Supreme Court roundup

Mostly Cato links:

Today, Monday afternoon: Ilya Shapiro and John Paul Schnapper-Casteras preview Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission from different perspectives on eve of oral argument, Roger Pilon moderating [watch online, earlier] Why, on cakeshop case, “it won’t surprise me if the court comes up with something a little muddled and a little bit hard to read” [Chris Johnson, Washington Blade, quotes me] More: George Will (cakes are not expression; but while couple who sued cake-baker “might be feeling virtuous for having done so… siccing the government on him was nasty.”);
“Christie v. NCAA: Anti-Commandeering or Bust” [Jonathan Wood and Shapiro, earlier here and here] “Supreme Court’s Sports Betting Case Could Redefine Relationship between Feds and States” [Shapiro]
Federal courts were politicized before the Federalist Society came along, and promoting the cause of textualism helps de-politicize them [Roger Pilon]
SCOTUS should use Janus v. AFSCME to recognize public employees’ First Amendment rights against forced union agency fees [Shapiro, Trevor Burrus, and Aaron Barnes] More: Shapiro and Frank Garrison, National Review; Cato Podcast with Jacob Huebert and Caleb Brown;
Silvester v. Becerra: Ninth Circuit errs on individual gun rights, SCOTUS should correct [Shapiro and Matthew LaRosiere]
Assuming patents = property, structure of Patent Trial and Appeal Board may flunk constitutionally required norms of judicial independence [Shapiro and Barnes on Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC; Federalist Society panel video with Gregory Dolin, John Duffy, Arti Ray, and Robert Greene Sterne; Jeffri Kaminski, WLF]
Collins v. Virginia gives Court a chance to protect the integrity of the home against warrantless searches [Jay Schweikert] And mark Dec. 13 for the 2017 Cato Surveillance Conference;
Extending Commerce Clause to prairie dogs gnaws at constitutional principle [Shapiro, Burrus, and Reilly Stephens on Cato amicus brief urging certiorari in PETPO v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Jacob Sullum]

Filed under: Cato Institute, Fourth Amendment, guns, patent law, Supreme Court, surveillance

For Long Island prosecutors, a merry forfeiture feast

“Prosecutors in Suffolk County, New York gave themselves $3.25 million in bonuses — from the asset forfeiture fund, of course.” [David Schwartz, Newsday]

P.S. Wyoming highway cops seized $91,800 from motorist Phil Parhamovich, claiming he gave it to them voluntarily; shortly after the Institute for Justice launched a national publicity campaign on the musician’s behalf, a judge reversed the seizure and ordered the money returned [Jacob Sullum/Reason, AP/Chicago Tribune] And a curious defense of the practice from a high Justice Department official [Tim Cushing, TechDirt (“DOJ: Civil Asset Forfeiture Is A Good Thing That Only Harms All Those Criminals We Never Arrest”)]

Filed under: forfeiture, Long Island, Wyoming

Peter Angelos wants a special law for his asbestos lawsuits again

Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos has often succeeded at moving special “Angelos bills” through the Maryland legislature. Will Annapolis lawmakers do his bidding again next year? [Daniel Fisher, Legal NewsLine/Forbes]

Filed under: asbestos, Maryland

“NFL concussion case: Can MDL judges police plaintiffs’ funding deals?”

“The $1 billion settlement of traumatic brain injury claims by retired NFL players is shaping up to be an important test of judicial power to regulate contracts between plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation and outside legal funders.” [Alison Frankel, Reuters]

Filed under: football, litigation finance

New FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy at DoJ

The Department of Justice has announced a new corporate enforcement policy for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; it doesn’t go nearly as far as compliance lawyers and critics of the FCPA might have wanted, though. Commentary by Mike Koehler (“FCPA Professor”) here, here, and here (FAQ). More: Federalist Society podcast discussion with John C. Richter and George J. Terwilliger.

Filed under: Department of Justice, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Verdict in Kate Steinle case

Why a San Francisco jury might have found reasonable doubt in the widely publicized prosecution of an illegal immigrant over a young woman’s death. [Sarah Rumpf, RedState]

Filed under: crime and punishment, guns, San Francisco

FDA-compliant Kinder egg will reach US shores

The original, much-smuggled chocolate Kinder Surprise will still not be allowed legally into America; the Kinder Joy is a different egg-shaped product which splits apart into two half-shells, one with a toy and one with candy [Aly Walansky, Today, earlier]

Filed under: Christmas and other holidays, FDA, food safety

Schools roundup

Despite withdrawal of Obama-era guidance on Title IX and discipline, many colleges sticking so far to its prescriptions [Ashe Schow, Real Clear Investigations] GW Federalist Society debate with Stuart Taylor, Jr. vs. Wendy Murphy, moderated by Renee Lettow Lerner [video] And don’t forget next Tuesday’s Cato event at which I’ll host journalist Emily Yoffe discussing her blockbuster Atlantic series on this subject, with Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post commenting [watch online or register to attend]
Feds have no business coercing school districts into race-based discipline policies. Time for DeVos to act to rescind Obama guidance [Max Eden, National Review; related, Jerome Woehrle, Liberty Unyielding (on Hans Bader’s work), Dave Huber, The College Fix (Minnesota)] “Racial disciplinary quotas violate equity in its root sense. They entail either systematically overpunishing the innocent or systematically underpunishing the guilty. They place race at war with justice.” [Posner, chief judge, in People Who Care v. Rockford Board of Education, 111 F.3d 528 (7th Cir. 1997);
Oxford grad sues university over “disappointing” exam grades nearly twenty years ago, blighted his hopes of Harvard Law [Kaye Wiggins, Bloomberg]
Ford Foundation, teachers’ unions back new group that will sue schools, states, feds on civil rights issues [Michael Stratford, Politico, third item]
For kids to be sent off to English-language boarding schools did ruinous harm to American Indian communities, right? Testing the conventional account [Matthew T. Gregg, Journal of Development Economics via Tyler Cowen]
Lenore Skenazy of Free-Range Kids fame has a new nonprofit taking it the next step [Let Grow]

Filed under: Indian tribes, school discipline, schools, Title IX

The quotable Eliot Spitzer

Go ahead, Mr. Former Governor. Sound like Ayn Rand. We won’t mind. I explain at Cato at Liberty.

Filed under: Eliot Spitzer, WO writings

Google de-ranking and Washington pressure

After Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California pressured its general counsel at a hearing, Google de-ranked the Russian state media enterprise RT in its search results. As a private company, Google would have been within its rights to arrive at such a decision for reasons of its own. But for it to do so in response to government pressure, as appears to have happened here, poses very real First Amendment problems [John Samples, Cato]

Filed under: First Amendment, Google, Russia, search engines