National Lawyers Convention, Nov. 12-14 in DC

Let me whole-heartedly recommend the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention coming up in November. The list of speakers–including Justice Alito, Judge Douglas Ginsburg, Judge Frank Easterbrook, former Judge McConnell, Judge Edith Jones, Richard Epstein, and on and on–is all you need to know, and the panels are designed to provide debate on the issues, including affirmative action, preemption, and bailouts. I learn something with every panel I attend. It’s not just for Federalists, and is perhaps the most entertaining source of CLE credit out there.

September 17 roundup

CPSIA: WSJ reactions

My Monday piece in the Wall Street Journal on the many failings of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act drew links and reactions from Holly Jahangiri, Jonathan Adler at Volokh (including an interesting, if not particularly CPSIA-related, commenter anecdote about old books and library guidelines), Peter Reynolds/Return Play to Kids, Katherine Mangu-Ward/Reason “Hit and Run”, Carter Wood/ShopFloor, Bookworm Room, and Hans Bader/CEI “Open Market”. The WSJ comments also include one from Bill Upton of Ann Arbor, Michigan which includes the following disturbing assertion: “The CPSC has ruled that the paper, internal bindings and standard inks in [post-1985] children’s books are safe, but other standard components, including the top-coatings used to protect the vast majority of book covers, still don’t have a green light.”

Handing med-mal reform over to Sebelius

HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius, now detailed as Obama administration point person in charge of the demonstration projects on liability reform, spent eight years as executive director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association: “I think I’m just the person to do it because I think I understand the system of litigation very well.” Mary Katherine Ham: “Indeed, as I’ve consistently said, the fox is uniquely qualified to guard the henhouse, because he understands the delicious taste of poultry very well.”

Around the web, September 16