Qui tam suits against for-profit colleges

The WSJ editors wonder to what extent the feds, who have been pursuing a campaign lately to bring the colleges to heel, are coordinating with the private False Claims Act bar. Meanwhile, Rogier at Nobody’s Business spots some ironies in the Justice Department’s suit against Education Management Corp.: “pushing low- to medium-value degrees is something that law schools — including some of the best in the country — do habitually, every day. All of higher education does, with no exceptions I’m aware of.”

Law schools roundup

Atlanta police shooting aftermath

Kathryn Johnson, 92, “was shot and killed by police during a botched drug raid in 2006,” resulting in a payout of millions of dollars by the city. Now Rev. Markel Hutchins, who made public appearances as spokesperson for Johnston’s family, is suing her estate, saying he had an understanding to receive 10 percent of any recovery. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WABE] (& note commented controversy over whether “botched raid” is accurate.)

September 14 roundup

Live stream tomorrow morning: Supreme Court briefing

Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Eastern I’ll be appearing at a Cato Institute “Liberty Briefing” for invited journalists and others to preview the Institute’s Constitution Day, which is Thursday, and to talk in particular about the U.S. Supreme Court’s approach to issues of civil litigation, including this year’s Wal-Mart v. Dukes case. My Cato colleague Trevor Burrus will be discussing court challenges to ObamaCare and its individual mandate, a topic likely to reach the high court before long. You can watch live online here.

Food law roundup

  • Feds fund Boston campaign bashing sweetened drinks [Globe; see also on NYC] More on ObamaCare “Public Health Fund” subsidies to local paternalist initiatives on diet [WLF]
  • Thanks to federal funding priorities, New York education department had 40 experts on school lunches, only one on science education [Frederick Hess via Stoll]
  • Grocers hope to escape federal menu labeling mandate [FDA Law Blog] How regulations exasperate midsize restaurant operators [Philip Klein, Wash. Examiner]
  • “The Eight Dumbest Restaurant Laws” [Zagat]
  • Proposed federal standards on kid food ads extreme enough that many USDA “healthy” recipes would flunk [Diane Katz, Heritage] Do FTC’s guidelines violate the First Amendment? [WSJ]
  • Compared with what? “Egg farm regulations still skimpy” [Stoll] Deer blamed for E. coli in pick-your-own strawberries [USA Today]
  • U.K.: Your kids are too fat so we’re taking them away [Daily Mail; earlier here, here, etc.]