A case called Bond v. U.S., arising from an admittedly bizarre fact pattern involving a wife’s attempt to injure a romantic rival, provides an opportunity to test the limits of extension of federal criminal law into areas that would ordinarily serve as the occasion of state-level prosecution. The Cato Institute has filed an amicus brief urging a narrow view of the proper federal criminal role in the case, in pursuit of the view that the federal government is one of limited, enumerated powers. [Ilya Shapiro, Cato]
Dear lawmakers: please fix CPSIA
Jill Chuckas of the Handmade Toy Alliance testifies before the Senate about the Law That Stole Christmas.
Federalist Society videos online
The Federalist Society has posted numerous videos from its recent National Lawyers’ Convention, including sessions on the aggressive regulatory stance of today’s Environmental Protection Agency, the constitutionality of Obamacare, anonymity and the First Amendment in media and campaign-regulation law, NYU’s Richard Epstein debating Yale’s Bill Eskridge on the court battle over California’s Prop 8, recusal and campaign rules for judges, Dodd-Frank, and the Christian Legal Society v. Martinez case on accreditation of student groups, among other topics. And civil procedure/Iqbal-Twombly buffs may be interested in a luncheon panel held just yesterday in D.C. (I was in the audience) in which four law professors (Don Elliott of Yale, Martin Redish and Ronald Allen of Northwestern, and Rick Esenberg of Marquette) outlined ideas for reforming the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to reduce discovery costs and improve screening of cases in the earliest stages of filing.
The video above is of the Society’s 10th annual Barbara Olson Memorial Lecture, in which Second Circuit Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs provocatively criticizes legal academia and other precincts of influential legal thinking for misunderstanding the role of the military and its relation to the law.
McDonald’s obesity class action dismissed
It took eight years to get the wretched thing thrown out. [noted earlier; Wajert, Frank, Bader]
“Red light cameras working exactly as intended”
They’re making money, even if their effect on actual road safety is ambiguous. [Radley Balko]
More financial crisis prosecutions?
Larry Ribstein is not persuaded by a ProPublica columnist’s demand for more banker scalps. [Truth on the Market]
“I’m harassed by your affairs with others”
“Third-party” harassment claims pose a legal headache for employers. [HR Capitalist]
Online free speech, cont’d
The latest round in the continuing quarrel between Simple Justice blogger Scott Greenfield and academic enthusiast for greater speech liability Danielle Citron. [Simple Justice]
Injury client screening, the Namby Pamby way
A decision tree (or flow chart) in which a rather large number of branches lead to referrals to a civil rights lawyer.
Family sues bat maker over line drive
Some trial lawyers have been crusading for a while on the theory that aluminum baseball bats are unreasonably dangerous because they allow balls to be hit with more force. A lawsuit over a 11-year-old Little Leaguer’s injury may be the next to test that theory. [Chicago Sun-Times]