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]
{ 0 comments }
Posts tagged as:
Cato Institute
A new study by James Bessen, Jennifer Ford and Michael J. Meurer in Cato’s Regulation magazine:
This article makes several findings about this litigation [patent litigation by non-practicing entities (NPEs)]. First, by observing what happens to a defendant’s stock price around the filing of a patent lawsuit, we are able to assess the effect of the lawsuit on the firm’s wealth, after taking into account general market trends and random factors affecting the individual stock. We find that NPE lawsuits are associated with half a trillion dollars of lost wealth to defendants from 1990 through 2010. During the last four years, the lost wealth has averaged over $80 billion per year. These defendants are mostly technology companies that invest heavily in R&D. To the extent that this litigation represents an unavoidable business cost to technology developers, it reduces the profits that these firms make on their technology investments. That is, these lawsuits substantially reduce their incentives to innovate.
{ 1 comment }
The distinguished economist, who served the Cato Institute as its longtime chairman, was famous for his integrity, collegiality, and far-ranging scholarly interests, and in particular for his pathbreaking work in the field of “public choice” economics [Cato bio and announcement; NYT obituary]. His departure from Ford Motor’s chief economist post after declining to back the company’s push for auto import quotas came to symbolize an honesty and adherence to principle that set a sorely needed example in Washington. An expert on the economics of defense spending and professor at UCLA and Berkeley, he was later an architect of the Reagan economic program as a member of that president’s Council of Economic Advisers. Throughout his career, his personal warmth, approachability and unquenchable curiosity about the world made him an inspiration and mentor to generations of scholars. Some tributes: Lew Uhler, Ben Zycher, David Henderson, Randal O’Toole, Ian Vasquez, Fred Smith, Nick Gillespie, Stephen Moore, John Samples (audio podcast), William Poole. Bureaucracy and Representative Government, Niskanen’s pioneering public choice analysis of the incentives facing government agencies, appeared in 1971; a more recent essay collection, Reflections of a Political Economist, explores a range of current controversies in that and other areas.
Both before and since joining Cato in 2010, I had many chances to converse with Bill and get to know his enormous range of interests, extraordinary self-command, soft-spokenness and lack of pretense, and understated humor. Often, after hearing what I was working on, he would wait for a quiet moment to ask whether I was familiar with thus-and-such a scholarly paper that had appeared some while back. He then would summarize the paper’s findings, which typically would neither reinforce nor contradict the particular point I was pursuing, but instead approached the material from some entirely different perspective or pointed up an unexpected connection to what had seemed an unrelated set of issues. This is what graduate school is supposed to be like, I would think — and it was why, when the news came last week, I recalled what is said to be an African proverb: when a wise man dies, it is as if a library has burned down.
What kind of medical liability market would emerge if courts decided to begin upholding freedom of contract? I take up that question — and explain some of my misgivings about efforts to portray today’s medical malpractice sector as somehow a free-market arrangement — at Cato at Liberty (& welcome Elie Mystal/Above the Law, GruntDoc, Ramesh Ponnuru readers).
{ 3 comments }
It’s a modest $15 for the softcover and just $5.99 for the e-edition. As I said while singing its praises at Constitution Day recently, it’s distinguished from conventional law reviews not only by its Madisonian point of view, and by its extreme speediness (published only three or so months after the conclusion of the Court’s last term) but also by its unusual readability and style, pitched to intelligent readers whether or not they are specialists in the law. You can buy it here.
