Olympia, Wash.: “A community college says it’s the pride of their automotive technology program: a rare Dodge Viper donated to their school worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.” It’s believed to be the fourth one off the assembly line. But now Chrysler has “ordered the destruction of their entire educational Viper fleet.” It seems that while the prototypes were never meant to be driven on public roads, “two of them somehow got out and into accidents, costing Chrysler’s parent company millions of dollars.” Things might be different if our law respected a sale or other contractual agreement between Chrysler and the school as reason to release the manufacturer from a suit filed by an injured third party. But it doesn’t. Chrysler’s deadline for ordering the cars crushed has now passed; no word at present as to whether any of the cars have been reprieved or otherwise survived. [KING, AutoWeek, Tacoma News Tribune, Motor Trend]
Maryland roundup
- Prosecution for profit: False Claims Act, empowering private lawyers to sue businesses on behalf of the state and rake off 25 percent bounty for themselves, passes House of Delegates on near-party line vote [roll call, text, Chamber view, COST on tax-dispute angle]
- Senate votes 36-8 to decriminalize marijuana [Capital Gazette, WBAL] U-MD paper covers panel discussion I was on recently in College Park [Diamondback]
- Fiasco of state’s ObamaCare exchange continues to resonate [Petula Dvorak, WaPo; picking up and starting over; Geoffrey Norman, Weekly Standard]
- Cronyism in hospitality politics discourages the less well-connected [Vinny Sidhu, Point of Law]
- Committee kills proposed first-in-nation ban on sale of energy drinks to minors [CBS Baltimore, Assembly]
- Time to rein in Maryland’s license-plate-recognition surveillance system? [Capital News Service, earlier]
- Much lauded by politicos, Frederick Housing Authority-assisted “first net-zero energy neighborhood in the nation” flounders amid financial, legal, logistical setbacks [Frederick News-Post]
“How can you write about the Hobby Lobby case…”
“…without mentioning the Religious Freedom Restoration Act?” You can if you’re Jeffrey Toobin at the New Yorker, busy stroking your readers’ presumed ideological prejudices. [Ann Althouse, and followup on an unsatisfactory correction]
P.S. From Prof. Michael McConnell, a much better article.
“Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better”
Yesterday Yale Law professor emeritus Peter Schuck visited Cato to discuss his new book, and Arnold Kling commented, with me moderating. More about the book and its arguments is here, and a further note from Kling.
An editorial voice on forfeiture
Would that other newspapers were as forthright as calling for an end to “policing for profit” as the Grand Forks Herald. North Dakota is already considered to be one of the states that does best at curbing the abuse of civil forfeiture; adjoining Minnesota does less well.
Maryland vows eminent domain to seize “House of Cards”
Kind of like Venezuela with Old Bay seasoning: “Responding to a threat that the “House of Cards” television series may leave Maryland if it doesn’t get more tax credits, the House of Delegates adopted budget language Thursday requiring the state to seize the production company’s property if it stops filming in the state. … Del. William Frick, a Montgomery County Democrat, proposed the provision, which orders the state to use the right of eminent domain to buy or condemn the property of any company that has claimed $10 million or more credits against the state income tax. The provision would appear to apply only to the Netflix series, which has gotten the bulk of the state credits.” [Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, earlier citing David Boaz]
“Brady Campaign To Honor Yee For Violence Prevention”
That was in happier days, when California State Sen. Leland Yee was winning national applause for his gun-control efforts. Yesterday the San Jose Mercury-News reported:
In a stunning criminal complaint, State Sen. Leland Yee has been charged with conspiring to traffic in firearms and public corruption as part of a major FBI operation spanning the Bay Area. … Yee asked whether he wanted automatic weapons, and the agent confirmed he did — about $500,000 to $2.5 million worth.”
Is it time to retire our “Do as we say” tag yet? Eliot Spitzer got exposed after crusading for longer sentences for “johns.” Czars of alcohol-abuse programs keep getting nabbed on the road after having a half dozen too many. Rep. Bob Filner groped his way to the podium to chair hearings on women’s issues.
Now there’s this. Maybe Sen. Yee came down so hard on private gun dealers because he wanted to muscle into the business himself.
The entire criminal information, which beggars belief in its colorful detail (Chinese gangs, Russian arms runners, Muslim insurgents in the Philippines) is here, with highlights summarized by Scott Lucas of San Francisco magazine. The San Francisco Chronicle editorialized: “Few observers of San Francisco politics are surprised by [Yee’s] arrest on corruption charges.” Then there’s this sidelight: “Keith Jackson, accused by the FBI on Wednesday of being involved in a murder-for-hire scheme and a gun- and drug-trafficking conspiracy, was San Francisco’s top elected educator during the late 1990s.” [San Francisco Chronicle]
“Illinois Supreme Court Overturns Insane Recording Laws”
It is now legally safer to record Illinois public servants generally, as well as cops in particular, as they go about their public duties. [Timothy Geigner, TechDirt]
March 27 roundup
- “Stupid Warning Shows Up on Leprechaun Hat” [Lowering the Bar, California Prop 65]
- Lawyers eager to sue over Malaysia Air disaster but first someone has to find the plane [ABA Journal, Bloomberg]
- Among the many accomplishments of distinguished economist (and total mensch) Murray Weidenbaum: introduction of White House regulatory review [Thom Lambert, David Henderson, Russ Roberts]
- Quicker but not ultimately cheaper than an appeal: “Losing Plaintiff Hits Defendant With a Truck” [Lowering the Bar]
- Feds’ Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) mulls idea “that the government involve itself in the lives of obese people by sending them regular text messages.” [Baylen Linnekin]
- Posner: judge below “should have smelled a rat” on lawyer’s “shenanigans” [Alison Frankel/Reuters, ABA Journal]
- “Connecticut chimp attack victim seeks right to sue state” [Reuters, earlier]
Hobby Lobby oral argument
My Cato colleague Ilya Shapiro thinks it went well for the religious objectors. More: Lyle Denniston/SCOTUSBlog, transcript, earlier.