Numerous proposals abound to extend the right to vote to children of any age. Micah Schwartzman thinks it’s a questionable idea, but stops short of condemning it entirely. He asks:
Place yourself in the original position and ask: if I didn?t know how old I would be when the veil is lifted, what principles of political representation would I favor? One-(adult) person, one vote?
Is litigation weakening American Culture? Kevin McGuiness says no (see update) but Senator Mitch McConnell says yes. (Via Southern Appeal)
(Registration Required): Citizens of Riverside are considering suing because the OC called them “White Trash” but Eugene Volokh thinks that they have no chance.
…tell us what he thinks about California’s bounty-hunting s. 17200 law? Timothy Sandefur wonders (Aug. 27)(see Jul. 28, Aug. 4, Jul. 22). And the Manhattan Institute (with which our editor is affiliated) has just published the proceedings of an Oct. 24, 2002 conference on state unfair competition statutes, of which California’s s. 17200 is perhaps the most extreme. Among the conferees: prominent attorneys Sheila Birnbaum and Elizabeth Cabraser, Duke law prof Francis McGovern, and Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel president Robert V. Dewey, Jr. Our editor moderated a panel (“Unfair Competition and Consumer Fraud Statutes: Recipe for Consumer Fraud Prevention or Fraud on the Consumer?“)(PDF)
Ethics-challenged former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli is back in business: “A federal judge who was appointed to the bench after being recommended by Mr. Torricelli has assigned him as special master of an environmental cleanup site in Jersey City, a position that allows him to control millions of dollars in contracts and collect an estimated $500,000 a year in administrative fees.” (David Kocieniewski, “Hardly in Disgrace, Torricelli Emerges as a Trenton Power”, New York Times, Aug. 26). Julian Sanchez at Reason “Hit & Run” comments.
“A lawyer’s attempt to save a time-barred malpractice suit by wrapping it up as a federal RICO and civil rights case has drawn an unorthodox sanction [under federal Rule 11]: Rather than dock the lawyer for fees, the judge ordered him to take courses in federal practice and procedure, professionalism and legal ethics.” We still prefer fees, though (Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal, Aug. 26).
Illinois has passed a new dog law, which seems like a really complicated solution to a fairly simple problem.
Nick Tarasen of “Chicago Report” explains (pretty convincingly) why he thinks that the law is a bad idea.
Col. Kassem Saleh has apparently been making himself a little too popular with the ladies. It’s a fascinating question of whether one can get in trouble for “just talking” if one didn’t actually engage in any harassment at all. Indeed, the women seem to be complaining that they wanted more Saleh, not less.
The Curmudgeonly Clerk has laudably detailed (if slightly disturbing) coverage of the case of Municipal Judge Charles Maestas, convicted of exchanging reduced sentences for sexual favors. The CNN report is available here.