Cato-intensive edition:
- David Bernstein’s Rehabilitating Lochner, recently praised by George Will, is part of Cato series challenging constitutional law myths [Roger Pilon, earlier; Bernstein's recommended-books list]
- Constitutional conservatism: the forgotten history [Johnathan O'Neill, Heritage] “Progressive originalism” a development to be welcomed, but faces uphill slog [Damon Root, Reason] Tim Lynch: constitution is too hard to amend ["Amending Article V", Tennessee Law Review] Toobin’s “startling reappraisal” of Clarence Thomas in The New Yorker [Walter Russell Mead]
- When it comes to abortion clinics, left and right swap usual positions on regulatory burdens [A. Barton Hinkle, Richmond Times-Dispatch] I’m quoted on courtroom battles over state anti-abortion enactments [Steve Weatherbe, National Catholic Register]
- Exhaustion of remedies: “Property Rights Are Not Second-Class Rights” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato at Liberty]
- Property ordinance in San Juan Capistrano bars Bible study groups and even regular bridge foursomes. Bill of Rights violation? [CBS-LA]
- For those in the D.C. area, a George Mason U. event Monday at 5: Roger Pilon (Cato) vs. Ed Whelan (Ethics and Public Policy Center) on judicial activism [Fed Soc]
{ 3 comments }
Early next year the Supreme Court will hear Knox v. SEIU Local 1000, an important case about union power and individual conscience. The Cato Institute has joined several other organizations in filing an amicus brief (PDF), as my colleague Ilya Shapiro explains here.
Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Eastern I’ll be appearing at a Cato Institute “Liberty Briefing” for invited journalists and others to preview the Institute’s Constitution Day, which is Thursday, and to talk in particular about the U.S. Supreme Court’s approach to issues of civil litigation, including this year’s Wal-Mart v. Dukes case. My Cato colleague Trevor Burrus will be discussing court challenges to ObamaCare and its individual mandate, a topic likely to reach the high court before long. You can watch live online here.
Two weeks from this Thursday, on Sept. 15, Cato is holding its annual Constitution Day in Washington, D.C., just down the street from the Institute offices (which are undergoing renovation). The event will celebrate the publication of the 10th annual Cato Supreme Court Review and panelists will include familiar names like Jonathan Adler, Orin Kerr, Roger Pilon, Ilya Shapiro, Andrew Trask and many others. I’ll be moderating a panel on “Federalism, Civil Procedure, Business, and the Proper Judicial Role,” which will discuss among other topics the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Wal-Mart v. Dukes. The closing lecture will be given by Judge Alex Kozinski. How can you not plan to attend?
I haven’t had a chance yet to look through a copy of this new book (whose publication date is today) by George Mason lawprof and Volokh Conspiracy contributor David Bernstein. But it could be a landmark, to judge from the glowing blurbs from a distinguished and very ideologically diverse group of law professors and the excellent May 2 author forum at Cato (in which I turn up in the Q-&-A). Description via Cato:
No Supreme Court decision concerning economic liberty has been more emblematic of the alleged errors of the “old,” pre-New Deal Court than Lochner v. New York, decided in 1905. Upholding contractual freedom against a New York statute that limited the hours that bakers might work, the decision has been reviled by both liberals and conservatives as an egregious example of judicial malfeasance — cited today most often for the prescient dissent of the sainted Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Yet the story of Lochner is not over. In a new book that examines the history and background of the case, David Bernstein argues that the decision has been widely misunderstood and unfairly maligned, that it was well grounded in precedent, and that subsequent battles over segregation laws, sex discrimination, civil liberties, and more owe much to the limited-government ideas of Lochner’s proponents.
The book’s available from Cato or the author. You can also read an author interview by Josh Blackman, as well as the book’s introduction on SSRN.
- Alabama state senate bans knowingly giving illegal immigrant ride in your car [Katherine Mangu-Ward]
- Cato U., dynamite summer seminar from my institute, being held this year in Annapolis Jul. 24-29;
- Calif.: “64% of Prop 65 settlements go to attorneys’ fees” [CJAC, earlier]
- Mississippi jury votes $322 million to individual asbestos claimant [Fair Warning, Mass Tort Prof]
- “Emails: Attorney nixed S.C. train injury fund” [AP/The State]
- Trump files $100 million counterclaim against customer who sued his “Trump University” [Atlantic Wire, earlier] More: Lowering the Bar.
