Four more missives from our ever-interesting readers appear on our letters page. Among the topics this time: caprice in the workings of the death penalty, lawyers’ fees and fen-phen fraud, gamblers suing casinos, and pharmacists’ rights.
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
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Point of Law- Around the web, November 23Tide turning against drug-pricing suits? Glaxo SmithKline beats back Kentucky case [Longstreth, AmLaw Daily] Court in Australia deems litigation funding pact improper as "unregistered managed investment scheme" [New Lawyer] Should docs be careful what they ask for? Michelle Mello... […]Walter Olson
- Latest Labaton pension fund controversy: MissouriAn "uproar" has broken out over the state employee pension fund's prospective hiring of lawyers to file securities suits. "At least six firms from around the country have been courting the board of the Missouri State Employees Retirement System, or... […]Walter Olson
- In Congress, promoting the return of notice pleadingsRep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has introduced H.R. 4115, the Open Access to Courts Act of 2009, to restore notice pleadings, i.e., the status quo ante Twombly and Iqbal. Nadler's news release announced the bill, "Nadler, Johnson, and Conyers Introduce Bill... […]Carter Wood
- "'Sick Leave' Mandates We Can Ill Afford"Diana Furchtgott-Roth warns of another labor-backed bill gathering steam in Congress. Earlier here and here.... […]Walter Olson
- "Jury rejects prosecutor's rigged game"Our own Marie Gryphon on the Bear Stearns acquittals.... […]Walter Olson
- Around the web, November 23
- Volokh
- Poll on political bloggers and the media:This week’s National Journal poll of political bloggers started off by asking them to rank the importance of various media that the political blogger himself uses to stay informed. On both the Right and the Left, “websites/blogs” came in first. However, on the Left, daily print newspapers were second, while on the Right, they were [...] […]David Kopel
- Concluding Thoughts on Public Opinion and Constitutional LawThank you for the chance to post here over the past week. Given how much work it is I don’t know how the regular conspirators have time to do anything else. I have now sifted through the 200 or so comments my posts have generated and thought it might be worth responding to them [...] […]Nathaniel Persily, guest-blogging
- Sunday Song LyricGlenn Beck likes Muse. He’ s hardly alone, given the award-winning British Altrock band’s growing popularity in the U.S. While most other Muse fans may be drawn in by the music, Beck likes the lyrics. “These guys are brilliant, they know the time that we live in,” he said during a September broadcast. “All of [...] […]Jonathan H. Adler
- Palin, Ignorance, and Stupidity RevisitedLongtime readers may recall that I was initially positive about Sarah Palin because her record was much more libertarian than that of most other major national politicians. Later, I had to reassess my view of Palin, as her ignorance of many important policy issues became apparent. But I also emphasized that ignorance is not [...] […]Ilya Somin
- How Common is the Socratic Method?In a recent post, Orin expresses doubts about whether the “traditional” form of the Socratic method is still used in many law schools. If by “traditional form” he means something like what is portrayed in The Paper Chase, I agree that not many use it. Very few lawprofs are as obnoxious as the mythical Professor [...] […]Ilya Somin
- Poll on political bloggers and the media:
Media Bloggers Association
CPSIA
