- New Obama “pay-for-performance” scheme for higher ed would drastically increase federal power over university sector [D.C. Examiner editorial] Don’t expect new moves to curb the escalating cost of college [Neal McCluskey, Cato]
- Funniest IRB (institutional review board) anecdote in a while [via Tyler Cowen, earlier]
- Will colleges start awarding admissions preferences to applicants who say they’re gay? [John Rosenberg, Discriminations]
- “8 Cringeworthy Allegations From The New Lawsuit Against Donald Trump” [Business Insider]
- Judge rules student can proceed with suit against Morgan State over attack by brain-eating cannibal, because what could be more reasonably foreseeable than that? [Baltimore Sun, Daily Caller]
- Dartmouth, USC: Office of Civil Rights, following “blueprint,” suggests colleges’ procedures not extreme enough in campus sex cases [KC Johnson/Minding the Campus, earlier]
- NCAA concussion suit seeks class action status [ESPN]
Posts Tagged ‘Donald Trump’
April 17 roundup
- “The Consortium has hired Arnold & Porter, and they can threaten whomever they want, the facts be damned.” [Popehat]
- Former Social Security administrators: NPR’s just imagining things, pay no attention to that report on the growth of the disability program [NADR.org, earlier] Ronald Reagan got rolled on the SSDI disability program, and we’re all paying the price [Avik Roy]
- Katrina qui tam: “Jury returns verdict for the Rigsby sisters against State Farm” [Freeland, earlier]
- Probate dispute had become cause celebre in Connecticut: “Judge Rules In Favor Of Caretaker In Smoron Farm Case” [Hartford Courant]
- Judge’s text message complains of “‘docket from hell,’ filled with tatted-up… gap tooth skank hoes” [Above the Law]
- “FTC Clarifies Obligations of Product Reviewers, But Does Not Ease Concerns” [DMLP]
- “Trump Dismisses ‘Spawn of Orangutan’ Lawsuit” [Lowering the Bar, earlier]
- If you’re one of those who occasionally send me links from the Alex Jones site InfoWars, now you know why I never use ’em [Dave Weigel]
Free speech roundup
- “Crime to Create a ‘Hostile Environment’ That ‘Substantially Interferes’ with Person’s ‘Psychological Well-Being’ Based on Race, Religion, Sex, Etc.?” [Volokh] “Minnesota Bill to Ban K-12 Speech That Denies Fellow Students a ‘Supportive Environment'” [same]
- Blogger dropped as defendant in “pink slime” defamation litigation, but suit against ABC and others continues [Bettina Siegel/Lunch Tray] Suit against ABC based in part on state food-disparagement statute occasionally criticized in this space [Reuters] Dearborn residents: are you sure you want to patronize a restaurant that deploys lawyers to suppress criticism? [Paul Alan Levy, earlier]
- Libya arrests foreigners accused of distributing Christian literature, charge could carry death penalty [Guardian]
- Sometimes it seems NYT editors are First Amendment absolutists about everything except political speech First Amendment was meant to protect [SmarterTimes]
- Global Wildlife Center of Folsom, Louisiana sues a satirical website and then menaces Ken of Popehat;
- Long piece on Naffe/O’Keefe backstory of Kimberlin/Patterico legal/media war [Chris Faraone, Boston Phoenix, earlier]
- Update: following outcry, publishing company drops suit against Canadian librarian [CBC, earlier] Also from Canada: Nanaimo, British Columbia: “Mayor ensures ‘Koruption’ stickers never seen again” [Beschizza, BoingBoing] Voltaire wept: Bruce Bawer on the Canada Supreme Court’s “hate speech” decision [Front Page mag, earlier]
- “Donald Trump, paper tiger?” [Paul Alan Levy]
Donald Trump v. Bill Maher
The best headline is at the ABA Journal: “Trump suit says he’s not ape spawn, seeks to collect on Maher’s ‘unconditional offer’”. Eugene Volokh writes that while Maher’s “orangutan” swipe was clearly a joke, the prospect of sanctions over a Trump court action isn’t. More: Lowering the Bar.
P.S. Someone in the Volokh comments section brings up the McDonald’s hot coffee case, provoking the usual misplaced condescension along lines paralleling the trial bar’s strenuous advocacy efforts on the issue. I do appreciate, though, the suggestion that I trademark the epithet “the goober at Overlawyered.”
P.P.S. Disgruntled beauty pageant contestant ordered to pay Trump $5 million.
Donald Trump, bully-ionaire
An appeals court has upheld the dismissal of Donald Trump’s long-running defamation suit against author Timothy O’Brien, whose 2005 book, citing anonymous sources, had “reported the real estate maven/TV personality’s net worth was only a fraction of public claims.” [WSJ Deal Journal; earlier here]
May 12 roundup
- Alabama state senate bans knowingly giving illegal immigrant ride in your car [Katherine Mangu-Ward]
- Cato U., dynamite summer seminar from my institute, being held this year in Annapolis Jul. 24-29;
- Calif.: “64% of Prop 65 settlements go to attorneys’ fees” [CJAC, earlier]
- Mississippi jury votes $322 million to individual asbestos claimant [Fair Warning, Mass Tort Prof]
- “Emails: Attorney nixed S.C. train injury fund” [AP/The State]
- Trump files $100 million counterclaim against customer who sued his “Trump University” [Atlantic Wire, earlier] More: Lowering the Bar.
- Two, three, a trend? Another trial-lawyer movie, this time starring Mark Lanier [WSJ Law Blog]
Trump’s litigiousness, cont’d
It’s practically a meme: last week I pointed out at Cato at Liberty that the real estate tycoon liked to use lawyers to push others around, and now Peter Stone of the Center for Public Integrity quotes me in the course of an article documenting Trump’s very frequent resort to litigation in his business and public affairs.
“If he’s taken seriously as a candidate it’s going to be appropriate to look at his record of litigation,” conservative legal scholar Walter Olson of the Cato Institute told iWatch News . He said a big question will be “how consistent is [Trump’s record] with the Republican idea that litigation should be a last resort and not a weapon for tactical advantage.”
Atlantic Wire and Ben Smith at Politico discuss.
Donald Trump, litigation bully
At Cato at Liberty, I recall a couple of the tycoon’s ventures into the use of defamation litigation to intimidate critics — Reason #1,001 for thoughtful voters to stay well away from him.
P.S. And here’s Radley Balko with Reason #1,002.
Judge tosses Donald Trump’s bid to silence critical author
Wealthy and aggressive individuals wielding defamation lawsuits never seldom sometimes, but apparently not in this case, prosper in efforts to silence their critics. [NY Post, Bloomberg, WSJ Law Blog] Trump vows an appeal against New York Times-affiliated author Timothy O’Brien — not to run up anyone’s legal costs further, you understand, but from a disinterested sense of justice. Earlier coverage here, here, here, and here. More: American Lawyer.
Donald Trump v. Tim O’Brien
Latest reports from the real estate figure’s defamation suit against New York Times writer Timothy O’Brien for allegedly underestimating his net worth. Our earlier coverage of the suit: Jan. 25, Feb. 12, and Mar. 12, 2006. (& welcome Adrianos Facchetti readers)