Overlawyered » Barack Obama

Good news for farm families

Walter Olson — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:18:48 +0000

As I relate in a post at Cato at Liberty, the Obama Labor Department has withdrawn a far-reaching proposal that would have banned much or most work done by kids on farms, even work for their own family members (a narrow exemption would have remained in cases where parents were the sole owners of a farmstead). The proposals drew a huge outcry from rural America (earlier here and here).

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (PDF),

For approximately a decade, activists have attempted to pass legislation amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to restrict the ability of youth under the age of 16 to work in agriculture. The legislation has never been scheduled for a vote or even a hearing, and the DOL-proposed rule change is [was] apparently an effort to restrict youth employment in agriculture through regulation.

If it seems impossibly extreme to forbid 15-year-olds from feeding chickens at a neighboring farm owned by their aunt, be aware that many groups organized around the fine-sounding mission of ending “child labor” would like to institute bans that go even further. For example, an NGO by the name of Global March Against Child Labor (represented in Washington, D.C. here) supported the DoL rules and declares itself “of the view that child labour in agriculture should not be allowed in any part of the world and in any form- whether as family labour or as hired labour.”

P.S. For more pro-ban sentiment, see this piece by AP labor correspondent Sam Hananel stenographizing the views of groups like Human Rights Watch.

Tags: agriculture and farming, Barack Obama, international human rights, workplace

Good news for farm families is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Judicial activism for me, but not for thee

Walter Olson — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:13:06 +0000

From Glenn Reynolds’s readers:

“Rather hilariously, David Dow, the author of the Newsweek piece calling for the impeachment of the Supreme Court if they overturn the health care law, is the author of America’s Prophets: How Judicial Activism Makes America Great.” Only the right sort of judicial activism. Impeach the rest!

More on the “MarburyGate” presidential gaffe from Thom Lambert and David Bernstein.

Tags: Barack Obama, constitutional law

Judicial activism for me, but not for thee is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Never let law profs near the Oval Office”

Walter Olson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:33:33 +0000

My Cato colleague Gene Healy points out that President Obama is the fourth chief executive who also taught constitutional law, joining William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton. “Taft did comparatively little damage, but the rest hardly inspire confidence that familiarity with constitutional scholarship encourages fidelity to the national charter.” [Washington Examiner] He lets me have a parting shot:

My Cato Institute colleague Walter Olson, author of “Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America”, explains that “legal academia rewards cleverness in coming up with strained arguments for ideologically favored (or just expedient) positions; marginalizes as eccentric thinkers who favor original understanding as a guide” to the Constitution and often reduces law to “politics by other means.”

Unfortunately, that training has served Obama well.

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, constitutional law, law schools

“Never let law profs near the Oval Office” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 31 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:06:21 +0000

Latest of periodic Towers Watson (formerly Towers Perrin/Tillinghast) surveys: tort costs fell in 2010 excluding oil spill liability [Towers Watson]
“Will Newt Neuter the Courts?” [James Huffman, Defining Ideas] Obama’s high court appointees are fortunately friendlier toward civil liberties than he is [Steve Chapman]
Unanimous Cal Supremes: companies not legally responsible for other companies’ asbestos products used as replacement for theirs [Cal Biz Lit, Jackson, Beck, Mass Tort Prof]
Claim: jurors considered policy implications of verdict and you can’t have that [On Point; defense verdict in Baltimore, Maryland school-bullying case]
Airfare display mandate: “‘Protecting’ Consumers from the Truth About the Cost of Government” [Thom Lambert, TotM]
Critical assessment of AP-backed new copyright aggregator “NewsRight” [Mike Masnick] Promises not to be “Righthaven 2.0″ [Cit Media Law]
Restatement (Third) of Torts drafters vs. Enlightenment scientific views of causation [David Oliver in June]

Tags: airlines, asbestos, Baltimore, Barack Obama, bullying, California, deep pocket, juries, Newt Gingrich, RightHaven, taxes, Tillinghast, toxic torts

January 31 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Cato commentary on State of the Union

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:56:53 +0000

My Cato colleagues discuss President Obama’s remarks on judicial nominations, the auto bailout, Dodd-Frank and the Cordray appointment, federal control of education and more.

P.S. “America’s best think tank” [Glenn Reynolds]

Tags: Barack Obama, Cato Institute

Cato commentary on State of the Union is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Obama proposes up or down vote on judges

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:32:52 +0000

Ted Frank: “It is ironic that Obama is calling for a 90-day ‘simple up or down’ vote on judicial nominees when he is the only sitting president in American history who has voted to filibuster a judicial nomination — and that was for someone well within the mainstream like Justice Alito.”

