John Culbreath Blog

A landmark in debates over the use of eminent domain takings for private development, the General Motors Hamtramck facility is now slated for closure. [ Gideon Kanner , Ilya Somin ] Filed under: Detroit , eminent domain , General Motors “Bye, bye General Motors Poletown Plant” curated from Overlawyered

Sorry, Denver cops, but you can’t keep a journalist from photographing an arrest on the street by telling her she’s violating the health-privacy law HIPAA [ Alex Burness, Colorado Independent on handcuffing of editor Susan Greene] Conor Friedersdorf interviews Scott Greenfield, criminal defense blogger and longtime friend of this blog, at the Atlantic ; Claim in new article: “extremely broad criminal statutes, no less than vague and ambiguous criminal statutes, are constitutionally problematic for depriving ordinary people of ‘fair notice’ about how the legal system actually works” [Kiel Brennan-Marquez guest series at Volokh Conspiracy: first , second , third ] “We Cannot Avoid the Ugly Tradeoffs of Bail Reform” [ Alex Tabarrok ; Scott Greenfield ] New York should learn from Maryland on risks of unintended consequences [ New York Post , and thanks for mention] And a Cato Daily Podcast on bail reform with Daniel Dew of the Buckeye Institute and Caleb Brown; In Little Rock and el...

“A federal judge in Washington brought the hammer down on uber-litigious Fox Rothschild client Strike 3 Holdings, calling it a copyright troll that ‘treats this court not as a citadel of justice, but as an ATM.’… ‘Armed with hundreds of cut-and-pasted complaints and boilerplate discovery motions, Strike 3 floods this courthouse (and others around the country) with lawsuits smacking of extortion. It treats this Court not as a citadel of justice, but as an ATM.” Lamberth goes on to say his court declines “to oversee a high-tech shakedown,” and adds much colorful detail about the plaintiffs’ methods. Los Angeles-based Fox Rothschild partner Lincoln Bandlow, who is said to coordinate the Strike 3 Holdings campaign, said that an appeals court would “correct this anomalous decision.” [ Roy Strom, American Lawyer ] Tags: copyright , serial litigants Judge Lamberth blasts copyright lawsuit mill curated from Overlawyered

This past weekend I joined West Coast-based libertarian radio host Bob Zadek for an hour-long show on redistricting reform. I discussed the same issue as it applies to my own state of Maryland in a podcast with the Frederick News Post’s Emma Kerr and Colin McGuire , as well as an interview with host Sheilah Kast at WYPR’s “On the Record” . Separately from my Cato and Overlawyered work, I am honored that on Monday Gov. Larry Hogan appointed me to serve together with Judge Alex Williams as co-chairs of a new emergency commission given the task of redrawing the lines of Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District so as to comply with a federal court order. Coverage of that at WBAL , Maryland Reporter , Washington Post , Baltimore Sun and Capital Gazette , AP/ABC , Frederick News Post , Herald Mail (Hagerstown), WMAR , Maryland Matters , and many others. Maryland citizens are encouraged to apply to serve on the resulting commission; applications close December 10. Tags: Maryland , on TV ...

For many lawyers, partnership is the brass ring they have long sought. But compensation and other aspects of partnership are not necessarily in line with… Only 57 percent of new partners are satisfied with pay; they may earn less than senior associates curated from ABA Journal Daily News - Business of Law

Boundaries are important. In sports, they define the area of play. In real estate, they designate what one owns. And in personal relationships, they mark the emotional and physical limits everyone establishes in order to protect themselves from being manipulated, used, or violated by someone else. In short, personal boundaries mark the place where one individual ends and another begins. Why is this important in the context of practicing law? Because when two people enter an attorney-client relationship...... Written by Mark Bassingthwaighte Why Lawyers Need to Be Aware of Personal Boundaries curated from Solo Practice University®

Georgia woman jailed for three months after field drug test misidentifies contents of plastic bag in her car, which she had told disbelieving officers contained blue cotton candy [ WMAZ ] Related: Georgia “Drug Recognition Expert” officers sometimes arrest drivers who are sober [ Brendan Keefe and Michael King, WMAZ in January] “What I call the four forces of the regulatory state — regulation by administration, prosecution, and litigation; and progressive anti-federalism—operate mostly independently of Congress, notwithstanding the legislative branch’s constitutional power to ‘regulate Commerce … among the several States.'” [ Jim Copland, City Journal ] Rights of associational privacy: Bradley Smith of the Institute for Free Speech comments on the ongoing relevance on the 60th anniversary of NAACP v. Alabama [ Cato Daily Podcast with Brad Smith and Caleb Brown] “If you’ve flown on a major airline within the past 7 years, you might be cashing in” although the settlement websit...

