Overlawyered » United Nations http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 November 26 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-26-roundup-4/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-26-roundup-4/#comments Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:21:39 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25340
  • “Ohio Attorney Sues Over Misleading Emails, Even Though He Wasn’t Misled” [Chris Danzig, Above the Law]
  • Feds say new EPA-ordered fuel economy standards could add $2000 to price of new car [C.J. Ciamarella, Daily Caller] More: WSJ.
  • Las Vegas considers following Chicago’s lenders-must-cut-grass folly [Kevin Funnell, earlier] “The Fed actually does impose, via legal risk, a de facto ceiling on mortgage rates.” [Mark Calabria, Cato]
  • 2nd Circuit: Prison Litigation Reform Act curbs attorney fee shift at 150% of cash won, and yes, that applies to a $1 award [PoL] Panel on attorneys’ fees in class actions at Federalist Society convention [video, PoL]
  • John McClaughry reviews Reckless Endangerment, Morgenson/Rosner book on financial crisis [Reason]
  • Daniel Hannan on John Fonte’s new book on transnational law, Sovereignty or Submission [Telegraph, and see chapters 11-12 of Schools for Misrule] International human rights activism pushes into “economic rights” [James P. Kelly III, Federalist Society "Engage"] NGOs exercise oft-envied combination of power without responsibility [Anderson] UK attorney general Dominic Grieve takes on the European court of human rights [Joshua Rozenberg, Guardian] UN battle plan on non-communicable diseases aims to save us from ourselves;
  • Sans statutory authority, EPA wanders into “environmental justice” [PowerLine]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/11/november-26-roundup-4/feed/ 0     EU directive on kids, balloons and other toys http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/children-to-be-banned-from-blowing-up-balloons-under-eu-safety-rules/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/children-to-be-banned-from-blowing-up-balloons-under-eu-safety-rules/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:37:54 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25102 “Whistle blowers, that scroll out into a long coloured paper tongue when sounded – a party favourite at family Christmas meals – are now classed as unsafe for all children under 14. … the EU legislation will impose restrictions on how noisy toys, including rattles or musical instruments, are allowed to be.” Unsupervised children under 8 should not be allowed to blow up balloons, according to the European Union directive, which has just taken effect. [Telegraph; headline changed after objection that the Telegraph's headline was misleading]

    In related news, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, addressing a United Nations conference on “the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases,” has said that “mak[ing] healthy solutions the default social option” on matters such as diet is “ultimately government’s highest duty.” [Sullum]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/children-to-be-banned-from-blowing-up-balloons-under-eu-safety-rules/feed/ 8     Child welfare/protection roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/child-welfareprotection-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/child-welfareprotection-roundup/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 05:10:14 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24879
  • Oh, American Academy of Pediatrics, why are you so consistently wrong? On videogames, on food-ad bans, on guns, CPSIA…
  • New book by Annette Fuentes, Lockdown High: When the Schoolhouse Becomes a Jailhouse [John Harris, Guardian]
  • There are genuine problems with some countries’ international adoption practices, but should UNICEF really be pushing toward a “leave the kids in orphanages” alternative? [Nick Gillespie on Reason documentary to be released tomorrow]
  • At expense of both federalism and religious accommodation, bill entitled “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” (ECDFA) would impose anti-bias rules on state adoption and foster care programs [Washington Blade]
  • Cash-for-kids Pennsylvania judge: “Former Luzerne judge Conahan sentenced to 17.5 years” [Times-Tribune, our earlier coverage]
  • “Met a guy who works at my old summer camp. Bunks still do raids on other bunks, but their counselors have to file raid forms first. How sad.” [@adamlisberg]
  • Sex offender registry horror story #14,283 [Skenazy]
  • “Safety rules rob pupils of hands-on science, say MPs” [Independent, U.K.]
  • Gee, who could’ve predicted that? NJ’s aggressive “anti-bullying” law leads to new problems [NYT, Greenfield, PoL, NJLRA] Rapid growth in bullying law assisted by push from Obama administration [WSJ Law Blog, Kenneth Marcus/Federalist Society, Bader]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/child-welfareprotection-roundup/feed/ 2     The U.N. vs. freedom of religion http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/the-u-n-vs-freedom-of-religion/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/the-u-n-vs-freedom-of-religion/#comments Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:21:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22615 While the campaign to ban “defamation of religion” appears to have lost some steam at the world body recently, continued efforts to curtail “religious hate speech” could restrict free expression in some of the same ways. [Nina Shea, NRO "Corner"; Ilya Somin, Volokh] Warns Nina Shea:

