November 4 roundup

Brookings on “cash for clunkers”

“A new analysis from the Brookings Institution’s Ted Gayer and Emily Parker found that the program was fairly inefficient as economic stimulus and mostly pulled forward auto sales that would have happened anyway. It also cut greenhouse-gas emissions a bit — the equivalent of taking up to 5 million cars off the road for a year — but at a steep cost. … ‘In the event of a future economic recession,’ they conclude, ‘we would not recommend repeating the [Cash for Clunkers] program.'” [Brad Plumer, Washington Post; earlier]

Kansas: state sues sperm donor for child support

“A Kansas district court heard arguments [last] Friday in the case of a man who is being sued for thousands of dollars in child support by the state after donating his sperm to a same-sex couple he found through a Craigslist ad.” By law artificial insemination in Kansas requires a doctor’s supervision, but mechanic William Marotta instead relied on a private contract with the women who wanted his services, which the state argues cannot excuse him from parental responsibility. [NBC News]

Mount Holly Gardens: ‘Til we moot again

It looks as if someone really doesn’t want the Obama administration’s treasured but shaky “housing disparate impact” theory to come under review by the Supreme Court [Josh Blackman on reports of settlement mooting Mount Holly, N.J. case granted certiorari and pending before the Court; earlier on controversial tactics used to moot St. Paul case through settlement]

More: Piscataway v. Taxman also dropped off the Court’s docket via a mootness tactic. And shorter Doug Kendall/Constitutional Accountability Center: how dare PLF, Cato and IJ take the Court’s word on what the issue is in Mt. Holly? [Ilya Shapiro]

International human rights roundup