Accounting firm KPMG currently employs 1,800 lawyers in offices across 75 countries, and it has plans to expand the number. Within the next few… KPMG aims to employ 3,000 lawyers within the next few years curated from ABA Journal Daily News - Business of Law

“A decade ago, the U.S. mandated the use of vegetable oil in biofuels, leading to industrial-scale deforestation — and a huge spike in carbon emissions.” A New York Times / ProPublica investigation by Abrahm Lustgarten. Excerpt: In the mid-2000s, Western nations, led by the United States, began drafting environmental laws that encouraged the use of vegetable oil in fuels — an ambitious move to reduce carbon dioxide and curb global warming. But these laws were drawn up based on an incomplete accounting of the true environmental costs. Despite warnings that the policies could have the opposite of their intended effect, they were implemented anyway, producing what now appears to be a calamity with global consequences. The tropical rain forests of Indonesia, and in particular the peatland regions of Borneo, have large amounts of carbon trapped within their trees and soil. Slashing and burning the existing forests to make way for oil-palm cultivation had a perverse effect: It released m...

“Big internet platforms for speech are privately owned, but those who would pressure private firms to restrict speech are often the same people who would substantially restrict the rights of people to speak. John Samples and Emily Ekins discuss how Americans think about free speech today and ways to defend it in the modern age.” [ Cato Daily Podcast with Caleb Brown] Filed under: Facebook , free speech , social media , Twitter Free speech and social media moderation curated from Overlawyered

So many private actors, from Michael Bloomberg on down, helped steer New York AG office to sue Exxon [ John Solomon, The Hill ; Tom Stebbins, Crain’s New York Business ; Francis Menton, RealClearEnergy ; earlier here , here , here , here , etc. ] “Whatever the merits of the plaintiffs’ policy objectives, their campaign to circumvent the political branches poses a serious threat to the rule of law and the constitutional principle of separation of powers.” [ Jim Huffman, Quillette ] “Emails Show Law Firm Pitched San Francisco on Idea of Suing Energy Producers” [ Todd Shepherd, Free Beacon ] Supreme Court heard oral argument last month on the dusky gopher frog habitat case, Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service [ Faimon Roberts, The Advocate ; Rick Hills, PrawfsBlawg ; earlier here and here ] Court has ordered reargument on cemetery-trespass takings case Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania [ Gideon Kanner ; earlier here , here , here , and here ; Ilya Somin and more...

A coordinated national campaign promotes enactment of Marsy’s Law, a set of victim’s rights enactments that have been added to state constitutions in many states. (Marsy’s Law amendments were on six state ballots this fall, and did well .) My colleague Roger Pilon testified in 1997 against a proposed federal constitutional amendment . Now a South Dakota version of such a law is being used by police officers to conceal their identities from the public after a shooting by a police officer of a civilian who was subsequently charged with assaulting the trooper. Similar claims of confidentiality have been made under other states’ Marsy’s Laws to prevent disclosure of names of officers who have carried out shootings. [ Scott Shackford, Reason ] More on the problems with victims’ rights laws from Scott Greenfield (“a right has been created for the ‘victim,’ which is curious since there is no victim until there’s a crime, and there is no crime until a jury says there is….many of these ‘rig...

Lawyers’ pro bono publico work has long since expanded past the provision of legal services to indigent persons to include a range of ideological, social-change, and “impact” litigation and legal work. While such figures as Second Circuit chief judge Dennis Jacobs and my former Manhattan Institute colleague Heather Mac Donald have proposed critiques of its excesses over the years, big-firm pro bono is still wrapped in a cocoon of self-congratulation, spun in part from unexamined premises about (among other issues) who should count as the poor and what as the public interest. Mark Pulliam has a two-part series at Law and Liberty (and thanks for the citations in each): first , second based on a longer article on his Misrule of Law blog. My views of what is in the public interest don’t always line up with Pulliam’s, but in a way that reinforces one of his points here, doesn’t it? Tags: pro bono Mark Pulliam on pro bono excesses curated from Overlawyered

