Confidentiality rules vs. union ambitions: “A new rule that the Obama administration is trying to enact in Washington would require employers to report all contracts with lawyers or consulting firms involved in labor relations — including how much they’re being paid — regardless of what kind of work they’re doing for a particular client.” [Daniel Fisher, Forbes]
Attacks on an independent judiciary
Yuba City bribes George Louie to go away
The Northern California municipality will pay notorious serial ADA filer George Louie $15,000 in exchange for which he promises not to sue any more businesses within town limits, and drop current suits in that category. Of course he’ll go elsewhere instead. [CBS Sacramento, Sacramento Bee, Lowering the Bar] On Louie’s background, see this 2003 post.
“Free Online Education Is Now Illegal in Minnesota”
Will Oremus, Slate: “The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the state has decided to crack down on free education, notifying California-based startup Coursera that it is not allowed to offer its online courses to the state’s residents.”
I’d draw some instructive moral from this regulatory train wreck, but better not: if my Minnesota readers found my comments to be educational, we might all get in trouble. Update: Minnesota backs off (h/t Gitarcarver and others)
International law roundup
- Pregaming U.S. v. Bond, case where SCOTUS could revisit Missouri v. Holland treaty-power doctrine [Duncan Hollis, OJ, earlier here, etc.]
- Military drones and international law: for professor-turned-State-official Koh, the dish is crow [Ku/OJ]
- “Another UN Push for Global Taxation” [Dan Mitchell, Cato at Liberty]
- “Free speech is a gift given to us in 1948 by U.N. officials? Who knew?” [Mark Steyn, NRO]
- Lago Agrio, Ecuador saga: “Chevron claims Patton Boggs tried to cover up a fraud” [Roger Parloff, Fortune]
- New Kenneth Anderson book, “Living with the U.N.” [Hoover Institute Press]
- FCPA: “Foreign Firms Most Affected by a U.S. Law Barring Bribes” [New York Times]
Feds’ scheme: have cops peer down into cars from overpasses
Politico quotes me on the latest harebrained idea from the U.S. Department of Transportation, known for Secretary Ray LaHood’s crusade against “distracted driving”:
Olson called the idea that law enforcement would be focused on using spotters perched atop overpasses “creepy” and suggested it turns police officers into “peeping toms.”
“We drive under [overpasses], so it’s not a perfect expectation of privacy; but if we saw someone staring down and hoping to look into our laps, we’d think of them as creepy,” Olson said.
Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which has been out front of the effort to curb distracted driving, scoffed at the notion that there is any expectation of privacy in a car.
Earlier here, etc.
Judge Jacobs strikes down DOMA sec. 3
Get ready for the cognitive dissonance among many on both left and right: Second Circuit chief judge Dennis Jacobs, long a favorite of the Federalist Society (and of mine), has written the opinion striking down section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in Windsor v. U.S. I have more at my Maryland for All Families blog.
Fact-checkers AWOL on Obama’s pay-gap, Ledbetter remarks
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Hans Bader, Ted Frank and Ramesh Ponnuru are on the case, but the much-promoted fact-checking operations in the wider press continue to show no interest.
Podcast on constitutional law
Adam Freedman, author of books including The Naked Constitution, has a podcast series at Ricochet examining issues in constitutional law. In the latest installment, Clark Neily of the Institute for Justice and I discuss how to distinguish between the contrasting dangers of judicial activism on the one hand and, on the other, what Neily calls “judicial abdication.” You can listen here.
P.S. More on The Naked Constitution here.
October 18 roundup
- In Motor City of “Detropia,” sole remaining industrial-scale activity is the grinding of axes [Asron Renn, Urbanophile]
- Challenge to independent-contractor status: “Strippers Win $13 Million Class Settlement” [Courthouse News Service]
- “Homeowners Who Spent $220K in Legal Fees to Fight $2K HOA Lawn Bill Win Court Case After 11 Years” [ABA Journal]
- Logical skills no prerequisite for brief-drafting job with Florida attorney general’s office [Volokh]
- Death of officer in high-speed chase leads to notice of tort claim against NJ town [South Jersey Times]
- “Man Who Made Fake Dead Cat Insurance Claim to Be Sentenced; May Have Tried Same Stunt with Fake Dead Parrot” [Seattle Weekly]
- Dallas lawyer who sued TV station over not passing along referral calls is now in another spot of bother [SE Texas Record]