Trend Results : Eugene Volokh
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FILTER RESULTS ►State of Vermont v. Alleged Patent Troll
(Eugene Volokh) The case is State v. MPHJ Technology Investments Corp. (Vt. Super. Ct. filed May 8, 2013); GigaOM reports: In a complaint filed in Vermont’s Superior Court, the state accuses MPHJ Technology — which operates 40 shell companies through a UPS store in Delaware — of violating consumer protection law by demanding small businesses buy a [...]
Louisiana Set to Criminalize Publishing That Someone Has a Concealed Carry Permit
(Eugene Volokh) The bill is HB8, though there’s a Senate amendment; apparently, the Senate plans to pass the bill as amended. The bill bars the government from releasing information about who has applied for or gotten a concealed carry permit, and the Legislature certainly can impose such restrictions on the government itself. But then it also criminalizes [...]
The Message from Justice Scalia: When You’re Using Unfamiliar Abbreviations in Briefs, Define Them Up Front
(Eugene Volokh) David Post faulted Justice Scalia’s footnote 1 in Monday’s City of Arlington v. FCC (see also this follow-up), so I thought I’d mention my own thought on the subject, because I think there’s actually a useful lesson to law students there. The footnote, which accompanied a sentence that began, “In July 2008, CTIA—The Wireless Association,” [...]
Russian Bill Criminalizing Insults to Religious Feeling Passes Second Reading in Parliament
(Eugene Volokh) Lenta.ru so reports. The bill would criminalize “actions in public, demonstrating clear disrespect to society and committed with the intent to insult the religious feelings of believers,” with the maximum punishment being one year in prison, or three years if they are committed. The final vote on the law is expected by the end of [...]
Jonathan Adler on Leak Investigations
(Eugene Volokh) Apropos the recent posts on the Administration’s leak investigations and the press, I thought I’d note three items by our own Jonathan Adler from when a similar issue arose during the Bush Administration: Reporting Is...Show More Summary
Tennessee Child Custody Law Favoring Parents Who Can Best Prepare Child for “a Life of Service”
(Eugene Volokh) I just ran across the Tennessee statute, Tenn Code Ann. § 36-6-404, that provides the factors that courts are to consider in determining physical custody as between two parents. Many states have such lists of factors, but the bold text seems to me to be unique to Tennessee: (b)... The court shall make residential [...]
“What Will Happen to Us After We Pass Through the Dark Curtain of Death Is the Ultimate Non-Justiciable Question”
(Eugene Volokh) From today’s Ferguson v. Secretary (11th Cir. May 21, 2013) (thanks to How Appealing for the pointer). Here’s a longer excerpt: The Supreme Court has decided that a convicted murderer cannot be executed unless he has a rational understanding of the fact that he is going to be put to death and of the reason [...]
Be Civil, You Lynch Mob Supporters
(Eugene Volokh) From James Taranto (thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer): In a CNN.com column Donna Brazile [writes] with a sinister twist: A government of, by, and for the people requires that people talk to people, that we can agree to disagree but do so in civility. If we let the politicians and those who report dictate [...]
Leakers, Recipients, and Conspirators
(Eugene Volokh) Leaks to reporters — and investigations of the leaks that included subpoenas of reporters’ e-mail logs and searches of reporters’ e-mail — have been in the news; see this post by Orin about the AP story and this post by Conor Friedersdorf (The Atlantic) about the Fox News story. I thought I’d say a few [...]
Former Prosecutor (Now Judge) Arrested and Charged for Past Prosecutorial Misconduct
(Eugene Volokh) I’m told that such arrests and charges are very rare, so I thought this was noteworthy, from the Austin American-Statesman, April 19, 2003 (thanks to Lawrence Goldman [White Collar Crim Prof Blog] for the pointer): Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was arrested... after a specially convened court found that he intentionally hid [...]
Puns as Legal Analysis
(Eugene Volokh) A comment reminded me of this passage from Justice Stevens’ opinion in County of Allegheny v. ACLU: It is also significant that the final draft [of the Establishment Clause] contains the word “respecting.” Like “touching,” “respecting” means concerning, or with reference to. But it also means with respect — that is, “reverence,” “good will,” “regard” [...]
Statutory Rape of 15-Year-Old by 18-Year-Old
(Eugene Volokh) The Huffington Post has an article titled, “Kaitlyn Hunt, Florida Teen, Faces Felony Charges Over Same-Sex Relationship”; Opposing Views picks it up as, “Florida Teen Kaitlyn Hunt Arrested, Expelled Over Same-Sex Relationship”;...Show More Summary
New Establishment Clause Case for the Supreme Court
(Eugene Volokh) The Court just agreed to hear Town of Greece v. Galloway, a case involving legislative prayer. In Marsh v. Chambers (1983), the Supreme Court upheld legislative prayers against an Establishment Clause challenge, based on the very long American tradition of such prayers (dating back to the same First Congress that proposed the Establishment Clause); nonetheless, [...]
Is the Library of Congress a Legislative Department or an Executive Department?
(Eugene Volokh) A very interesting question, raised in Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Copyright Royalty Board, a certiorari petition now pending before the Court. Profs. John Duffy (Virginia), Peter Strauss (Columbia),Show More Summary
A Cautionary Tale for Young Lawyers
(Eugene Volokh) Prof. Dennis Crouch, at the respected and often-cited Patently-O blog, had a post several weeks ago with a heading that was good advice, Don’t Write This Letter to the Patent Office: We all get frustrated. After an examiner rejected his client’s application for a telescoping tripod sprinkler, patent attorney Andrew Schroeder could no longer resist [...]
Defamation, Exaggeration, and “the Worst Little Boy I’ve Ever Seen”
(Eugene Volokh) Here’s a newspaper article containing an allegedly defamatory statement by Gov. Sundquist: [Some death row inmates] accuse the governor of being “mean spirited” because he took away their satellite dish. Three inmates and four citizens have filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and correction officials, claiming the satellite dish was paid for by donors [...]
The IRS Quizzing Pro-Life Groups About Their Intentions and Their Speech
(Eugene Volokh) Apropos the recent stories about the IRS’s quizzing conservative groups about their intentions and their speech, and delaying approval of those groups’ tax-exempt status, here are two items from a few years ago: 1. In 2011, the IRS quizzed Christian Voices for Life about whether they “[do] education on both sides of the issues” and [...]
Asylum and Homeschoolers
(Eugene Volokh) Jonathan posted earlier today about Romeike v. Holder (6th Cir. May 14, 2013), which reject German homeschoolers’ asylum claim. The opinion is quite readable and persuasive, and I recommend it to those interested in the subject. But here’s my general thinking (reprised from 2010 post on the original immigration judge decision in the case), and [...]
Feds unveil new, drastically restrictive, campus speech regime
FIRE, Hans Bader, Eugene Volokh and other free speech advocates are sounding the alarm about remarkable and extreme guidelines on university discipline emanating from the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and Education Department Office of Civil Rights. I’ve got more details at Cato at Liberty. Earlier here, here, etc. Tweet Tags: colleges and universities, [...]Show More Summary
Scott v. Saint John’s Church in the Wilderness Briefs
(Eugene Volokh) Today’s New York Times has an article by Adam Liptak about Scott v. Saint John’s Church in the Wilderness, the case in which I filed a cert petition recently. In that case, as many readers may recall, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that bars my clients from (among other things) displaying “gruesome [...]
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