Another "Czar" under Scrutiny

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/09/obamas-risky-sex-czar/

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/kevin_jennings_twisted_termino_1.html

http://www.massresistance.org/docs/issues/black_book/black_book_inside.html

Materials on Megan's Law

History of California Megan's Law

Brief Legal History of Megan's Law

Sex Offender Commitment and Registration Statutes,

Maureen Hopbell, Balancing the Protection of Children Against the Protection of Constitutional Right: The Past, Present and Future of Megan's Law, Duquesne Law Review (2004) A good summary of the origins of Megan's Law.

Note, Making Outcasts Out of Outlaws: The Unconstitutionality of Sex Offender Registration and Criminal Alien Detention, Harvard Law Review (2004). An attack on the constitutionality of Megan's laws

Constitutional Law, Harvard Law Review (2003) Review and comment on the Supreme Court's decisions in Smith v Doe and Connecticut Dept of Public Safety v Doe

Smith v Doe US Supreme Court 2003

Connecticut Department of Public Safety v Doe, US Supreme Court 2003

Doe v Pataki, Partial invalidation of NY Megan's law (1996)

Doe v Poritz, NJ Supreme Court upholds NJ Megan's Law (1995)

Artway v. Attorney General of the State of New Jersey

US v Ursurey

Materials on Hate Crime

Wisconsin v Mitchell (1993) This is the leading US Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of hate crimes statutes.

Text of Hate Crimes Statute

Matthew Shepard Foundation website

Summary of New Hate Crimes Statute

Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder in Support of Bill

Sen Jim DeMint Opposes Hate Crimes Bill

US Civil Rights Commissioners Oppose Hate Crimes Bill

Heidi M. Hurd / Michael S. Moore, Punishing Hatred and Prejudice

Anthony M. Dillof, Punishing Bias: An Examination of the Theoretical Foundations of Bias Crime Statutes

Susan Gellman, Hate Crime Laws After Wisconsin v. Mitchell

Christopher Dipompeo, Federal Hate Crime Laws and United States V. Lopez: On a Collision Course to Clarify Jurisdictional-Element Analysis

Gregory R. Nearpass, The Overlooked Constitutional Objection and Practical Concerns to Penalty-Enhancement Provisions of Hate Crime Legislation

Jordan Blair Woods, Taking the "Hate" out of Hate Crimes: Applying Unfair Advantage Theory to Justify the Enhanced Punishment of Opportunistic Bias Crimes

Carissa Byrne Hessick, Motive's Role in Criminal Punishment

Steven Bennett Weisburd / Brian Levin, "On the Basis of Sex": Recognizing Gender-Based Bias Crimes

George L. Blum, Validity, Construction, and Effect of "Hate Crimes" Statutes, "Ethnic Intimidation" Statutes, Or the Like

Kahan Two Liberal Fallacies About Hate Crimes

Hate Crimes Law and the Limits of Inculpation

Anti-Defamation League Website

Oral Argument in Ten Commandments Case

http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2004/2004_03_1500/argument

More People in the News--Elin Nordegren Woods

True love

Does she deserve jail time?

Tiger Woods

Now the backlash begins...

The Climate Science Isn't Settled

Read this WSJ op-ed piece by Richard Lindzen, the MIT climate scientist whose speech we heard last week

People in the News--Eric Holder

Holder-- Embarrassing and Offensive

People in the News-- Jenny Sanford

From Shadow to Limelight

People in the News--Rachel Uchitelle

Her Affair with Tiger Woods

This Week's Assignment

This week's assignment is to prepare an outline of your paper, including title, thesis statement and path of argument.

US Homes Prices, City by City

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/29/business/2009-wide-housing-graphic.html

Richard Lindzen, MIT climate specialist, on Global Warming Hysteria

Environmentalism is the New Religion

This Week's Assignment

Two issues this week:

1. Is the US budget deficit something to worry about? Here are two pieces that appeared in the November 23 edition of the New York Times. This article says we should worry. Paul Krugman says we need to borrow and spend more.

2. The man-made global warming movement suffered a major setback this week when it was exposed that global warming scientists have been doctoring and hiding evidence that does not support the man-made global warming case. Read this, this and this.

Roberts and Sotomayor on Lawyers Fees

Read this interesting piece on Justice Roberts and Sotomayor's views on super-contingent compensation for lawyers who obtain especially good results for their clients. Are good results in court the result of good lawyering?

