Archive for 2015

“Why Some Male Members of Congress Won’t Be Alone with Female Staffers”

Fearful of allegations of harassment or other impropriety, some male bosses on Capitol Hill have a policy against taking 1-on-1 closed-door meetings with female staffers, which of course itself probably makes it harder for women to advance and may be illegal. [Sarah Mimms, National Journal] Possibly there is legal safety to be had in not taking one-on-one meetings — or evening events, or travel — with staffers of any gender. Or, like up-to-date cops, maybe they could wear body cameras.

Note also: this 2013 Overlawyered post about a lawsuit charging that an “anti-fraternization” policy at a Texas law firm impeded mentorships and advancement for women, and this 2000 post (scroll to Nov. 1) quoting a New Jersey lawyer: “I have not seen a female client unescorted after-hours since this incident and probably never will again.”

P.S. Catherine Rampell at the Washington Post takes as usual a line at variance with the one presented here (via Amy Alkon: “Feminism Built That!” with reader comments) Note how Rampell presents absurd (A) and (B) rationales for the no-closed-door practice without for a moment considering a third rationale, namely (C) the possibility that different interpretations or understandings of the same words or events will generate career-ending disputes and allegations. Because that never happens, right?

Filed under: harassment law, sex discrimination, sued if you do

California AG Kamala Harris demands donor list of a 501 (c) (3)

That raises the possibility of later disclosure of the information, retaliation against donors, or both; whether it’s unusual enough for the U.S. Supreme Court to step in to stop it remains to be seen. Harris’s target and adversary in the resulting suit, by coincidence or otherwise, is the “Center for Competitive Politics, a vigorous supporter of political free-speech rights that does not get involved in election campaigns” but does speak out strongly about the First Amendment implications of campaign regulation; we’ve often cited its work and that of its founder, Brad Smith. [Lyle Denniston, SCOTUSBlog; Instapundit, citing “Supreme Court’s 1958 decision in NAACP v. Alabama, in which the Court unanimously protected the NAACP’s membership lists against compelled disclosure to Alabama officials.”]

Filed under: California, campaign regulation, Kamala Harris, Supreme Court

New books roundup

Widely discussed new Charles Murray book, By the People: Rebuilding Liberty without Permission, includes extensive discussion of failures of law and litigation system [Carlos Lozada WaPo review, Cato’s Letter, podcast and related post, J.D. Tuccille/Reason]
Rare and welcome book-length work on state attorneys general, Paul Nolette’s Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and National Policymaking in Contemporary America, I’ll have more to say about it in due course [Liberty and Law, discussion with author]
The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom by my Cato colleague David Boaz, a revised and updated edition of his earlier Libertarianism: A Primer, includes chapter on law and the constitution as well as much related discussion; boasts blurbs from John Mackey, Peter Thiel, and Richard Epstein;
Arnold Kling on Political Realism, new free e-book from Jonathan Rauch; also, Kling reviews a recent talk at Cato by Michael Shermer on his book The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom;
“We will fight for a fair contract!” proclaimed then-N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine to government workers, neat trick if you accept assumption that he was on opposite side of negotiating table from them [Michael Toth on new Daniel DiSalvo book on public sector unionism, Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences]
In the mail: Akhil Amar, The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic, on how the idiosyncrasies of particular states, regions, and localities have shaped our understanding of the U.S. Constitution;
And: Jay Cost, A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of American Political Corruption [related Cato event]
And: Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Jared Meyer, Disinherited: How Washington Is Betraying America’s Young;
And: Jack C. Fisher, Silicone on Trial: Breast Implants and the Politics of Risk [Sager Group]

Filed under: attorneys general, Cato Institute, constitutional law, New Jersey, public employment, silicone breast implants

Al Sharpton’s daughter, suing NYC from high places

“Dominique Sharpton posted pictures to Instagram showing she completed a difficult mountain climb in Bali, Indonesia — even though her suit says that ‘she still suffers’ debilitating pain after twisting her ankle in a street crack in Soho last year.” [New York Post and more (“Al Sharpton’s daughter sues city for $5M after spraining ankle”)]

Filed under: celebrities, NYC, roads and streets, slip and fall

Obama curtails police military surplus program

What, no more free surplus bayonets and grenade launchers? Radley Balko:

According to NBC News, the new policy will stop “tanks and other tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, firearms and ammunition measuring .50-caliber and larger, grenade launchers and bayonets” from being given to local police agencies.

Additionally, the new policy would attach some restrictions and conditions to the transfer of other equipment, “including armored tactical vehicles like those used in Ferguson, as well as many types of firearms, ammunition and explosives.” These restrictions include requiring the agencies to present “a clear and persuasive explanation of the need for the controlled equipment,” adopt community-oriented policing strategies, agree to “close federal oversight and monitoring overseen by a new federal agency with the power to conduct local compliance reviews,” train officers who will be using the gear, and keep data on how the equipment is used and with what results.

A spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police has already promised to fight the plan. Despite the changes to the 1033 surplus program, so far as I can tell, municipalities and states will remain perfectly free to purchase most of the named categories of equipment; they’ll just have to do so on the open market with their own money. Of course, once they are constrained to weigh such purchases against other uses of public funds, most will probably have little interest in doing so — which is part of the point we critics have been making.

Radley Balko himself deserves applause for having led the way on the issue of police militarization, both when he was at the Cato Institute and more recently as an independent reporter and Washington Post commentator, above all in his book Rise of the Warrior Cop. More of his work on the issue at Cato’s Letter (2013), at this video, and in a white paper on paramilitary police raids, as well as a general link to Cato’s work on the subject by many authors. I’ve covered the subject in many posts here and elsewhere, as well as in a podcast.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Cato Institute, police

Labor and employment roundup

NLRB ruling: calling one’s boss “nasty m___f___” can be protected labor advocacy for which dismissal is unlawful [Pier Sixty LLC; Michael Schmidt, Cozen O’Connor, Jon Hyman]
“Declining Desire to Work and Downward Trends in Unemployment and Participation” [Tyler Cowen]
Public sector union negotiations need sunlight [Trey Kovacs, Workplace Choice]
“Is Non-Pregnancy a BFOQ [Bona Fide Occupational Qualification] for Exotic Dancers?” [Philip K. Miles III, Lawffice Space]
“EEOC Issues Long-Awaited Wellness Program Rules” [Daniel Schwartz]
Following New York Times investigation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo cracks down on employment at nail salons, and that will hurt immigrant workers [Alex Nowrasteh, New York Post; Elizabeth Nolan Brown/Reason and more, New York Times “Room for Debate”]
President Obama keeps promoting myths about Lilly Ledbetter case [Hans Bader, CEI; Glenn Kessler, Washington Post; earlier]

Filed under: Andrew Cuomo, EEOC, immigration law, labor unions, Lilly Ledbetter, National Labor Relations Board, public employment

“Have you counseled her about smoking cessation?”

An emergency physician’s take on electronic medical records [Philip Allen Green, The Health Care Blog via Coyote]

Filed under: emergency medicine, medical

“Texas Supreme Court: No tort liability for intentional misuse of a Genie lift”

In a case combining intentional product misuse, obviousness of risk, and extensive warnings, the Texas high court declines to look for some exception you could drive an aerial work platform through [Deborah LaFetra, Pacific Legal Foundation]

Filed under: personal responsibility, product liability, Texas

Schools roundup

Compulsory chapel (as you might call it) returns to British university life, this time in hopes of extirpating “lad culture” [Brendan O’Neill]
“Environmental history errors in a high school textbook” [Jonathan Adler] “Teachers’ union propaganda is creeping into California’s public school curricula.” [Larry Sand, City Journal]
University of Texas scandal included “attempt to get UT Regent…indicted for doing the work a regent is supposed to do” [Dallas Morning News] FERPA privacy angle: “UT-Austin Slapped Down for Withholding Docs in Admissions Scandal” [Greg Piper, The College Fix]
A proposal for reining in Rule By Dear Colleague Letter at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights [Mike Rappaport/Liberty and Law, earlier, more from Michael Greve]
Not a parody: “Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’… contains triggering and offensive material” [Columbia Daily Spectator, Legal Insurrection] “A new age of campus censorship” [Greg Lukianoff (FIRE), Minding the Campus]
“The statement is suggesting that, in CAIR’s view, ‘anti-Muslim speakers’ may already violate campus speech codes” [Volokh]
Quit giving your kid such a good start in life: two academics pursue egalitarian premises to their joyless conclusion [J.D. Tuccille, Crooked Timber riposte via A. Barton Hinkle, James Devereaux/Reasoned Liberty, Damon Root (on banning private schools)]

Filed under: colleges and universities, environment, schools, Texas

NYC taxi commission: we want to preclear ride apps

The Taxi and Limousine Commission of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s New York City administration plans to introduce rules that would fine anyone offering to city residents a taxi smartphone app or update that the commission had not preapproved. Web guys: you’re kidding, right? “We are gravely concerned by the unprecedented decision to subject software available around the world to pre-release review by a city agency” that is itself without expertise in software design, according to the letter, which is signed by Facebook, Google, Twitter, eBay and many other familiar names. [Fox NY, Internet Association letter of distress]

Filed under: cellphones, NYC, taxis and ridesharing