Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Archive for March, 2012

Keep Cato independent

Last week it looked as if the Koch v. Cato lawsuit, which directly affects me as a Cato senior fellow, was going to be something I’d need to refrain from discussing lest I endanger the institute’s legal interests. But now Cato has now itself gone public with a Save Cato page laying out the case for its continued independence.

If you haven’t yet caught up with the furor, some places to start are (besides the earlier-linked Jonathan Adler, Don Boudreaux and Steve Chapman) David Boaz, the Charles Koch Foundation’s side, Alison Frankel/Reuters, Marie Gryphon, Trevor Burrus, Brink Lindsay, and Julian Sanchez. Among those who disagree with Cato’s point of view but value its independence are Ezra Klein, the Boston Globe, and numerous others.

I was a source for Katy Waldman’s Slate “Explainer” today on how think tanks work. Last fall I wrote an appreciation of the wonderful Bill Niskanen, who served for so long as Cato’s chairman.

I’ll soon have set up a page on the controversy, to be updated with new links. In the mean time there’s a Facebook group, and an account and hashtag on Twitter.

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Sacramento’s Bad Humor Man

Assemblyman William Monning (D-Carmel) wants to ban food trucks from parking anywhere near where schoolkids might be; under legislation he has proposed, they would need to keep even farther away from schools than medical marijuana dispensaries. Since schools dot the urban scene, a side effect would be to seriously curtail adult access to the trucks, which serve a large population of working adults and have lately found new popularity among foodies. [L.A. Times via Heather Mac Donald, Secular Right, earlier]

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Siccing FCPA on Murdoch?

The financial press has been speculating that the police-payoff scandal that has engulfed some of Rupert Murdoch’s British properties will provide fodder for a U.S. prosecution under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Alison Frankel, Reuters: “In an age of limited resources, I’m not convinced that our government should be bending and twisting the FCPA to make a case against News Corp, however sexy and high-profile that case would be. Remember, just about every FCPA case we’ve seen in the recent flurry of prosecutions has involved alleged bribes of officials in countries with inadequate anti-corruption enforcement systems.” More: Bainbridge.

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U.K.: “Mega pig-farm could breach human rights, council warned”

Creative application #95,724 of international human rights law: maybe it turns out to ban U.S.-style factory farming. Activists are urging the Derbyshire county council in England to deny planning permission to a large hog facility on the grounds that it violates local residents’ protected right to private and family life [Guardian]

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Speaking at Emory today

Atlanta readers: a reminder that I’ll be speaking today at 12:15PM at Emory Law School, 1301 Clifton Rd. The closest visitor parking is at the Emory Hospital (map). Also speaking will be Prof. George Shepherd, who’s written extensively on legal education and law and economics and is co-author of the interesting new paper, “Law Deans in Jail” (and you thought I was the one critical of law schools). The Federalist Society chapter is sponsoring.

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Herding home care workers into unions

In Illinois and other states, union-friendly governors have spearheaded efforts to redefine home care workers funded by state programs as public employees, the better to herd them into union representation. The upshot: persons who take care of their own family members in their homes, and accept checks from state programs designed to keep their loved ones out of nursing homes or other institutions, wind up being obliged to take on the status of employees (as distinct from contractors) and pay union dues, whether or not they are so inclined. Critics say the practice raises questions of freedom of association under the Bill of Rights, and the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled possible interest on the part of at least one justice by asking for additional information in the pending case of Harris v. Quinn. [Trevor Burrus, Cato; David Rivkin and Andrew Grossman, NRO; Ilya Shapiro and Trevor Burrus, Cato amicus brief]

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March 7 roundup

  • Ray LaHood’s forgotten predecessor: “How One Bureaucrat Almost Succeeded in Banning Car Radios” [Mike Riggs, Reason]
  • “Some Recent Nonsense on Freedom of Religion in the Times” [Paul Horwitz, Prawfs]
  • Choice of Ben Stein as speaker for ABA Tech Show raises eyebrows [Derek Bambauer, InfoLaw]
  • “Oblivion video game ‘Abomb” becomes federal lawsuit” [Abnormal Use]
  • Tort causation: “Probability for thee, mere possibility for me” [David Oliver]
  • Washington state says it won’t pay for “unnecessary” Medicaid ER visits. Can you see the unintended consequences coming? [White Coat]
  • Utah says family can’t fundraise for son’s legal defense without permit [Standard-Examiner via Balko]

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