    In 2009, the Obama administration had the U.S. co-sponsor with Egypt, which represented the OIC [Organization of the Islamic Conference], a non-binding hate-speech resolution in the Human Rights Council. In contrast to U.S. constitutional law, that resolution urges states to take and to effectively implement “all necessary measures” to combat any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence. It thus encourages the worldwide criminalization of religious hate speech.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/the-u-n-vs-freedom-of-religion/feed/ 4     International human rights law roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/international-human-rights-law-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/international-human-rights-law-roundup/#comments Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:52:21 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21735 Recent clips on a subject treated in much more detail in Schools for Misrule:

    • Claim: Wisconsin Gov. Walker’s reforms to public sector labor law violate international human rights [HRW, Mirer/Cohn, FoxBusiness (views of Marquette lawprof Paul Secunda)] Related: UAW threatens charges against automakers [ShopFloor]
    • Per some advocates, “right to health” has emerged as an “established international legal precept” even if it is “still to be fully embraced in the United States” [Friedman/Adashi, JAMA]
    • GWB at risk of arrest if he visits Europe? Or are some of his enemies just posturing? “Bush trip to Switzerland called off amid threats of protests, legal action” [Atlantic Wire, WaPo, Daily Dish and more, Frum Forum, more and yet more]
    • Oh, good grief: Tennessee solon “proposes law to make following Shariah law a felony” [Tennesseean] More states prepare to join unsound “ban all recogition of international law” movement [Ku, OJ] Background: Volokh.
    • For those interested in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recently given a favorable nod by the Obama administration, a copy of the text is available here [CWB]
    • “Conceptualizing Accountability in International Law and Institutions” [Anderson, OJ]
    • Human rights initiative in UK: “Rapists and killers demand right to benefits” [Telegraph] European Court of Human Rights, Human Rights Acts “merely pretexts for judicial activism, argues Alasdair Palmer” [Telegraph]
    • Claim: U.S. is odd-country-out in international law. Reality check please [Bradford, Posner et al, OJ]
    • Opponents charge trying Pennsylvania 13 year old for murder as adult could violate international law [AI]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/03/international-human-rights-law-roundup/feed/ 2     International human rights roundup http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/international-human-rights-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/international-human-rights-roundup/#comments Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:49:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19601 Developments in an emerging area of law much explored in my forthcoming book:

    • “Developing Countries Could Sue for Climate Action — Study” [NYT/ClimateWire] “Do We Need Global Governance To Combat Global Warming?” [Ilya Somin/Volokh]
    • From UN and oddly uncontroversial Human Rights Watch, pressure on U.S. to alter labor law in union-friendly direction [ShopFloor, Chamber Post]
    • Recent academic conferences: “2009 National Forum on the Human Right to Housing” [Nov. 2009, Georgetown Law] “International and Comparative Law Review Symposium on the significance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” [Loyola L.A., Mar. 2010]
    • At whose expense? “UN General Assembly Invents a Right to Water and Sanitation” [GGW, BoingBoing]
    • Again, some survivors of U.S.S. Cole attack on U.S. military personnel sue government of Sudan [Jay Nordlinger/NRO "Corner", related paper by Elizabeth Bahr, George Mason]
    • Copying liberals’ homework, some anti-abortionists claim mantle of international human rights for their cause [NRO "Bench Memos," approvingly, via Ku/OJ]
    • “An Eminently Sound Approach to (Supposed) International Human Rights Norms, from the 9th Circuit” [Volokh]
    • What Keynes knew: after 92 years, Germany finally pays off the last Versailles reparations [Marian Tupy, Cato at Liberty]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/international-human-rights-roundup/feed/ 0     Ready, set, cringe http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/ready-set-cringe/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/ready-set-cringe/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:14:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19010 “US admits human rights shortcomings in UN report” [AP] Not to get too far ahead of the game, but the enthusiasm of legal academia for the international human rights movement is one of the major themes of my forthcoming Schools for Misrule, and the fruits of that movement — including the United Nations’ new “periodic review” procedure, by which it scrutinizes ours and other nations’ human rights records — figure prominently in the narrative.

