Podcast on "A Man for All Seasons"
A little something for law students and lawyers
Crime
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
Voter fraud, Jersey Boys, and inescapable tax debt.
Judge Bumatay on Originalism in the Lower Courts: "It is our duty to apply the Constitution—not extend precedent"
He follows Justice Thomas's dissent from Garza v. Idaho: "Where precedent is seriously questioned 'as an original matter' or under current Supreme Court doctrine, courts 'should tread carefully before extending' it."
Update from the Florida Supreme Court: The Governor Has To Make A New Selection By Monday
"We hold that the constitution requires the Governor immediately to appoint and commission a constitutionally eligible nominee from among the seven remaining candidates already certified by the judicial nominating commission."
After 8-Hour Meeting, Divided Texas Bar Refers ABA Model Rule 8.4(g) to Committee
The Disciplinary Committee will consider ABA Model Rule 8.4(g), as well as revisions to an old Texas Rule
Younger Abstention after Trump v. Vance
Did the Supreme Court quietly modify a major jurisdictional doctrine?
Classes #7: Enumerated Powers V and the Recording System
NFIB v. Sebelius, Chain of Title, and Recording Acts
Two Cheers for President Trump's Not-So-Short SCOTUS List
At this point, what difference does it make?
Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Assorted Canards of Contemporary Legal Analysis: Redux
The Case Western Reserve Law Review has published Judge Barrett's 2019 Sumner Canary Memorial Lecture
Did the Ninth Circuit Create a New Fourth Amendment Notice Requirement for Surveillance Practices?
An overlooked part of United States v. Moalin could have a major impact on surveillance law.
NCLA Challenges CDC's Eviction Moratorium
"The order would abrogate the right to access the courts, violate limits on the Supremacy Clause, implicate the nondelegation doctrine, and traduce anti-commandeering principles."
Partisan Taint in the Trump-Russia Investigation
We need FISA reforms that protect against partisan misuse of intelligence
No Punitive Damages in Sex Abuse Lawsuits Against Jeffrey Epstein Estate, Because of Epstein's "Reported Suicide"
Under N.Y. law, "punitive damages shall not be awarded" when the defendant is dead; that's also the general rule throughout the country.
Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions
The Kentucky Derby, phone tapping, and asylum.
Cancelling Justice Jackson?
Will casebooks need to expurgate a passage from the famous Youngstown concurrence?
George Mason University President Takes "Immediate Steps … To Advance Systemic and Cultural Anti-Racism" (Updated)
"My vision is nothing short of establishing George Mason University as a national exemplar of anti-racism and inclusive excellence in action."
George Mason University President Announces Anti-Racism Will Be "Important Component" of Reaccreditation
Can Scalia Law School and the Economics Department declare independence from GMU?
The Statutory Authority for the Nationwide Eviction Moratorium
The Director of CDC "may take such measures to prevent such spread of the diseases as he/she deems reasonably necessary."
Arizona Supreme Court Strikes Down Sentence Enhancement for "Criminal Street Gang Member[s]"
The statute, which upgraded threatening or intimidating from a misdemeanor to a felony "if the defendant is a criminal street gang member" (regardless of whether the crime is connected to gang membership), the court held, violates substantive due process.
Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, Writing Against the "Presumption of Constitutionality"
(Note the citation to, among others, our own Randy Barnett.)
District of Columbia Working Group Finds Prominent Abolitionist, James Birney, Has a "Legacy" That Does Not Merit Recognition.
DCFaces establishes five grounds for cancellation. No one will survive the purges.
Will Anti-Racist Law Reviews Publish Anti-Anti-Racist Articles by Anti-Anti-Racist Authors?
These policies will institutionalize viewpoint discrimination: only one perspective on a given issue is permissible. In the long run, academic freedom and open discourse will suffer.
Upcoming "Virtual" Speaking Engagements - And I'm Open to Doing More [Reposted]
A list of my upcoming online speaking engagements on various law and public policy issues. I am "open for business" for additional talks, too.
Judge Justin Walker on Bar Bureaucracies, Mental Illness, and More
"[One day, t]he Bar Bureaucracy will have to answer for a medieval approach to mental health that is as cruel as it is counterproductive."
