Looking for “a sustained, systematic constitutional violation to get outraged about?” Try civil commitment laws [David Post; Cato Unbound symposium]
After an anti-gun suit fails, who should pay?
The gun-control Brady Center put a grieving family up to a meritless suit over the Aurora, Colo. theater shooting. Will it leave them high and dry now, following a predictable award of court costs? [Bearing Arms, Reuters Legal Solutions Blog, Knoxville News, earlier]
Criminal charges against Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane
We’ve covered her travails ethical and otherwise, and now she’s facing charges of “obstructing administration of law or other government function, official oppression, criminal conspiracy, perjury and false swearing.” [PAPolitics.com; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; Wallace McKelvey, Harrisburg Patriot-News] At Philadelphia Magazine, Patrick Kerkstra recalls the sugary treatment Kane was getting from the press, including himself, as recently as 2013.
Republican debate observations
“Cross-examination is the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth,” a great legal scholar once wrote. Fox News proved it — and generated a superior, entertaining debate — by aiming genuinely hard, personalized questions at the Republican front-runners. We know more now about which candidates are heedless of liberty and the U.S. Constitution, ill-prepared or inconsistent. Would that the press were this tough on all candidates.
I live-tweeted it last night and here are a few highlights, in earliest-to-latest chronological order:
Hmm. RT @cmoraff Carly Fiorina wants tech companies to be nicer to Feds who want to snoop around your data. http://t.co/ZLrdmQXvTu #cato2016
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) August 6, 2015
"The Fourth Amendment is what we fought the Revolution for." Rand Paul vs. Chris Christie, a compelling exchange. #cato2016 #gopdebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) August 7, 2015
.@RandPaul: We fought the American Revolution for the Fourth Amendment. Get a warrant. #Cato2016
— David Boaz (@David_Boaz) August 7, 2015
Trump made a good point about expensive, anticompetitive system of penning health insurance within state lines #cato2016 #gopdebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) August 7, 2015
"We need to repeal Dodd-Frank." @marcorubio, grabbing an effective @carlyfiorina theme, cites effect on small banks #cato2016 #gopdebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) August 7, 2015
Sorry, but @RandPaul gave a misleading account of the Houston pastors' subpoena. My 2 cents: http://t.co/iNR1u06Q3w #Cato2016 #GOPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) August 7, 2015
Contra @marcorubio & Huckabee, Antonin Scalia in 2008: "of course" Const does not ban abortion http://t.co/s4h8Yznr9C #cato2016 #GOPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) August 7, 2015
More 140-character commentary on the debates, including the one earlier this week, at this link. And more from Cato colleagues.
Environment roundup
- Good news: U.S. honeybee colonies hit a 20-year high [Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post “WonkBlog”; Shawn Regan, PERC]
- “News Flash: Sitting on a drilling permit for 29 years constitutes ‘unreasonable delay’” [Jonathan Adler]
- Forget it, Seattle kayakers: “Local environmental activists don’t get to make federal policy” [Aaron Renn, L.A. Times]
- Alienating some old friends, Prof. Laurence Tribe says the Constitution doesn’t just let the President make up new law on climate regulation [New York mag]
- Emily Washington on the long, failed history of progressive urban housing policies [Market Urbanism]
- Court in Netherlands orders government to reduce carbon emissions [John Dernbach, American College of Environmental Lawyers]
- If you missed the much-discussed William Saletan piece on GMOs, here it is [Slate; Jon Entine, Genetic Literacy Project]
Here comes a NLRB move to unionize temps
The ever-busy-these-days National Labor Relations Board “invited interested parties to submit amicus briefs in Miller & Anderson, Inc. in connection with the Board’s reexamination of critical issues affecting the ability of unions to organize employees employed by temporary and staffing agencies (‘temporary employees’) in the same bargaining units as employees of an employer that supplements its direct workforce with temporary employees.” [Steven Swirsky/Epstein Becker & Green, Marc Jacobs/Seyfarth Shaw]
You’re too attractive, that’s it. You’re an attractive nuisance
“Calais, France to sue Britain for being a magnet for migrants that are destroying Calais before they cross channel.” [Associated Press]
Free speech roundup
- “Denver DA charges man with tampering for handing out jury nullification flyers” [Denver Post, earlier New York case covered here, here, here, etc.] More: Tim Lynch, Cato.
- Occupational licensure vs. the First Amendment: Texas regulators seek to shutter doc’s veterinary advice website [Ilya Shapiro, Cato]
- Fired for waving rebel flag? Unlikely to raise a First Amendment issue unless you work for the government, or it twisted your employer’s arm [Huntsville (Ala.) Times, Daniel Schwartz]
- “Twitter joke thieves are getting DMCA takedowns” [BoingBoing]
- A reminder of Gawker’s jaw-droppingly bad stuff on freedom of speech (“Arrest Climate Change Deniers”) [Coyote, related]
- Canadian lawyer/journalist Ezra Levant facing discipline proceeding “for being disrespectful towards a government agency” [Financial Post, earlier]
- “‘Shouting fire in a theater’: The life and times of constitutional law’s most enduring analogy” [Carlton Larson via Eugene Volokh, also Christopher Hitchens on the analogy]
“Fox Sports trample[d] my religious liberty” by withholding TV gig
Football analyst Craig James, who is filing a federal lawsuit in Dallas, claims that “Fox Sports trample[d] my religious liberty” by not giving him further work as a TV commentator after a single appearance — he “had yet to sign a contract” — after it became aware that he had said controversial things while running for the U.S. Senate seat from Texas ultimately won by Ted Cruz. [Washington Post, Feb. 2014 Dallas News] James is now affiliated with the Family Research Council, where his biography notes: “Craig is known for his ability to see an opportunity and for his relentless pursuit of uncovering every rock to make sure he knows the deal before he buys it.”
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” as intellectual property study
“In the courtroom, the quiet courtroom, the lawsuit slept for decades.” Mark Steyn on “the biggest hit ever to come out of Africa – and why its author never reaped the benefits,” with attention to the cultural appropriations of Pete Seeger et al. Earlier on unrelated litigation over one American cover of “Lion,” which figured in Ted Frank’s popular post, “The Overlawyered IMix.”