Eugene Volokh, Author at Reason.com - Page 151 of 189

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Volokh Conspiracy

Should a Fine's "Excessiveness" Turn Partly on the Defendant's Wealth?

"For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his livelihood."

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.5.2018 5:25 PM

Volokh Conspiracy

Does the Excessive Fines Clause Apply to the States?

You'd think we'd know that by now -- but the Supreme Court hasn't spoken to this. Now an Institute for Justice petition asks the Court to consider the issue, and my students and I have just filed an amicus brief (on behalf of many professors) supporting the petition.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.5.2018 12:32 PM

Volokh Conspiracy

The Fruits-of-Their-Labor Clause

It's right there in the North Carolina Constitution -- and the N.C. Supreme Court has just enforced it, in a case brought by a public employee, but potentially applicable to economic liberty claims brought by private businesses in the future.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.2.2018 5:49 PM

Volokh Conspiracy

Advice to Young Lawyers from a Judge

I just stumbled across this in doing research on something else.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.2.2018 5:47 PM

Volokh Conspiracy

French Prosecution of Marine Le Pen for Tweeting Islamic State Execution Images

The charges -- for "distribution of violent images" -- could lead to up to three years in prison and a $90,000 fine.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.1.2018 12:51 PM

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Can Gun Stores Refuse to Sell Rifles and Shotguns to Under-21-Year-Olds?

Depends on what state, city, and county they're in.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.28.2018 7:13 PM

Criminal Justice

No Jail Sentence for Woman Who Falsely Claimed Rape by Three Unidentified Black Men

What should the proper punishment be in such cases?

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.28.2018 11:40 AM

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R.I. Proposal to Tax Violent Video Games

But such a content-based tax would violate the First Amendment.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.27.2018 7:41 PM

It's Just Like Saying the N----- Word

The flag of those who supported the dissolution of the Union.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.25.2018 7:32 PM

Dangerous Radicals

Careful with those square root signs ....

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.23.2018 2:42 PM

Nametags at Conferences: Three Fails

Three errors conference organizers often make with nametags, and how to avoid them.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.23.2018 12:08 PM

My Podcast Debate on Mandatory Union Fees and the First Amendment

The National Constitution Center invited Alicia Hickok and me to debate Janus; Ms. Hickok wrote an amicus brief supporting Janus, and I signed an amicus brief supporting the AFSCME.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.23.2018 11:53 AM

Duty to Retreat from One's Home, When Attacked by a Cohabitant?

Even states that generally impose a "duty to retreat" before using deadly self-defense exclude self-defense in the home -- but what if the self-defense is against a cohabitant?

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.22.2018 8:08 PM

"We Are Not Crows" -- and yet ….

A Louisiana statute applies when a parent who shares custodial rights moves with a child more than 75 miles from the child's principal residence -- is that as the crow flies, or as MapQuest calculates?

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.21.2018 3:03 PM

The Two Sides of Collective Bargaining: A Way of Looking at the First Amendment Question in Janus

The government always compels taxpayers to fund the management side of management-labor bargaining in public workplaces. Given this, why should there be a First Amendment problem with compelled funding (through agency fees as well as taxes) of both sides?

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.20.2018 1:58 PM

"Should a Federal Court Stand Idly by When a Foreign Arbitral Commission Issues an Order Restricting the Speech of a Private Party?"

"Actually, yes."

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.20.2018 1:08 PM

The Space Shuttle and Reasonable Doubt

"During voir dire, the prosecutor showed the potential jurors an incomplete puzzle of a space shuttle (with only sixty-six percent of the pieces present), stated that the image was a space shuttle 'beyond a reasonable doubt,' and asked the potential jurors whether anyone disagreed, which none did; the prosecutor also showed the image during closing arguments."

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.17.2018 5:30 PM

Child Custody, Religion, and Children's Reactions to a Parent's Religious Demands

"The change in the child's relationship with the father based on the child's fear of his displeasure if she were not a 'true Muslim,' and her belief that he threatened to abscond with her to Morocco, also contributed to the change in circumstances warranting modification" of the custody arrangement.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.15.2018 1:47 PM

First Amendment Case Brought by Immigration Checkpoint Protesters/Monitors Can Go Forward

So holds the Ninth Circuit, in a case in which the Scott & Cyan Banister First Amendment Clinic, which I run, filed an amicus brief.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.14.2018 2:34 PM

Taylor Swift Decision: Copiers Gonna Copy, Copy, Copy

And that's not copyright infringement, if they only copy short phrases, especially ones that were themselves largely copied from others.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.14.2018 1:35 PM

Don't Know Much About History

Quite a line about World War II from a history book for children.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.14.2018 12:08 PM

Adjunct Prof: "Australia Is a Continent; It Is Not a Country"

Instructor gives F to student for calling Australia a country; university fires instructor.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.14.2018 12:01 PM

Bank Recommendations, Especially for Banks with Good Online Banking Systems?