    More: Michael Cannon at Cato notes that the Obama administration cited, as evidence of the nation’s human rights progress, its enactment of “legislation that threatens U.S. residents with prison if they fail to purchase health insurance.”

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/08/ready-set-cringe/feed/ 15     December 1 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/december-1-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/december-1-roundup/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:51:46 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14965
  • Hertz drops libel lawsuit against investor research outfit that claimed its solvency was at risk [Crain's New York, earlier]
  • Report: New Jersey blogger jailed for threats against federal judges was on FBI informant payroll [AP]
  • “Bentley Photos Are Props in Willie Gary’s High School Motivational Speech” [ABA Journal]
  • Australian personal injury lawyers evade ad ban [Sydney Morning Herald]
  • Scott Rothstein’s alleged Ponzi scheme “targeted people who invested in law suits” [Steele/Legal Ethics Forum] “Two Inside Looks at Rothstein’s Firm, Lifestyle” [Ambrogi/Legal Blog Watch]
  • O’Quinn driving nearly twice speed limit on rainy pavement at time of crash [Chron]
  • “Support for UN religious defamation rule drops” [Media Watch Watch] On the other hand? “Envoy’s Speech Signals Softening of U.S. Hostility to International Court” [AP]
  • Rudely titled new book on how to avoid getting sued [Instapundit]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/december-1-roundup/feed/ 0     “Troubling signals on free speech” http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/troubling-signals-on-free-speech/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/troubling-signals-on-free-speech/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:56:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14460 In “a little-publicized October 2 resolution … [the U.S.] State Department joined Islamic nations in adopting language all-too-friendly to censoring speech that some religions and races find offensive, notes Stuart Taylor, Jr.’s new column for National Journal. Legal academics, including some who have gone on to join the Obama Administration, have sketched out doctrines indicating “how the resolution could be construed to require prosecuting some offensive speech and how it could be used in the long run to change the meaning of our Constitution and laws… In my view, Obama should not take even a small step down the road toward bartering away our free-speech rights for the sake of international consensus.” More: Reason, Jonathan Turley/USA Today. And (h/t comments): A Monday statement by Secretary of State Clinton is being widely greeted as reaffirming a free-speech position, but Taylor is not convinced that it undoes the damage. Nor, it seems, are Eugene Volokh and Ilya Somin.

    P.S. What Rick Brookhiser told the Yale Political Union about that cartoonless Mohammed-cartoons book from Yale University Press [NRO] And here’s word that in the U.S., liberal church denominations will ask the FCC to probe conservative broadcasters [Jeffrey Lord/American Spectator]

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/troubling-signals-on-free-speech/feed/ 6     “Just say no to blasphemy laws” http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/just-say-no-to-blasphemy-laws/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/10/just-say-no-to-blasphemy-laws/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:28:54 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14379 “Perhaps in an effort to rehabilitate the United States’ image in the Muslim world, the Obama administration has joined a U.N. effort to restrict religious speech. This country should never sacrifice freedom of expression on the altar of religion.” [Jonathan Turley, USA Today via Balko; & welcome Above the Law readers]

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