Tags: Barack Obama, judicial nominations

Obama proposes up or down vote on judges is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Obama proposal: no leaving school until age 18 or graduation

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:19:42 +0000

Aside from the wisdom of obliging every single young person to serve out such a sentence — conveniently, until draft age, when the State may have other plans for their time — there’s an interest-group angle. Ira Stoll traces it to the National Education Association, which stands to gain from the idea a measurable boost to its dues-paying ranks, and which has in fact proposed mandatory schooling for nongraduates up to age 21. More: Hans Bader, CEI (quoting Overlawyered commenter Kurt); Nick Gillespie, Reason.

P.S. Watch out for the truancy cops, too [Free-Range Kids; Loudoun County, Va. mother says she was handcuffed and arrested after fifth instance of school tardiness]

Tags: Barack Obama, schools

Obama proposal: no leaving school until age 18 or graduation is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 6 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:04:01 +0000

Senate takes a bathroom break for five minutes, and Obama uses recess appointments to install unconfirmable nominees. Legal? [Roger Pilon via National Right To Work, Richard Epstein, Mark Calabria, Adler link roundup]. What the New York Times thought back then about recess appointments; what it thinks now.
Pepsi defense: our bottling would have dissolved that dead mouse into something jelly-like [Althouse, MC Record via AW]
Federal panel proposes slashing definitional thresholds so as to enable diagnosing of hundreds of thousands of new child lead poisoning cases [AP]
“Appeals Court Rules Husband Can Be Charged Criminally For Reading Wife’s Email” [Doug Mataconis, Outside the Beltway]
Its original goals accomplished, Voting Rights Act “preclearance” lurches on. SCOTUS should review [Cato amicus brief by Ilya Shapiro and Anna Mackin, further]
“‘Karma’ Facebook post leads to criminal charges” [Fox Tampa via Balko]
As senator, Santorum sought extensive new federal powers to regulate pet dealing, scaring many animal rescue groups [NCRAOA, PDF]

Tags: animal rights, Barack Obama, lead paint, Voting Rights Act

January 6 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 19 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:09:06 +0000

Too much of a stretch: US nixes copyright in yoga exercises [Bloomberg, earlier]
“Know your rights dealing with cops” material construed as probative of criminality [Popehat] Is Justice Scalia really an “unlikely” champion of defendants’ Constitutional rights? [LATimes, Adler] “Overcriminalization: The Legislative Side of the Problem” [Larkin/Heritage, related Meese] When feds spring false-statements trap, it won’t matter whether you committed underlying offense being investigated [Popehat] “‘Clean Up Government Act’ sparks overcriminalization concerns” [PoL]
Former Attorney General Mukasey on ObamaCare recusal flap [Adler]
American Antitrust Institute proposals might be discounted given group’s longstanding pro-plaintiff bias [Thom Lambert]
NYC: “The tour guide said that the way to get rich is to be a zoning lawyer.” [Arnold Kling]
“Obama’s Top Ten Constitutional Violations” [Ilya Shapiro, Daily Caller] In at least two major areas, “Obama has broken with precedent to curtail religious freedom” [Steve Chapman]
Ted Frank-Shirley Svorny med mal debate wraps up [PoL, Bader]

Tags: antitrust, Barack Obama, constitutional law, crime and punishment, land use and zoning, medical malpractice, police, recusals, Ted Frank

December 19 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:02:02 +0000

Big win for Ted Frank against cy pres slush funds [CCAF, Fisher, Zywicki, CL&P, @tedfrank ("Ninth Circuit rules in my favor ... but I still think I'm right".)]
“Can the Vatican Be Subject to ICC Prosecution?” [Ku/OJ]
“Tennessee: ATS Sues City Over Right Turn Ticket Money” [The Newspaper]
“Law firms dominating campaign contributions to Obama” [WaPo]
Does that mean it’s an entitlement? Punitive damage limits face constitutional challenges in Arkansas, Missouri [Cal Punitives]
Businessman sues to silence critical blogger, case is dismissed, now files suit #2 [Scott Greenfield]
Going Hollywood? “The Supreme Court should move to Los Angeles” [Conor Friedersdorf]

Tags: Arkansas, Barack Obama, bloggers and the law, Catholic Church, cy pres, Missouri, punitive damages, red light cameras, Supreme Court, Ted Frank

November 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system