More Soul Train-- This is Great Stuff

Soul Train 1971

Dwayne Wade Dunks

Posner: Is the US Going the Way of Japan?

Posner: Is the US Going the Way of Japan?

States Supporting Gay Marriage

This Week's Assignment (11/19)

1. In re Bilski. The Supreme Court last week heard oral argument in a patent case involving so-called "business process" patents. The case involves a patent application for a commodities hedging technique. The issue is whether patents should be issued only for inventions that are scientific and technical in the conventional sense (machines, chemicals, etc.) or should extend to "softer" processes such as speed dating. Look at the following:

--WSJ article

--SCOTUS blog article

--California Federal Appeals Court case

--SCt oral argument

2. Is being rich the result of brains and hard effort, or just dumb luck? Read this.

This Week's Assignment

For this week, read the first of Michael Sandel's Reith Lectures given earlier this year on the BBC. Sandel is a professor in the philosophy department at Harvard (read pp 3 - 10; you don't need to read the Q&A). He argues that there are some things-- health care included-- that are too important to be allocated purely by the market. In the lecture he cites Gary Becker's proposal that the right to immigrate to the US be allocated to the highest bidders as an example of a good that should not be allocated by the market.

Read this brief description of Becker's immigration proposal.

Take a look at Professor Sandel's class blog.

This Week's Assignment

This week, we will look at three current cases. For each case, identify the legal issue involved and the underlying policy issues that are implicated. Prepare a reasoned statement arguing why the case (if already decided) was correctly or incorrectly decided or (if not already decided) how it should come out.

1. Gmail Search. Under the US Constitution may a law enforcement agency, pursuant to a lawfully granted search warrant, search your Gmail account without telling you? Please read this article and the opinion linked therein.

2. Establishment Clause. Are anti-religious statements made in class by a public school teacher a violation of the Establishment Clause? Read this article and the case linked therein.

3. Predatory Pricing. Are super-low prices charged for hard cover books by Amazon and Wal-Mart "predatory pricing" in violation of US antitrust laws? Can predatory pricing be bad for consumers? Read this and this.

John Roberts is a Nice Guy

Read this story about John Roberts and his wife in a famous New York City restaurant. He sounds like a nice guy.

The Obamas' Marriage

Take a look at this long article on the Obama's marriage from the New York Times Magazine.

Craigslist Prostitution Case

A sheriff in Illinois sued Craigslist for failing to prevent prostitution services from posting ads. An Illinois has thrown out the case. The New York Times is happy.

Here is the case.

What was the statute under which the sheriff sought to prosecute Craigslist?

What is the theory under which the judge dismissed the case?

This Week's Assignment

For this week, please read and think about the following, and be prepared to take a position in class.

1. Goldman Sachs Bonuses. Goldman Sachs and other large financial institutions which received federal bailout money have returned to profitability and are again paying their senior executives large bonuses. In response, the government has ordered large reductions in the compensation paid to senior executives of financial institutions that received federal aid.

Richard Posner has posted two articles on the Goldman Sachs bonuses here and here.

Question: Is it wrong (and wrong-headed) for the government to limit the compensation of executives in the financial services industry?

2. Hate Crimes Bill. The House and Senate have passed a new "hate crimes" bill that punishes violent crimes motivated by gender and gender orientation more severely than crimes not so motovated. See New York Times article here.

Some are arguing that the law is unconstitutional. See here. What is your position?

3. Allocation of Life-saving Resources. This is a question Greg Mankiw is posing to his freshman economics students at Harvard.

You are a utilitarian social planner. You have a limited number of H1N1 vaccines. How do you allocate them? Do you (A) give them to high-risk populations, or (B) sell them to the highest bidder and rebate the revenue lump-sum to everyone in the population? If you choose (A), do you allow those individuals allocated the vaccine to sell their dose to someone else? Be sure to specify the economic environment as carefully as possible. And remember: Your goal is to maximize total utility.

How would you answer this question?

This Week's Assignment (10/22)

For this week's assignment, choose any two of the following thesis statements. For each of the two thesis statements that you choose, write an outline of logic and reasons supporting the thesis. Evaluate whether the thesis statement is one that could be supported and developed in a 10 page paper. Suggest how the thesis statement could be improved.

1. Google is a monopolist in violation of the US antitrust laws. The US Justice Department should prosecute Google and break up the company. For background see this article.

