“The family of a man who claimed his lung-cancer death was caused by asbestos exposure was awarded $12.5 million by a Manhattan jury — despite the fact that he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.” Defendant Caterpillar Tractor probably won’t be on the hook for the full amount since the jury found the late George Cooney, a New Jersey resident, partly responsible for his own injury. [New York Post]
Clint Bolick on state constitutions
Some state constitutions predate the U.S. Constitution, and many provide broader protection for individual rights and tougher constraints on government action than does the federal document. Aside from differently worded provisions on such matters as takings for public use and firearms liberty, for example, some states have “gift clauses” in their constitutions that have been interpreted to prohibit corporate subsidies, or clauses prohibiting legislation meant to advance parochial or local interests alone. Justice Clint Bolick of the Arizona Supreme Court speaks with Cato’s Caleb Brown on the possibilities for using these state constitutional provisions to advance liberty.
Related: Eugene Volokh discusses “Originalism: The Primary Canon of State Constitutional Interpretation,” a new article by Jeremy M. Christiansen.
Workplace roundup
- Following election results, lawprofs’ idea of persuading SCOTUS to kill state right-to-work laws is looking kinda dead [James Sherk, National Review] Sixth Circuit panel, reversing decision below, says law authorizes Kentucky counties to enact county-wide right-to-work statutes [Lexington Herald-Leader]
- “Congressional Budget Office: Canceling overtime rule would boost family earnings” [Sean Higgins, Washington Examiner]
- “Another Lesson from Bastiat: So-Called Employment Protection Legislation Is Bad News for Workers” [Daniel Mitchell, Cato citing NBER working paper by Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez, and Jacques Mairesse]
- Claim: lawmakers can “give” private employees paid parental leave and “there’s no added cost to employers” [Kate Ryan, WTOP citing views of Montgomery County, Maryland council member Tom Hucker]
- All California janitors must now take training against sexual harassment, on rationale of preventing rape [L.A. Times]
- A “complicated, highly regulated industry”: “Why Are Companies Abandoning On-Site Day Care?” [Rebecca Greenfield, Bloomberg] And: “Childcare costs skyrocket after minimum wage hike passes” [Alyssa Donovan, KXLY; Spokane, Wash.]
Prosecutors: “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak got secret cut of Illinois tobacco fees
The great tobacco settlement of the 1990s certainly is the scandal that keeps on giving, isn’t it? “On Tuesday, federal prosecutors…. charged that [influential former Chicago alderman Edward] Vrdolyak worked out a secret deal with other attorneys to collect as much as $65 million even though he’d done no work on the tobacco case [for the state of Illinois]. The indictment did not make clear just how much the former alderman actually pocketed. … The [Seattle-based Hagens Berman] firm has denied any attempt to conceal payments.” [Chicago Tribune]
By the time my book The Rule of Lawyers came out in its 2004 softcover edition, enough was known about the multistate tobacco settlement for me to call it a “gigantic heist.” More stories have emerged since then. How many more still haven’t come to light?
Can Congress compel states to ban things?
The Supreme Court’s “anti-commandeering” doctrine holds that the federal government lacks authority under the Constitution simply to order state governments to implement federal programs or act affirmatively in other ways. Did Congress overstep this bound when it enacted the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), a federal statute that with some exceptions forbids states to “authorize” sports gambling “by law”? That question has come up in a case in which New Jersey sought to repeal some of its old gambling laws. [Ilya Shapiro and David McDonald on Cato’s amicus brief participation supporting New Jersey’s petition for Supreme Court review in Christie v. NCAA et al.]
“RSPCA should be stripped of prosecution powers, say MPs”
Discontents of privatized prosecution: “The RSPCA should be stripped of its powers to routinely prosecute animal welfare cases, according to MPs.
The Commons environment committee said there was a “conflict of interest” between the charity’s power to prosecute and its role in investigating cases, campaigning and fundraising…. Evidence heard included testimony from the Self-Help Group (SHG) for farmers, pet owners and others experiencing difficulties with the RSPCA which said some people felt alienated by the charity’s ‘targeting of vulnerable, ill or elderly people” and the removal of their animals.'” [BBC]
Higher education roundup
- Colleagues demand Oregon law prof resign over Hallowe’en costume [Paul Caron/TaxProf; Eugene Volokh (“We have reached a bad and dangerous place in American life, and in American university life in particular.”)] Title IX and expression: “What the feds have done to colleges and schools” [Hans Bader, Minding the Campus]
- Institutional review boards (IRBs) “as a rule are incredibly difficult to study…. There is no public record of their decision or deliberations, they don’t, as a rule, invite scrutiny or allow themselves to be observed.” [Dr. Steven Joffe quoted by Tyler Cowen]
- “An emphasis on intersectionality”: mandatory diversity course for first-years at AU now has course description [earlier] “U-M’s New ‘Chief Diversity Officer’ Will Collect $385,000 per Year” [Derek Draplin, Michigan Capitol Confidential]
- “Plaintiffs’ Bar Steps Up Profitable False Claims Act Assault on Higher Education” [U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform]
- Notwithstanding initial wave of critical coverage, Will Creeley says PEN report on campus speech is actually pretty good [FIRE] “Student group at Cal State Northridge boasts of ‘shutting down’ speech by award-winning scholar” [Volokh; Armenian students vs. Ataturk lecture]
- On question whether universities must treat student athletes as employees, NLRB “may be battling for field position” with future ruling in mind [Brennan Bolt, McGuire Woods]
Police roundup
- The stalker wore a badge: AP finds mass abuse by police of non-public databases to check out romantic interests, celebrities, journalists;
- Union-backed bill: “Pennsylvania lawmakers approve ban on naming officers in shootings” [Philadelphia Daily News]
- How Chicago’s FOP shapes coverage of police shootings [Chicago Reader] Reason coverage of police unions here, here (Cleveland demand to stop open carry), here (union contracts restrict oversight), etc.
- Inside the Chicago Police Department’s secret budget of millions a year from seizures and forfeitures [Chicago Reader]
- Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith about force’s use of dragnet of social media information about citizens: “The only people that have anything to fear about anything being monitored are those that are criminals and attempting to commit criminal acts.” Yes, that’s really what Smith said [Alison Knezevich/Baltimore Sun; in sequel, social media companies rescind access to the Geofeedia service]
- “It ought to be possible to terminate cops short of criminal convictions for incidents like that involving [Freddie] Gray’s” [Ed Krayewski]
The powers of the U.S. Department of Justice
The U.S. Department of Justice, taken all in all, is the most dangerous of the domestic agencies. Whichever presidential candidate won — in this case Donald J. Trump — stood to “inherit extremely broad powers that are subject to no meaningful oversight by the other two branches.” [Elias Groll, Foreign Policy]
November 16 roundup
- With U.S. international adoption already down 75 percent, proposed State Department regulations could choke off much of remainder [SaveAdoptions.org, Jayme Metzgar/Federalist, National Council for Adoption]
- Baltimore police surveillance, redistricting, teacher’s union holidays: after a hiatus I’ve resumed Maryland policy roundups at Free State Notes;
- Facebook potluck group was being monitored: “Single Mother Facing Prison for Selling Homemade Mexican Dish to Undercover Cop” [Robby Soave]
- Brad Avakian, tormentor of small businesspeople under Oregon discrimination law, loses Secretary of State bid [Victoria Taft, IJR]
- Shipping & Transit LLC: “America’s Biggest Filer of Patent Suits Wants You to Know It Invented Shipping Notification” [Ruth Simon and Loretta Chao, WSJ] “Stupid Patent of the Month: Changing the Channel” [Daniel Nazer, EFF]