A provocative blog post on those who want to be judges: The best way to think about it is to ask yourself this question: “Am I a willing judicial executioner, a person who consciously does great harm to other human beings by faithfully executing the extraordinarily harsh national criminal laws?” Those who covet a federal […]
Archive | September, 2013
Driverless Carts Are Coming Sooner Than Driverless Cars
By Bryant Walker Smith, guest-blogging on September 30, 2013 7:55 pm in Automation, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars
I’m delighted to be spending this week committing overt acts in furtherance of the Volokh Conspiracy. Since joining Stanford in 2011, I’ve been studying the increasing automation, connectivity, and capability that promise to dramatically change our lives, institutions, and laws. My posts this week will focus on one key example: self-driving vehicles (or whatever you […]
“Terrorism,” “Hostage-Taking,” and the Government Shutdown
Some Obama administration supporters claim that Republicans who refuse to pass a bill funding the federal government are acting like “terrorists” or “hostage takers.” To some extent, this is just your typical exaggerated political rhetoric, similar to that of Republicans who absurdly claim that Obama is a “socialist,” for example. But it also presents a […]
Reality Imitates The Onion on Public Ignorance About Obamacare
In this recent article, The Onion pokes fun at public ignorance about Obamacare [HT: several readers and Facebook friends who alerted me to the article]: As debate continues in Washington over the funding of President Obama’s health care initiative, sources confirmed Thursday that 39-year-old Daniel Seaver, a man who understands a total of 8 percent […]
Ban on “Advis[ing or] Encourag[ing] … Another” to Commit Suicide Violates First Amendment
So holds today’s State v. Final Exit Network, Inc. (Minn. Ct. App. Sept. 30, 2013). The court concluded that the statute “criminalizes any and all expressions of support, guidance, planning, or education to people who want to end their own lives, whether from a public platform, such as a book, or in the private setting […]
How the EU Continues to Fund Settlements in Occupied Territory
The EU recently issued guidelines blocking research and other grants to Israeli institutions with activities (archeological digs, etc.) across the Green Line. In the yesterday’s Jerusalem Post I reveal that the EU continues to actively fund settlements in occupied territory, against their own understanding of international law: Under guidelines prepared earlier this summer, euros would […]
Two Upcoming Speaking Engagements
By Ilya Somin on September 30, 2013 1:20 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Same-Sex Marriage
Over the next two weeks, I will be doing two out-of-town speaking engagements that may be of interest to some of our readers. On Thursday, October, 3, 12:00-1:15 PM, I will be doing a talk on my new book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter, at Columbia Law School in Jerome Greene […]
Could The New Jersey Civil Unions Case Go to the Supreme Court?
Michael Dorf has an interesting and careful post where he analyzes whether last Friday’s decision in Garden State Equality v. Dow (the New Jersey civil unions case discussed here) raises a question of federal law reviewable by the Supreme Court. While the opinion is ambiguous with respect to the key question, he concludes that the […]
David Kris Publishes the Best Defense (By Far) of the Lawfulness of the NSA’s Telephony Metadata Program
Lawfare has posted a hugely helpful essay for those wanting to understand the NSA’s telephony metadata program and to read the best legal defense of that program: David S. Kris, On the Bulk Collection of Tangible Things (.pdf, 67 pages). Kris was the head of DOJ’s National Security Division from 2009 to 2011, and he […]
Thinking about Gridlock on the Eve of a (Potential) Government Shutdown
As the government-shutdown political theater continues to unfold, I naturally find myself wondering whether to blame the House for passing a spending bill that the Senate and President don’t like, or the Senate for passing a bill that the House doesn’t prefer either. This leads me to thinking about The Phenomenology of Gridlock, a recent […]
John Bellinger Explains How To Make a UN Security Resolution Legally Binding
Many commentators, including a lot of international lawyers and scholars, have scrutinized the (as yet unnumbered) UN Security Council resolution worked out between the US and Russia and among the P-5 members of the Council regarding Syria and chemical weapons. My quick take when the draft resolution was released on Thursday night is here at […]
Bryant Walker Smith Guest-Blogging This Week About Self-Driving Cars, Automation Technologies, and Their Regulation
By Kenneth Anderson on September 29, 2013 4:58 pm in Automation, Regulation, Robotics, Self-Driving Cars, Torts
Automation and robotic technologies have popped up in Volokh Conspiracy posts several times during the last few years – drone aircraft, autonomous or highly automated weapons, nursing and eldercare assistance machines and, of course, self-driving cars. So I’m pleased to announce that Bryant Walker Smith, a leading expert on automation and the law, will be […]
Greenpeace & Russia – an International Pussy Riot
I blogged earlier about Russia’s illegal seizure of a Greenpeace vessel in international waters, and its laughable characterization of their acts as maritime piracy. The ship Arctic Sunrise had been boarded after an attempt to board or come alongside a Russian oil rig for some kind of non-violent protest. Subsequently, Vladimir Putin apparently poured cold […]
The History of Debt Ceiling Votes and Government Shutdowns
James Fallows writes: there is no precedent for serious threats not to honor federal debt — as opposed to symbolic anti-Administration protest votes, which both parties have cast over the years. Nor for demanding the reversal of major legislation as a condition for routine government operations. There’s never been a “serious threat” to refuse to […]
Warsaw
So I’ve spent the past week in Warsaw, Poland, attending the European Law and Economics Association meetings and visiting the city. Although my family is Polish I’ve never visited the country. Perhaps my most distinct impression is how surprised I am at how middle class and prosperous the country seems, just 25 years removed from […]