In New York, unlike some other states, the law permits liberal use in business lending of a device called confession of judgment, in which borrowers “sign a statement giving up their right to defend themselves if the lender takes them to court.” Among the consequences: the lender may hold the wherewithal to seize the borrower’s assets unilaterally upon filing affidavits. Following the growth of lenders who advance cash to small businesses at extremely high interest rates, tens of thousands of business borrowers have experienced enforcement actions, often filed in upstate New York counties with little connection to either lender or borrower. Sharp practices? “In dozens of interviews and court pleadings, borrowers describe lenders who’ve forged documents, lied about how much they were owed, or fabricated defaults out of thin air.” [ Zachary R. Mider and Zeke Faux, Bloomberg , in what is billed as the first of a series on the merchant cash advance industry] Tags: debtor-creditor law , Ne...

In California, ambulance companies pay local governments for monopoly franchises on 911 calls, then send the bill to insurers: “So cash strapped counties are in on the business of fleecing insurance companies, and through them, people and businesses who pay premiums” [ John H. Cochrane ] Filed under: antitrust , California , emergency services Monopoly 911 ambulance franchise laws curated from Overlawyered

“If a judge accepts the agreement, Philadelphia’s process of seizing many millions of dollars in property from innocent owners will be dismantled. Darpana Sheth of the Institute for Justice explains why” in this Cato Daily Podcast with Caleb Brown. More: Tom McDonald, WHYY ; C.J. Ciaramella, Reason ; Tim Cushing, Techdirt , and earlier from our long-running coverage of Philadelphia’s remarkable and outrageous forfeiture practices. Filed under: forfeiture , Philadelphia Philadelphia might finally clean up its forfeiture act curated from Overlawyered

“A Decade After Realizing It Can’t Threaten A Critic Online, UCLA Returns To Threaten A Critic Online” [ Mike Masnick, TechDirt ; Adam Steinbaugh, FIRE ] “D.C. Bureaucrats Are Trying to Make Parents Get a License to Let Children Play Together” [ Kerry McDonald, FEE ; Karin Lips, Washington Post ; Lenore Skenazy, Reason ] “If you were ripped off by a couple of companies that enrolled consumers in membership-rewards programs without their consent, congratulations, you’re entitled to a $20 credit to buy more stuff from them. Ninth Circuit: Your class counsel, however, is probably not entitled to $8.7 million in attorney’s fees for winning you a coupon.” [ John Kenneth Ross, IJ “Short Circuit” on In Re EasySaver Rewards Litigation ] Congestion highway pricing and the “Lexus Lanes” epithet, supervised injection facilities, single payer in one state and more in my new Maryland roundup at Free State Notes ; Chain that touched off public outrage stands to gain by reaction: “Licensing pet...

Visiting Myrtle Beach for a wedding, two New York women walk by a closed amusement park in the early morning hours and resolve on a joyride: “Even though it was closed, the plaintiffs were easily able to move the unsecured gate at the entrance to the Pipeline Slide and climb the stairs to the top of the slide,” claims the lawsuit. “Without any employees present to instruct them, the plaintiffs were not aware that they needed to have the slide sprayed with water, nor did they know that they needed a burlap sack to safely go down the side.” “Without these safety precautions, the plaintiffs slid down the slide at a very high velocity, colliding with the metal barrier at the bottom of the slide,” the lawsuit also claims. “As a result of the collision, both plaintiffs sustained significant injuries.” Now they want damages against the park on a variety of theories, including punitive damages. [ WBTW ] Tags: amusement parks , personal responsibility Breaking into amusement park, takin...

Man runs for Illinois county judgeship on Republican line under the name Phillip Spiwak, loses, wins after switching to Democratic line, running in Cook County, and changing name to Shannon O’Malley. [ Abigail Blachman, Injustice Watch/Chicago Sun-Times ] Tags: Chicago , judicial elections How to become a judge curated from Overlawyered

Employee with (per Costco) history of “serious misconduct and insubordination” wins $750K after being fired for speaking at too loud a volume, the result she said of deafness-related difficulty in modulating her voice [ Jon Hyman ] “Now What? Disciplining an Employee with a Suspected Addiction or Substance Abuse Issue” [ Dale Deitchler and Jeffrey Dilger, Littler ] ADA: “6th Circuit says full-time work is not an essential function of every full-time job” [ Jon Hyman ] “So, you want to change the essential functions of a particular job, do you? Let’s talk ADA.” [ Eric B. Meyer ] “Our group member has a fragrance sensitivity – and we’re supposed to be hugged to check for any scents” [ Alison Green, Ask a Manager via Hyman] “Is the sexual harassment “groundswell” starting?” [ Robin Shea, Constangy ; state agency volume] “Bracing For The Deluge Of EEOC Lawsuits” [ Gerald Maatman, Seyfarth Shaw ; EEOC filings rise] “Why Doesn’t Diversity Training Work?” [ Frank Dobbin and Alexandra K...