I've long been disappointed with my bank, U.S. Bank, chiefly because of its online banking system, which seems badly antiquated.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.12.2018 6:09 PM

Campus Free Speech

Court Bars Univ. of Washington from Charging College Republicans $17,000 Security Fee

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.12.2018 2:41 PM

Indonesia Seems Set to Ban Gay Sex

World's fourth largest country -- and largest Muslim country -- had long been seen as tolerant on such matters, but that has been changing.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.12.2018 11:42 AM

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Ninth Circuit: Adultery Is Constitutionally Protected

The court holds that Lawrence v. Texas limits government restrictions on extramarital sex.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.12.2018 9:34 AM

The Case of the Rabid Mongoose

Rikki-Tikki-Tortious?

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.12.2018 8:17 AM

Someone Trying to Vanish My Post About Someone Trying to Vanish Another Post

In March, I wrote about a forged court order that someone was using to try to get Google to de-index online criticism of a New Britain, Conn. community activist (and volunteer city commissioner); now, someone has asked Google to de-index my post, plus a TechDirt post on the same subject.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.9.2018 11:17 AM

Occult Scientists vs. Scholastic Doctors

DeTocqueville vs. Blackstone on Anglo-American law

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.6.2018 3:54 PM

California Court Upholds First Amendment Right Not to Bake Cake for Same-Sex Wedding

This is a trial court decision, and an appeal seems likely.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.6.2018 1:24 PM

The Science of the Tender Passion

Pushkin's great description of his great antihero.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.5.2018 7:19 PM

"Second Amendment Law Lessons: Look Beyond the Courts for Freedom"

Excellent advice from Prof. Glenn Harlan Reynolds (InstaPundit), in USA Today.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.5.2018 4:56 PM

Court Discloses Speech-Restrictive Barley House Settlement Agreement

I'm delighted to report that the District Court agreed with our position.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.5.2018 3:18 PM

Supermajority Required for Finding of Unconstitutionality

Interesting provisions in some state supreme courts -- but are they constitutional when applied to claims that statutes violate the federal Constitution?

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.5.2018 1:08 PM

Positive rights in the Framing era

"Right" means many things, and has long meant many things.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.5.2018 11:51 AM

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Excluding Anti-Gay Speaker From Open-to-the-Public Pride Festival Violated First Amendment

First Amendment principles that offensive speech is protected "are by no means new. Yet they are strangely absent from the papers submitted by [City of Syracuse defendants] in defense of their actions toward plaintiff James Deferio, a Christian evangelical who regularly proselytizes at the Central New York Pride Parade and Festival ...."

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.5.2018 7:48 AM

More on the Secret Speech Restriction in the Barley House Case

Can an American court punish a speaker for his speech, on the theory that he breached an agreement not to speak -- all the while keeping the speech-restrictive agreement secret?

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.2.2018 11:59 AM

The "Too Irrational to Be a Terrorist" Defense Goes Nowhere

ISIS supporter Joshua Van Haften "also believes, for example, that Britain's Prince William is the Antichrist, that people can use numerology to predict the future, and that most Western political leaders are closet Satanists."

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.2.2018 11:47 AM

New Free Speech History Podcast (First Episode: Ancient Athens)

It's by Jacob Mchangama, and presented by (among others) the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.1.2018 12:48 PM

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Ban on Carrying Guns Within 1,000 Feet of Park Struck Down

...by the Illinois Supreme Court in a decision this morning.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.1.2018 11:43 AM

Inserting People into Porn Movies: The First Amendment Textbook Problem (2005)

A prediction comes true, for better or worse ....

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.31.2018 6:40 PM

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Polish Bill Would Outlaw Statements That Accuse Poles of Complicity in Nazi Crimes

More censorship creep in Europe, which already forbids a wide range of claims about history.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.30.2018 1:07 PM

Arizona Bar Accuses Libel Lawyers of Suing Fake Defendants

"There is no notary in Fulton County named Amanda Sparks.... The notarization by Amanda Sparks is a forgery.... Connie Hood and Jesse Wood are not real. Connie Hood and Jesse Wood were fabricated in order to obtain a stipulated order of permanent injunction removing criticism of Adam Lynd from the internet.... Howard Marks is not real.... Robert Smith is not real.... Damon Lentz is not real...."

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.29.2018 5:51 PM

Linguification

When (often plausible) claims about substance get recast as (unsound) claims about language.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.22.2018 6:00 PM

Inconceivable Rights: I Do Not Think That Word Means (Just) What You Think It Means

The infection of postmodernism apparently goes way back.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.22.2018 4:02 PM

How "Rights" Are Like Superscript -1

Legal language, like mathematical language, often gives multiple definitions to similar terms.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.22.2018 11:00 AM

Government Rights

Yes, governments do have rights, not just powers.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.22.2018 8:41 AM

The Limits of Textualism and the Union Agency Fee Case

I'm all for carefully reading the words of the Constitution, and applying the distinctions that it draws -- but we need to make sure we're understanding just what those distinctions are.

Eugene Volokh |The Volokh Conspiracy | 1.21.2018 5:35 PM

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