Oct 19
The term “democratic deficit” has become a staple of contemporary political analysis. Most often used to analyze presumed deficiencies within the political order of the European Union, it has all too much application as well to our own political order within the United States. (Reposted)
Oct 19
A law professor recently compared the Department of Justice’s legal memo justifying the Anwar al-Aulaqi killing to the Bush administration’s notorious torture memos. Professor Noah Feldman suggested that the OLC again twisted the law to achieve certain ends. Feldman says that critics of the torture memos believed “there was something wrong with the president acting as judge and jury in the war on terrorism.” The ACLU and others have also argued that the Obama administration’s killing of Aulaqi is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the author of the torture memos thinks Obama’s view of executive power is too constrained.
Oct 19
“What,” he asked me, “do you think is the biggest problem in the federal judiciary today?” I was not ready for this question. While I was wholly prepared to expound on myriad topics related to myself — my fascinating background, my ambitious professional aspirations,my storied law review career about which the village children sang songs of praise — I had no idea “the federal judiciary” was a “thing” about which people “thought.” I mumbled something about “finite resources” while the judge avoided making eye contact with me. As it was clear I was going to jabber nervously at him until he invoked the mercy rule, he put up his hand after about forty-five seconds. “No.” he said, leaning back in his chair. “The correct answer is the federalization of street crime.”
The majority in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes wrote that “most managers in any corporation . . . would select sex-neutral, performance-based criteria for hiring and promotion.” Four months after the decision, is this idea finding any traction in the courts?
Oct 18
Israel’s swap of 1 IDF soldier for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners raises serious questions regarding the likelihood of future terrorist acts carried out by this group, which includes known bombers and murders.
Oct 18
Last week, the “underwear bomber,” also known not nearly so well by the name Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, pleaded guilty to eight charges in a Detroit courtroom. Then, without warning, terrorists burst into the courtroom and blew up the entire building. Congress banded together, speaking in one voice, and passed a bill that required terrorism suspects to be tried in off-shore military tribunals.
Okay, so it’s pretty clear by now that I made that story up. Obviously Congress would never band together for anything.
Oct 17
By applying rational choice theory to voting, one unavoidably concludes that voting to affect electoral outcomes is almost never worth the time and effort. To their credit, proponents of rational voter models have responded in recent years to accommodate an expanded view of ‘rational,’ self-interested behavior in order to better explain voter turnout and voter apathy. Nonetheless, there are inherent limits to an individualized approach that emphasizes private incentives . . . .
Oct 17
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the Canadian Government to allow Insite, a narcotics injection clinic, to remain open. Insite is a clinic at which, among other things, citizens with chemical dependencies are given clean equipment and are observed for possible overdose. Despite case law suggesting drug injection clinics would be afforded no constitutional protection in the United States, it is hard to ignore the close similarities in the constitutional language of two countries grown out of the same common law traditions.
Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law, where he teaches a variety of courses, including one on free speech. He is the author of two casebooks, one book on writing, more than 60 law review articles and more than 80 op-eds. In addition, he is the founder of “The Volokh Conspiracy,” a law-oriented blog that gets 25,000 unique visitors per day. Before joining the academe, Volokh clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Alex Kozinski at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
This creative use of avenues available in international law can also extend to the strategic use of an application to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Under Article 15 of the Rome Statute, the Prosecutor may initiate investigations proprio motu on the basis of information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Building on the recent Palestinian example of a non-state entity approaching the Prosecutor under Article 12 of the Statute, the opposition Syrian National Council can conceivably approach the Prosecutor with a request to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity.
A Harvard Law School Student Journal
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