The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, The Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind, a new book by Justin Driver of the University of Chicago Law School, is a cross-cutting look at the constitutional law of American public schools — a change from the usual format of broad constitutional law scholarship, which tends to stick closely to doctrinal categories such as criminal procedure or equal protection. Introduced by Will Baude , Driver guest-posted at the Volokh Conspiracy in September on why the Supreme Court has made a difference ; the high-water mark and retreat of student speech rights ; corporal punishment ; Plyler v. Doe on the education of undocumented minors ; and transgender student restroom cases . He also summed up some of his work in a New York Times op-ed . Filed under: constitutional law , schools Justin Driver, The Schoolhouse Gate curated from Overlawyered

Even in the state of Florida, can this be real? In 2018? Hat tip Rogers Turner. Tags: chasing clients Great moments in legal marketing: billboard pin-ups curated from Overlawyered

This month I’m participating in a Cato Unbound  symposium  on Child Protective Services and family rights. In its lead essay, attorney Diane Redleaf details some of the ways in which CPS agencies  can arm-twist parents  into so-called interim placements and safety plans that separate families with little or no judicial review.  Participant James G. Dwyer, in a response essay,  takes a relatively positive view  of the agencies’s work. My essay, by contrast,  generally backs up  Redleaf’s critique of CPS as a species of government enforcement agency gone wild: far too often, these agencies seize children from parents based on flimsy evidence, second-guess everyday parental behavior and decisions, or act on misguided Drug War zeal. Redleaf in her essay then goes on to raise distinctive objections about how the agencies negotiate with parents before a judge has ruled on their cases, which I paraphrase thus: …what sorts of policy response ...

President Donald Trump’s backing of a version of the First Step Act is a big deal. Among noteworthy features: retrospective relief on some overlong sentences currently being served. In this new Cato Podcast , Caleb Brown interviews Molly Gill of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Tags: crime and punishment , Donald Trump A breakthrough on criminal sentencing reform curated from Overlawyered

Orange County, California voters have declined to re-elect District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, whose doings have provided repeated grist for this space . His successor and former protege sounds like a possible source of grist too: “A Wahoo’s employee told the deputy Spitzer decided to handcuff the preacher because he kept looking at Spitzer.” [ Nick Gerda, Voice of OC ; R. Scott Moxley, OC Weekly ] Filed under: Los Angeles , prosecutorial abuse Orange County voters boot District Attorney Tony Rackauckas curated from Overlawyered

“The court slapped down a South Florida couple’s putative class action lawsuit, which sought $5 million in damages and claimed McDonald’s was wrong to force diners to pay for cheese on Quarter Pounder and Double Quarter Pounder burgers, whether or not they wanted it.” [ Raychel Lean, Daily Business Review/Law.com , earlier here and her e] Tags: antitrust , class actions , McDonald's Court dismisses suit claiming McDonald’s should have discounted hold-the-cheese orders curated from Overlawyered

Animal-welfare regulation vs. rights of expression: “State and federal falcon-speech regulations fall into four categories: (1) generally banning images of falcons in all expression that is not about falcons; (2) specifically banning commercials that feature falcons but are not about falcons; (3) limiting compensation for falcon-related expression; and (4) dictating the content of falcon education programs.” So many different First Amendment problems there, and now “a new lawsuit filed by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the American Falconry Conservancy and its members aims to strike down those anti-speech regulations.” [ Jim Manley, Pacific Legal ] Tags: animals , endangered species , First Amendment “Is this picture of a falcon illegal?” curated from Overlawyered

Last month I shared my first monthly report.  The response really surprised me. That post has had three times as many views as anything I’ve ever written. Some people called it brave, others called it unwise, but it definitely generated interest. I believe it’s because we lawyers are so inclined to hide or posture or self-deceive. Transparency inspires us because we are so disinclined to be transparent. I don’t intend to shake up the industry or anything, nor do I believe this little blog has that capacity. But one day, years from now, a new attorney will land on these monthly reports. She will see that an idiot like me can stumble through and succeed, and she’ll see a path forward. That’s why I’m doing this. So, although month 2 of law practice was super busy and I’ve written here less than I’d like, I knew I had to get out April’s monthly report. Here it is… MONTHLY LANDMARKS Month two was busy. In a good way, in that I had lots of work, but also tougher to stay ahead of...

