Will the departing Obama administration Department of Justice persuade the departing administration of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to lock the city into an expensive, rigid police consent decree? [George Liebmann, Baltimore Sun]
Archive for December, 2016
An army of cosmetologist-informants, cont’d
New Illinois legislation signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner will force hairdressers, as a prerequisite of licensing, to take training in detecting evidence of domestic violence [Ann Althouse, New York Times] Earlier here (Ohio requires training in recognizing signs of human trafficking) and here (programs in at least eight states as of 2006, generally not however conscripting the beauty professionals’ participation).
More from Mark Steyn:
…in the Fifties one in 20 members of the workforce needed government permission to do his job. Now it’s one in three. The original justification for requiring a government permit to cut another person’s hair is that a salon contains potentially dangerous chemicals such as coloring products. Making the license conditional upon acing sexual-assault training courses is not just the usual Big Government expansion but the transformation of the relationship between a private business and the state.
“Caffeine DUI”? Not really
Thanks, everyone, for pitching that “caffeine DUI” story but it doesn’t really show Solano County, Calif. charging anyone with such an offense. [Guardian] Indeed, as the 11th paragraph gets around to explaining, “The charge of driving under the influence is not based upon the presence of caffeine in his system,” in the prosecutor’s words. The question is whether, following tests that the defense lawyer says clear Mr. Schwab of any suggestion of intoxicants in his system, the prosecution should have to explain its reasons for not dropping charges originally premised on what an officer said was erratic driving. Anyway, it was a nice story.
Update: charges dropped.
Supreme Court roundup
- How feckless for an editorial board to undermine institutional legitimacy of a key check on executive power, the Supreme Court, by spreading notion that some of its seats are “stolen” [New York Times]
- Eastern District of Tumbleweeds? High court asked to curtail forum shopping in patent suits [Washington Legal Foundation on TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, more on E.D. Tex.]
- Federal charges result in plea deal. State then charges defendant over same conduct. Ought to call it double jeopardy, even if that means overturning misguided “dual sovereignty” doctrine [Ilya Shapiro and Thomas Berry on cert petition in Walker v. Texas]
- “Justices Struggle With Cheerleader Uniform Case That Holds Big Implications For Fashion” [Daniel Fisher on Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands]
- More Federalist panels on Justice Scalia’s influence: showcase panel on his constitutional influence; federalism and separation of powers with Roger Pilon et al.; the impact of his writing style; criminal law and the Fourth Amendment; Heller, guns, and the Second Amendment;
- Appointments Clause makes one of few checks on unaccountable-by-design CFPB, Court should enforce it seriously [Ilya Shapiro on cert petition in Gordon v. CFPB]
December 28 roundup
- Washington Supreme Court: psychiatrist can be sued for failure to act when patient expressed homicidal thoughts, even though signs did not point to particular victim [Seattle Times, opinion in Volk v. DeMeerleer; compare Tarasoff duty-to-warn line of cases]
- University of Oregon, which suspended a law professor over an off-campus Hallowe’en costume, could use a refresher on free speech [Josh Blackman, Jonathan Turley, Hans Bader, Susan Kruth/FIRE, Eugene Volokh]
- Prenda Law saga continues: “Feds charge porn-troll lawyers in major fraud, extortion case” [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Joe Mullin/ArsTechnica, indictment, our past coverage including this on attorney Hansmeier’s branching out into ADA web-accessibility complaints]
- Alas, incoming Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a big defender of civil asset forfeiture [George Will, syndicated/San Angelo (Tex.) Standard-Times]
- Oklahoma law will force restaurants, hotels among others to post signs aimed at discouraging abortion [AP, Eugene Volokh]
- Time to repeal the Community Reinvestment Act [Howard Husock]
“The 10 most ridiculous lawsuits of 2016”
The Chamber of Commerce’s picks for the honor include a Georgia jury’s finding a woman only 8 percent responsible for her $161,000 injuries as she walked into a ladder while texting on her cellphone, a student’s complaint that the College Board omitted from SAT scoring a section where a typo had led some students to get extra time, and a would-be class action against MasterCard for not pulling down a cancer-research promotion at once when the $30 million fundraising target had been met. [New York Post]
Germany mulls crackdown on social media speech
In the name of combating harms from false reports as well as injury to reputation, the government of Germany is considering imposing a tough legal regime on Facebook and other social media sites. Next year it “will take up a bill that’d let it fine social networks like Facebook $500,000 [per post] for each day they leave a ‘fake news’ post up without deleting it.” Both official and private complainants could finger offending material. The new law would also require social networks to create in-country offices charged with rapid response to takedown demands, and would make the networks responsible for compensation when posts by their individual users were found to have defamed someone. [David Meyer Lindenberg, Fault Lines; Parmy Olson, Forbes]
P.S. If not closely, then at least distantly related: “Ridiculous German Court Ruling Means Linking Online Is Now A Liability” [Mike Masnick, TechDirt]
“For women, heavy drinking has been normalized”
Drinking rates for women have risen, and the Washington Post takes the time-honored route of blaming the advertisers. Some Twitter reactions: “In all fairness, the advertisers have been strapping them down w/ duct tape and pouring the booze down their throats.” [@jeffsiegel] “PSA: (Most) Grown women have the mental faculties to make their own choices, and that’s a good thing.” [@katmurti] And if women weren’t targeted, WaPo’s OpEd: “Can we talk about the fact alcohol is primarily marketed to men?” [@alex_amurillo]
Lawsuit: components of McDonald’s value meal were cheaper separately
A lawsuit claims a McDonald’s franchisee should pay because the components of its “Extra Value Meal” were cheaper separately [Chicago Tribune]
“Canadians Puzzled by Warning That Snow Globes May Cause Cancer”
“Canadians shopping at Lowe’s recently were surprised to learn that the decorative snow globes they were holding might trigger an allergic skin reaction, or even cause cancer. Or so said the warning labels.” Yet another ripple from California’s Prop 65 [Lowering the Bar]