Two weeks from this Thursday, on Sept. 15, Cato is holding its annual Constitution Day in Washington, D.C., just down the street from the Institute offices (which are undergoing renovation). The event will celebrate the publication of the 10th annual Cato Supreme Court Review and panelists will include familiar names like Jonathan Adler, Orin Kerr, Roger Pilon, Ilya Shapiro, Andrew Trask and many others. I’ll be moderating a panel on “Federalism, Civil Procedure, Business, and the Proper Judicial Role,” which will discuss among other topics the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Wal-Mart v. Dukes. The closing lecture will be given by Judge Alex Kozinski. How can you not plan to attend?
Gone re-fishin’
I’m getting an early start on the weekend and won’t be posting for a few days. See you soon.
Antiquities law ensnares coin collectors
As I note at Cato, antiquities law has been expanding to restrict private ownership of more and more ancient artifacts. The latest targets are numismatists; more on that in an op-ed that I published last week in the Examiner.
Feds’ lucrative forfeiture program
The WSJ has been doing a series on asset seizures and Tim Lynch at Cato sums up some of the highlights.
Urban farming
A neat idea for reclaiming abandoned city land, but it labors under a “cloud of extralegality” arising from a century’s worth of zoning and other regulations [Kristin Choo, ABA Journal]
“Drinking is a ‘handicap,’ fired former Florida State administrator says”
Fired after allegations of being abusive toward staff, Frank “Stephenson said the university should have provided ‘reasonable accommodations’ for his handicap of alcoholism, which the suit says his supervisors were aware of. State law prohibits discriminating against a person with a handicap.” [Orlando Sentinel; background; & welcome Above the Law readers]
“Federal Gov’t Encourages Health Providers to Coordinate…”
“… Then Sues Them For Doing So.” If ObamaCare doesn’t get you, it seems, FTC antitrust enforcement might. [Peter Suderman, Reason]
Taking pictures “with no apparent esthetic value”
The police chief of Long Beach, Calif. defends as consistent with department policy the detention of photographers who snap such shots. [Romenesko]
Update: Mary Roberts disbarred
More legal consequences of the lurid Texas “Internet paramour extortion scheme” (as the ABA Journal calls it); Above the Law; earlier. Among highlights of the saga: testimony for the lawyer-husband at his criminal trial from a former bar president who said Ted Roberts was just behaving as lawyers do when he sent demand letters to his wife’s lovers under threat of exposing them in legal action (“litigation is coercive”); and an unsuccessful libel suit against the San Antonio Express-News, which had reported on the couple’s doings.
“Thanks for the doctors, New York”
“According to State Health Facts, a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the total amount paid in medical-malpractice claims in 2009 was almost eight times higher in New York than Texas, with the average New York payment nearly three times higher.” Physicians keep voting with their feet to escape the New York model. [Joseph Nixon, NY Post; Coyote]