Police show up to enforce gun confiscation order against Maryland man under new “red flag” law, he brandishes weapon, they shoot him dead [ Leah Crawley and Ashley Barnett, Fox Baltimore; Colin Campbell, Baltimore Sun ] Claim: “The Kavanaugh debacle cost the Democrats the Senate” [ Marc Thiessen ] If I cheer for Neomi Rao is it going to hurt her confirmation chances? [ Jesus Rodriguez, Politico on nomination of OIRA head for Kavanaugh seat on D.C. Circuit] “Please conduct yourself accordingly”: Matthew Whitaker letter to man who complained about World Patent Marketing, on whose advisory board Whitaker sat [ Mike Masnick, TechDirt ] Upholding FCPA prison term, Third Circuit rejects businessman’s argument that bribery deal helped pull population out of poverty in remote part of Siberia [ Matt Miller, PennLive ] Sidetracking a decision on the cy pres merits? Supreme Court calls for supplemental briefing on whether named plaintiffs in Frank v. Gaos “have suffered an ‘injury’ suffici...

From notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, slain in prison earlier this month, some career advice for students: “If You Want To Make Crime Pay, Go To Law School” [ Paul Caron/TaxProf ] Tags: Boston , crime and punishment , law schools , lawyers Advice from Whitey Bulger curated from Overlawyered

A federal judge has ruled the National Rifle Association can proceed with its First Amendment suit against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over his pressure on regulated banks, insurers to cut ties with gun rights advocacy groups like the NRA. “U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy questioned Cuomo’s claim that his messages about the wisdom and propriety of providing financial services to the NRA amount to nothing but legitimate regulatory oversight and protected government speech.” [ Jacob Sullum and background , Eugene Volokh ] “It is well-established under binding federal appeals court decisions that government officials like Cuomo are not allowed to pressure organizations or businesses to cut off services to someone because of their political stances or expression — even when the government official uses informal pressure as opposed to explicit threats. (See, e.g., Rattner v. Netburn , 930 F.2d 204 (2d Cir. 1991)).” [ Hans Bader ] Earlier here , here and here (ACLU files amicus brief def...

The lecture notes are here . Here are a series of  diagrams  to explain the property at issue in Lucas.                 Prop2 Class 24 – Regulatory Takings – Balancing II curated from Josh Blackman's Blog

The lecture notes are here . ConLaw Class 24 – The Travel Ban curated from Josh Blackman's Blog

R. Shep Melnick on his new book The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education [Christina Hoff Sommers review, Education Next ; Brookings ; Melnick in National Affairs ] And three video appearances by the author [ Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth , Hoover Institution , Harvard Program on Constitutional Government ] Some early looks at Department of Education’s planned revamp of Title IX regs [ Robby Soave, Reason and more ; KC Johnson, Minding the Campus ; Shikha Dalmia/The Week ; previously here and here ] “Students Filed Title IX Complaints Against Kavanaugh to Prevent Him From Teaching at Harvard Law” [ Shera S. Avi-Yonah and Jamie D. Halper, Harvard Crimson ] “Professor Defends a Woman Accused of a Sex Crime, University Forces Him to Undergo Sexual Harassment Training” [ Robby Soave on episode at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire; Conor Friedersdorf (training “as a general purpose punishment for alleged wrongthink”)] “Facing Penalties, 100 P...

Since the termination of Operation Choke Point , some have questioned whether Obama-era federal regulators really did engage in systematic and top-down attempts to squeeze off access to financial services for businesses that were lawful but disliked. Now Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) has released documents produced in connection with a lawsuit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. They show extensive pressure by numerous FDIC regional directors and other officials on regulated banks to terminate customer relationships with payday lenders (the banks were generally already not themselves engaged in such lending). They also include repeated wordings about how higher-ups wanted the pressure applied and that banks’ decisions to cut off customers should be styled as if it were a voluntary choice. [Luetkemeyer press release ; Norbert Michel, Forbes ; John Berlau, Forbes ; trade group Community Financial Services of America ] Tags: banks , regulation and its reform Operation ...

