- “Tenured Wisconsin Prof Sues Former Student Over Online Comments on Her Teaching” [Caron/TaxProf]
- Recent Paul Alan Levy profile: “The web bully’s worst enemy” [Washingtonian] HHS signals it won’t pursue case against blogger [Levy, earlier] Arizona Yelp case angle [Scott Greenfield]
- Get your ideas out of town: threats against hotel “have escalated to include death threats, physical violence against our staff and other guests” [Deadline Detroit; “men’s rights movement” conference]
- UK police investigate Baptist church after “burn in Hell” sign reported as “hate incident” [Secular Right]
- Please don’t give him ideas: “Should it be against the law to criticize Harry Reid?” [Trevor Burrus, Boston Herald]
- “MAP: The places where blasphemy could get you punished” [Washington Post]
- Only three states – Wisconsin, Michigan, and Kansas — have laws inviting vengeful secret John Doe probes [Ilya Shapiro, earlier]
Archive for 2014
Of associational freedom, nary a crumb left
A discrimination-law panel in the state of Colorado has confirmed a ruling that Jack Phillips, a baker of wedding cakes, cannot turn away a gay couple’s request based on religious scruples, and further ruled, quoting the Denver Post, that he is “to submit quarterly reports for two years that show how he has worked to change discriminatory practices by altering company policies and training employees. Phillips also must disclose the names of any clients who are turned away.” [Scott Shackford; CBS Denver]
Posner tosses “scandalous” settlement: lawyers “sold out” clients
“A federal appeals court has rejected an ‘inequitable — even scandalous’ class-action settlement, removed the lead lawyer and reinstated ‘defrocked’ lead plaintiffs who had objected to the deal.” The ruling, involving a class action against the Pella Corp., window manufacturers, is another triumph for Ted Frank, former contributor to this blog and now a prominent objector through his Center for Class Action Fairness. [ABA Journal, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (“attorneys would receive $11 million in fees while their clients would get, at most, $8.5 million — and likely much less”)]
US customs seizes 7 violin bows from Budapest orchestra
The feds’ insane war on antiques and musical instruments continues. “Orchestra spokesman Adèl Tossenberger said in an e-mail that the seized bows did not contain any ivory and the orchestra received a certificate from a Hungarian expert verifying this.” It is unclear why they had to pay a $525 fine anyway. A few days earlier, according to a German publication, “the Munich Philharmonic nearly cancelled three performances at Carnegie Hall in April after that orchestra’s string players could not produce CITES certificates for their bows.” [WQXR, The Violin Channel] Earlier on the old-ivory ban here, here, and here; on musical instruments here, here, and here.
Police and prosecution roundup
- As condition of bail, federal magistrate orders arrestee to recant charge of government misconduct [Eugene Volokh]
- Possible life sentence for pot brownies shows “utterly irrational consequences of pretending drugs weigh more than they do” [Jacob Sullum, Radley Balko] Life sentence for guy who sold LSD: “the prosecutor was high-fiving [the] other attorneys” [Sullum]
- Do low-crime small towns across America really need MRAP (mine-resistant ambush-protected) armored vehicles and other military gear, thanks to federal programs? [Balko]
- Minnesota reforms its use of asset forfeiture [Nick Sibilla, FIRE] Rhode Island, Texas could stand to follow [Balko]
- If not for video, would anyone believe a story about Santa Clara deputies “spiking” premises with meth after finding no illegal drugs? [Scott Greenfield]
- Falsely accused of abuse: “He Lost 3 Years and a Child, but Got No Apology” [Michael Powell, NY Times “Gotham”; Amine Baba-Ali case]
- Two federal judges denounce feds’ “let’s knock over a stash house” entrapment techniques as unconstitutional [Brad Heath, USA Today]
“Defiance” no longer grounds for suspension in L.A. schools
Under pressure from higher-ups, Los Angeles schools have sharply reduced suspensions of disruptive kids — or have they just reduced the rate at which they report suspensions? At any rate, no one seems to be happy. “Last year, the L.A. school board became the first in the state to ban defiance as grounds for suspension; legislation would expand that ban statewide. … those in the trenches say it hasn’t been easy to comply with the mandates.” [L.A. Times, with comments; more on school discipline]
Chicago enlists in war on painkillers
“Following in the footsteps of two California counties, the city of Chicago this week filed suit against five pharmaceutical companies, contending that they drove up the city’s costs by overstating the benefits of their addictive painkillers and failing to reveal the downside of taking the drugs.” [ABA Journal, Bloomberg] The city’s press release asserts, among other things: “there is no scientific evidence supporting the long-term use of these drugs [opioids] for non-cancer chronic pain.”
Suits like this are typically, though not invariably, concocted by private law firms which then pitch them to governments hoping for contingency-fee representation deals. (Orange and Santa Clara are the California counties that have signed on to such actions.) For more on the war on painkillers and their marketing, check the ample resources at Reason mag from Jacob Sullum, Brian Doherty, and others; note also a recent book, A Nation in Pain by Judy Foreman, via Tyler Cowen. Our earlier coverage is here.
NLRB: employer policy may not prohibit negativity and gossip
In an April decision, the National Labor Relations Board found largely unlawful a hospital’s employee handbook policy as follows:
…11. We will not make negative comments about our fellow team members and we will take every opportunity to speak well of each other.
16. We will represent [the hospital] in the community in a positive and professional manner in every opportunity.
21. We will not engage in or listen to negativity or gossip. We will recognize that listening without acting to stop it is the same as participating.
The reason? Under NLRB doctrine, in both non-union and union workplaces, negative discussion of managers and other co-workers could count as “protected activities” linked to the potential for concerted labor action.
[Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, on the April case of Hills & Dales General Hospital (PDF)]
House votes to defund Operation Choke Point
The vote, which has occasioned little notice thus far in the press, took place on a proposed amendment brought to the House floor by Rep. Blane Luetkemeyer (R-Missouri) and co-sponsored by three Democratic members (Cardenas, Hastings, Perlmutter) as well as two other Republicans (Mulvaney, Yoder) [Kelly Riddell, Washington Times] The investigation by Rep. Issa’s committee released last week capped a steadily mounting furor, starting among groups like payday lenders experiencing reduced access to the banking system but spreading to various “vice” businesses and the firearms community — assuming the administration is still distinguishing the latter from the former. Earlier here, here, here, etc.
Former Brooklyn D.A. charged with misuse of funds
Critics of asset forfeiture have warned for years that it not only warps the priorities and incentives of law enforcement agencies, but creates a slush fund ripe for abuse by sidestepping the appropriations process. Now investigators accuse longterm Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes of using forfeiture funds to pay more than $200,000 to a P.R. consultant whose labors were largely devoted to advancing Hynes’s campaign. The consultant’s firm was paid more than $1 million over a decade. [New York Times]