2. Under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, the government should be able to restrict speech by corporations to a greater extent than speech by individuals. For background see this editorial.

3. Professor Henry Louis Gates' conduct following questioning at his house in Cambridge clearly constituted "disorderly conduct" justifying his arrest. For background see this article.

4. The New York Times' coverage of the circumstances that led to Van Jones' resignation as White House "green jobs czar" and the outing of ACORN demonstrates that the Times is biased in favor of liberal political causes. For background see this piece.

5. President Obama will regret receiving and accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.

This Week's Assignment

Your assignment this week:

Look at this CSPAN TV documentary on the Supreme Court. It's pretty good.

Be prepared to take a position on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama.

My Parents Were Awesome

This is a fascinating site of photographs of parents (taken when they were still young) sent in by their children. So it is pictures of young couples taken during the 1960s and 1970s. It is interesting how much the "counterculture" influenced all classes and regions of American society.

Andrew Sullivan on His Own Sex Life

This is the gay Brit blogger arrested in Provincetown for possession of marijuana.

Andrew Sullivan Lets It Hang Out

How Will Sonia Sotomayor Rule on this Term's First Amendment Cases?

Sotomayor and the SCt's First Amendment Cases This Term

What is Narcissism?

Michelle Obama's Olympic Speech

Comment on Michelle Obama's Olympic Speech

This Week's Assignment

For this week, please read the following opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof on health insurance for pre-existing conditions and re-read the article I posted on the traffic court judge who refused to give points to people who violated traffic laws so as to avoid inflating the profits of the insurance companies (here is the link).

Both the traffic judge and Kristof seem to believe that insurance companies should not be able to charge people more for insurance once it is discovered that their risk relevant to insurance coverage has increased, i.e. people should not be denied coverage for (or presumably charged higher rates for) so-called pre-existing conditions.

Please think about this issue and be prepared to discuss on Thursday.

Scalia: Too Many Smart People are Wasting their Lives as Lawyers

Scalia believes too many smart people are leading unproductive lives as lawyers.

David Letterman Extortion

Pointless Experiments

Does Listening to Country Music Increase Suicide Rates? (Yes)
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=95183303

Does Anal Massage Stop Chronic Hiccupping? (Yes)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2299306?dopt=Abstract

Can Rats Tell the Difference Between Japanese and Dutch Played
Backwards? (No) http://www.apa.org/releases/speech_article.pdf

Why Didn't You Tell Me?

Complaint filed by Susan Stanford, the estranged wife of accused Ponzi Schemer Allen Stanford, claiming her former divorce lawyer failed to tell her of a verbal offer to settle her divorce for $200 million last year.

Harvard Hates the Constitution

Report on Harvard professors trashing the Constitution on Constitution Day.

Bank America-Merril Lynch

Judge Rejects Bank America-Merrill Lynch Settlement (NYT Story)

Who is Jed Rakoff?

The Opinion

Bank America's Response

Decision Terrifies Corporate Lawyers

Michelle Obama and the President of Italy

Michelle Obama pointedly refused to hug Prime Minister Berlusconi last week because of his unsavory reputation with women. Notice Barack's expression.

Homeschooling Decision

This is an interesting New Hampshire state court decision in which divorced parents are fighting about the education of their child. The mother has "primary" custody and wants to home school the girl and presumably make sure she grows up to see the world as her mother does. The father wants the girl to attend public school so that she will get a more "diverse" view of the world.

Posner-How I Became a Keynesian

Posner-How I Became a Keynesian

Mankiw- Why Health Care Will Never Be Equal

Why Health Care Will Never Be Equal

Modern Marriage

Modern Marriage

Modern Marriage 2

Modern Marriage 3

The Judge and Andrew Sullivan's Drug Bust

Read this piece describing journalist Andrew Sullivan's (gay Brit working and living in America) drug bust in Provincetown (gay resort on Cape Cod) and the judge's opinion linked therein.

What is the judge's thesis?

What is his argument?

The Empathy Standard

Read this short short piece describing two recent essays, one by Ronald Dworkin (liberal) and the other by Michael McConnell (conservative) on the issue of "empathy" as it applies to the Sotomoyor nomination and the proper role of judges generally.

What is the thesis of each of the essays?

What are their basic arguments?

Economics of Everyday Life

Read this short short piece on the economics of traffic court and auto insurance.

What is the thesis?

What is the argument?