#SCOTUS #haiku Collins v. Virginia (5/29/18) No vehicle search In curtilage of a home Without a warrant https://t.co/jNJZjcOZ0F — Supreme Court Haiku (@SupremeHaiku) May 29, 2018 #SCOTUS #haiku Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (5/21/18) NLRA won't Stop solo arbitration If parties agreed https://t.co/G6jq2VzVfv — Supreme Court Haiku (@SupremeHaiku) May 21, 2018 #SCOTUS #haiku Carpenter v. United States (6/22/2018) Cell-site records grab Is a Fourth Amendment Search Likely need warrant https://t.co/Jc92MkhjRX — Supreme Court Haiku (@SupremeHaiku) June 22, 2018 Now out: Supreme Court Haiku paperback makes a perfect fun gift for your literary or contemplative lawyer friend. Tags: humor , Supreme Court In the mail: Supreme Court Haiku curated from Overlawyered

A website devoted to legal issues raised by episodes of the comedy Seinfeld. Check it out! Filed under: broadcasters , humor “Seinfeld Law” curated from Overlawyered

Cato-centric edition: “Fractional reserve banking is at the root of business cycles” is no more persuasive than “fractional-reserve banking is inherently fraudulent” [ George Selgin, Cato Alt-M ] And Cato’s 36th annual monetary conference will be held in DC Nov. 15 with the theme: “Monetary Policy: Ten Years After the Crisis”; Some fear anticompetitive effects from patterns of common ownership of corporate equities among index funds and institutional investors. Not so fast [ Thomas A. Lambert and Michael E. Sykuta, Regulation magazine ] “10 Years Later, Assessing the Dangerous Legacy of TARP” [ John Allison, Real Clear Markets ] “Why Bitcoin Is Not an Environmental Catastrophe” [ Diego Zuluaga, Cato ] Vern McKinley reviews book by advocate of postal banking revival [ Regulation ; earlier here and here ] “America has strong protection of private property rights, is bound by the rule of law, and pays its debts.” Well, for the most part [ Gerald O’Driscoll, Jr., Cato Journal ...

Listen and learn about what potential clients and current clients are really looking for when they reach out to a lawyer for the first and every time thereafter. If you don't know what they want you can be losing business you never even knew you were losing; losing clients you never realized were vulnerable to leaving. I promise it is 43 minutes very well spent. Written by Susan Cartier Liebel The Virtue of Virtual Receptionists – Guest Lecture with Maddy Martin from Smith.ai curated from Solo Practice University®

I’ve posted before about our July Cato conference on adoption, pluralism, and children’s interests. Now Cato’s bimonthly Policy Report has published highlights of the panel on anti-discrimination law and religious agencies, with speakers including Stephanie Barclay of BYU, Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign, Robin Fretwell Wilson of the University of Illinois, and me. One of my comments about pluralism and freedom in the system: “When I began reading about adoption, I realized for about the umpteenth time how glad I was to live in America.” Not that the system isn’t full of problems: on the grueling 26-year litigation in the New York City foster care case, Wilder v. Bernstein, see this 2011 piece of mine . Tags: adoption , live in person , religious discrimination , religious liberty , sexual orientation Anti-discrimination law and the future of adoption curated from Overlawyered

Shipping & Transit LLC (formerly known as ArrivalStar) had filed hundreds of cases claiming old patents give it a right to royalties over computer vehicle tracking, but “about 15 months ago, judges began to rule against [it] for the first time. That seems to have put a damper on its entire business model.” [ Cyrus Farivar, ArsTechnica ] Tags: patent trolls “Notorious patent enforcement entity values its entire portfolio at $2, folds” curated from Overlawyered

The lecture notes are here . Snyder v. Phelps This  Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder  who was killed in Iraq in 2006. The Westboro Baptists protested outside the cemetery during Snyder’s funeral. The family did not see the protestors at the time, and only became aware of their presence later. The Baptists protest funerals, always quietly, holding up signs with these sorts of messages: The case was argued for Respondents by Margie Phelps, who is Fred Phelp’s daughter. The evening before oral arguments at the Supreme Court, I conducted this interview with Orlando Bethel from Alabama who was not a member of Phelps’s church, but was sympathetic to his views, and perspectives on constitutional law. Matal v. Tam The Slants:   Employment Division v. Smith   During a recent trip to Salem, Oregon, I stopped at the Oregon Division of Employment, which (at some point) was renamed the Oregon Employment Department. Of course, this was the origi...