- Two, three, a trend? Another trial-lawyer movie, this time starring Mark Lanier [WSJ Law Blog]
{ 1 comment }
David Kopel of the Independence Institute interviews my Cato Institute colleague Ilya Shapiro on Cato’s active amicus-filing program, ObamaCare challenges, “Libertarian ConLaw 101,” and more. You can listen here.
In its bimonthly Policy Report, the Cato Institute (where I’m a senior fellow) summarizes some of the themes of Schools for Misrule. You can buy the book here; and if you’ve already read it, do consider giving it a rating or review at Amazon or your favorite book-related site.
{ 1 comment }
I was joined on March 3 by Roger Pilon, who directs Cato’s project on law and the Constitution, and by distinguished federal judge Douglas Ginsburg of the D.C. Circuit, who commented. You can also watch it (possibly in a larger format) at the Cato site.
{ 1 comment }
I’m a speaker at next Friday’s Cato Institute luncheon. Come be there!
Attention readers in the Washington, D.C. area: I’ll be speaking at a Cato Policy Forum next Thurs., March 3, at 4 p.m. at the Cato Institute auditorium, discussing my new book Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America. Roger Pilon, who directs Cato’s program of legal studies, will be the moderator, and commenting on my remarks will be one of the most distinguished federal judges, the Hon. Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The event is free, but you do need to register in advance here, where you’ll find more details. There’ll be a reception afterward and a chance to buy the book. Please introduce yourself and mention that you’re an Overlawyered reader!
[cross-posted from Cato at Liberty]
The first copies of my new book Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America are here from the printer, and I’ll be touring the country to promote it in coming weeks. Some highlights:
- February 21. Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University Law School, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
- February 22. Urbana-Champaign, Ill. University of Illinois School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter. Commenting will be Prof. Larry Ribstein.
- March 3. Washington, D.C. Cato Institute Policy Forum. Commenting on the book will be the Hon. Douglas Ginsburg, U.S. Court of Appeals, and moderating will be Cato legal director Roger Pilon.
- March 10. University of Minnesota, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter. Commenting will be Profs. Brad Clary and Oren Gross, and moderating will be Prof. Dale Carpenter.
- March 16. New York, N.Y. Manhattan Institute luncheon (invitation). Commenting will be James Copland, Manhattan Institute.
- March 22. Washington, D.C. Heritage Foundation forum. Commenting/moderating: Todd Gaziano, Heritage Foundation.
- March 28. Boulder, Colo. University of Colorado School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
- March 29. Laramie, Wyo. University of Wyoming School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
- March 30. Sacramento, Calif. McGeorge School of Law, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
- April 6. New York, N.Y. Manhattan Institute Young Leaders evening event (private).
- April 7. Washington, D.C. American University Law School, sponsored by Federalist Society chapter.
- April 13. Washington, D.C. Book club appearance (private).
- April 27-29. Dallas, Tex. Heritage Foundation Resource Bank meeting (private).
Always check in advance with the hosting group for venues and exact times; some events open to the public require advance registration. The book’s official publication date is March 1, and copies should be arriving in the bookstores soon.
{ 2 comments }
- Cato Institute scholars liveblog reaction to State of the Union speech and GOP response, plus video on Facebook with Gene Healy and Julian Sanchez, more video;
- Private store owners get beaten up for lack of ADA ramps. On the other hand, when the federal government is building courthouses… [Sun-Sentinel; earlier here and here]
- “Securities suits filed in 2010 again a record” [Business Insurance]
- Do mass tort “claims facilities” enable participants to bypass the strictures of legal ethics? [Monroe Freedman, Legal Ethics Forum]
- Latest workplace-retaliation ruling once more undermines “pro-business Supreme Court” narrative [Bader, Examiner, more]
- Jacob Sullum reviews Daniel Okrent book on Prohibition [Reason]
- Another “lawyers excited about coming wave of bet-the-company climate change suits” article [AFP]
- Dickie Scruggs: “It was never about the money for me, this litigation” [four years ago on Overlawyered]
{ 2 comments }
