- That’s represent, not resemble: “Lawyer appointed to represent pit bull” [WSJ, NY Times] NJ lawmakers eye idea of doggie seat belts, cont’d [Bloomberg, earlier here, here]
- “Government to Argue That Detention for Carrying Arabic Flashcards Was Justified” [Lowering the Bar]
- Columnist-suing attorney continues to reap lots of lawyer love in her race for Illinois judgeship [Madison County Record]
- Speaking of which, what is it about Madison County, Illinois, anyway? [Radley Balko, more]
- Sense of humor: I wasn’t expecting Values Bus to retweet this of mine;
- Why the SEC keeps losing in court [Eugene Scalia, WSJ; Ed Whelan, NR “Bench Memos,” on Steven Pearlstein’s dyspeptic Washington Post rant about purported activism by D.C. Circuit judges]
- Unintended consequences: “Olive Garden, Others to Cut Worker Hours in Advance of Obamacare” [Washington Free Beacon]
Foreign talent: kill ’em with disclosures
The Department of Labor seems to be taking a new tack against employers of H-1B workers [Stuart Anderson, Forbes] Related: Alex Tabarrok.
More: “the U.S. is inexplicably telling the smartest immigrants to go home.” [Sam Gustin, Time via Alkon]
University of South Carolina School of Law
I much enjoyed my trip there last week, sponsored by the Federalist Society chapter and with Prof. Jacqueline Fox providing a spirited counterpoint to my remarks on Schools for Misrule. The school has posted a Facebook photo album of the event.
Maryland roundup
- Md. Access to Justice Commission pushes controversial Civil Gideon, lopsided fee shift rules [report]
- Montgomery County voters will decide on extending police collective bargaining [WaPo]
- “Baltimore: The city that sues the banks” [Fortune]
- “New Pit Bull Dog Bite Law in Maryland? Not So Fast” [Ron Miller, earlier] “Landlords Held Responsible For Pit Bull Injuries; Tenants Face Eviction and Legal Battle” [CBS Baltimore]
- Maryland pays far higher fees to investment managers for its pension fund than most states do. How’d that happen? And should states rely on index investments instead? [Governing]
- Legislature not final word? State’s high court mulls ditching contributory for comparative fault [WaPo]
- Business appalled at Montgomery County Council bill requiring 90 day severance to service contractors’ employees [Washington Examiner, Gazette]
Bias against conservative lawprofs: Wagner case heads toward trial
The Associated Press covers the pending lawsuit against the University of Iowa by Teresa Wagner, who believes she was shot down for a job teaching legal writing because of her outspokenly conservative views (earlier here, here, and here). A federal trial starts Monday in Davenport, Iowa.
One sentence misses the mark slightly in conveying my views. As I should have taken pains to make clear, the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, as a decision, is by no means sacrosanct in legal academia; law professors both right and left, young and old, criticize it often for its reasoning, as a political blunder, and on other grounds. What is a good bit less common — and especially rare among younger academics aiming for tenure offers at law schools with no religious affiliation — is a passionate stand against abortion in itself, like Ms. Wagner’s.
The university, for its part, disclaims political bias and apparently intends to argue that Ms. Wagner did not perform as well at the interview stage as her lawyers contend. As I told the AP, while I have no doubt that political bias is rife — in 2007, Iowa’s law faculty is recorded as having had 46 registered Democrats and only one registered Republican — I have severe doubts that the courts will improve matters by peering over the hiring committees’ shoulders. (& TaxProf with links; Des Moines Register “Juice”; Prof. Bainbridge)
Church maintenance laws in Britain
Feds’ dodgy tactics in housing-disparate-impact case
If you’ll drop Magner v. Gallagher, your case against us before the Supreme Court, we’ll drop this other big case we’ve filed against you, the Department of Justice told the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. And thus the government averted an embarrassing high court opinion reining in some of its most avant-garde lending-discrimination theories [American Banker, Kevin Funnell/Bank Lawyer’s Blog, WSJ, Hans Bader, Ted Frank]
“Hospital OKs Language-Discrimination Settlement of $975K”
“Delano Regional Medical Center in Kern County defended its English-only policy as necessary for patient care.” Nonetheless, without admitting wrongdoing, it yielded to a complaint from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center that it had improperly penalized Filipino-American workers for communicating with each other in their own language. The suit had alleged, among other things, that the hospital had been more liberal in permitting the use of other languages other than English, and that it had not prevented workers from making fun of accents and expressing ethnically-based hostility. [L.A. Times, ABA Journal]
Free speech roundup
- Why did Chevron subpoena a lawprof/blogger who took opposite side in Ecuador case? [Kevin Jon Heller, Opinio Juris]
- “Paleo Diet Lawsuit Dismissed By Court in Blow to Free Expression” [Brian Doherty, Reason; earlier here, etc.]
- “[National Hispanic Media Coalition] Renews Call for Federal Government to Study Hate Speech in Media” [Volokh]
- Call for “oversight board of regional experts” to direct more YouTube takedowns [Ann Althouse]
- No more dirty looks: North Carolina students now face possible jail time for what they say about teachers online [Reason]
- Popehat sampler: “Schadenfreude Is Not A Free Speech Value; Holmes’s fire-in-theater quote the most “pervasive lazy cheat in American dialogue about free speech”; “Zampolit Angela McCaskill, Report For Reeducation.”
- EU “terror” web-muzzle schemes: “We should start to freak out, but in a sort of preliminary way” [Ars Technica]
VP debate: the Tweets
A selection from my live-Tweets last night, as part of the Cato team, in reverse chronological order. For the entire team coverage, go here or here.
One more Scalia, or nine, would not “ban” abortion. I’m guessing Biden knows that and quickly regretted misspeaking. #VPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012
Ryan feels it’s impossible to separate his private religious views from his public opinions. Advantage Biden. #VPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012
Can’t cut Medicare, can’t cut defense spending, can’t disengage abroad… #WishGaryWereHere #VPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012
And once again I suppose the mortgage interest deduction is going to pass for sacrosanct #VPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012
Phrase “tax expenditures” comes rather too readily to Biden’s lips #VPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012
“Obama *did* ‘let Detroit go bankrupt'” overlawyered.com/2012/09/obama-… #VPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012
The “would let Detroit go bankrupt” canard, again. Both Obama & Romney supported bankruptcy, and that’s what happened. #VPDebate
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012
#VPDebate Biden smiles at the oddest moments.
— Walter Olson (@walterolson) October 12, 2012