleigh Bruner. Some years ago, Raleigh started a moving business in Lexington called Wildcat Moving. What he didn’t know was that if you want to start […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Jess Bravin has a report that could be of great interest to the VC readership’s Belieber contingent: The justices Friday agreed to decide when searching a cellphone requires a warrant—the very kind of evidence that Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies believe could link the “Believe” singer to the egging of a neighbor’s house. Deputies searched Mr. […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Progressive constitutional doctrine underwent some interesting changes in the middle of the twentieth century. One was the return of liberty-based concerns in jurisprudence, and the repudiation of some of the more extreme Progressive democracy-based legal decisions. This is most notable in West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, which held that school children could not […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Last July, Judge Boyce Martin announced his retirement from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Tonight, TPM reports that Martin made his decision “under a cloud of accusations that he had racked up nearly $140,000 in ‘questionable travel expenses.'” The details came out in a decision filed by five members of a federal panel […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
[UPDATE: Whoops, Jonathan beat me to it; I’m turning off comments, so people can post on that thread instead.] So holds Autor v. Pritzker (D.C. Cir. Jan. 17, 2014), a very interesting D.C. Circuit decision just handed down today. (Congratulates to my Mayer Brown LLP colleagues Charles Rothfeld and Joseph Minta, who represent the plaintiffs.) […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Today the Supreme Court agreed to hear both of the pending cell-phone search cases; as explained here, one case, Wurie, involves an old-style flip-phone, and the second, Riley, involves a modern smart phone. The Court modified the Questions Presented in Riley to match that in Wurie, so the question presented in both is “[w]hether evidence […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
There’s a lot to absorb in Wednesday’s opinion, but I can’t get past this analysis: Why would Congress have inserted the phrase “established by the State under [42 U.S.C. § 18031]” if it intended to refer to Exchanges created by a state or by HHS? But defendants [the government] provide a plausible and persuasive answer: […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I’ve noted previously, I have a forthcoming paper with former Comptroller of the Currency Robert Clarke that examines competition between payday lending and bank overdraft protection. The central point is easy to grasp–payday lending and overdraft protection are products offered by different providers but which compete for the same customers. And evidence indicates that in […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I’ve been following with fascination the overwhelming evidence about brain injuries caused by football. On the one hand, I believe in individual autonomy. On the other hand, I’m not really a fan of football. But I also don’t favor paternalistic policies that limit individuals from undertaking calculated risks. And yet, what about undisclosed risks? All […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
So holds today’s Obsidian Finance Group v. Cox (9th Cir. Jan. 17, 2014) (in which I represented the defendant). To be precise, the Ninth Circuit concludes that all who speak to the public, whether or not they are members of the institutional press, are equally protected by the First Amendment. To quote the court, The […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an interesting opinion in Autor v. Pritzker. Here’s how Judge Tatel summarized his opinion for the court: President Obama, seeking to reduce the “culture of special interest access,” directed executive agency heads to bar federally registered lobbyists from serving on advisory committees. Appellants, federally […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
If I understand Obama’s new policy on Section 215, he is going to have the Executive Branch ask the judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to begin to limit when the Executive can query the Section 215 database. That is, he will ask the judiciary to take on a new power to limit […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
Economist Tyler Cowen argues that people too readily dismiss others’ arguments: One of the most common fallacies in the economics blogosphere — and elsewhere — is what I call “devalue and dismiss.” That is, a writer will come up with some critique of another argument, let us call that argument X, and then dismiss that […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I’m going to try live blogging the President’s remarks today on NSA. I’ve never done this before, so don’t be surprised if the whole thing comes crashing down in the middle. 11:15: The President gives us a few history lessons and a tour of intelligence policies of the last quarter century. 11:19 The President summarizes […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
A little while back I read Jonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion and had the opportunity to meet him and hear him speak at a book party in NYC. I’ve been meaning to say a few things about it and the recent appearance of a piece […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I just read a very interesting article, Daniel Sockwell, Writing a Brief for the iPad Judge. The basic problem: [M]ore and more judges are reading briefs primarily on iPads or other tablets…. The Fifth Circuit judiciary reads the majority of their briefs on iPads, and, from conversations with numerous judges and clerks, the other Circuits […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
I’ve said that the chief accomplishment of Progressive constitutional theory was to prioritize democracy over liberty as the central constitutional value. A consequence of this shift was the creation of a general theory of “judicial restraint,” which was enshrined into constitutional law in the New Deal era. There’s one aspect of this story that I […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
The New Hampshire House of Representatives recently became the first state legislative house to pass marijuana legalization. Legalization measures adopted in Colorado and Washington in 2012 passed by referendum. As the above-linked Concord Monitor article notes, the law faces tough sledding in the state senate, and could well be vetoed by New Hampshire’s Democratic Governor […]| The Volokh Conspiracy
