“Chemistry set with no chemicals”

Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing: “The liability-phobic dilution of kids’ science has reached its apotheosis with ‘CHEMISTRY 60′: a chemistry kit that promises ’60 fun activities with no chemicals.’ Kids are expected to supply the chemicals from their parents’ kitchen cupboards.” [linking to Sean Michael Ragan, MAKE; see also Chemical & Engineering News, RSC]

Several years ago Wired carried a report by Steve Silberman: “Garage chemistry used to be a rite of passage for geeky kids. But in their search for terrorist cells and meth labs, authorities are making a federal case out of DIY science.” The CPSC carries out a war on chemicals that can be used to make illegal fireworks, while a Texas law makes it illegal “to buy such basic labware as Erlenmeyer flasks or three-necked beakers without first registering with the state’s Department of Public Safety to declare that they will not be used to make drugs.” The renowned 1940s and 1950s manufacturer of chemistry sets, Porter ChemCraft of Hagerstown, Md., “produced more than a million chemistry sets before going out of business in the 1980s amid increasing liability concerns.”

Filed under: chemistry sets, CPSC, schools, science and scientists

Federalist Society podcast on Schools for Misrule

Just out: one of the most serious and wide-ranging podcasts yet on my new book, Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America. I’m interviewed by James Haynes of the Society’s Professional Responsibility & Legal Education Practice Group Executive Committee and Baltimore Federalist Society Lawyers Chapter. It’s 53:25 minutes in length and you can listen here. Thanks also to the 100+ Facebook users so far who’ve “liked” the podcast.

Filed under: Facebook, Federalist Society, law schools, on TV and radio, Schools for Misrule

Prospective cop regarded as “paranoid” and “irrational”

A would-be police officer sued the city of Bridgeport, Conn., contending that the police chief had described her behavior as “irrational, irate, and uncooperative as well as paranoid,” which she said should trigger the provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act protecting persons “regarded as” disabled, in this case psychologically disabled. She lost when a court — applying the law as it stood at the time of her termination in mid-2008, before Congress expanded it — deemed the chief’s alleged comments to be colloquial rather than an attempt at a clinical evaluation. As the court noted, however, since 2008 the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) has greatly liberalized the definition of what counts as being “regarded as” disabled — which means her case might have a better chance if it arose today. [Daniel Schwartz]

Filed under: disabled rights, police, workplace

“It would be a miscarriage of justice to permit this case to go to the jury”

The U.S. Department of Justice falls flat on its face in its unsuccessful prosecution of Lauren Stevens, an in-house lawyer and vice president at drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, on charges of lying to the government and obstructing justice during the company’s response to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation of its marketing. [Main Justice]

Filed under: FDA, prosecution

“Nine ways lawyers inflate their bills”

Some law firms set up a separate business to run their conference rooms, enabling them to charge the rooms out for client meetings rather than treat them as overhead. And watch out for hefty charges for the time spent preparing the client’s bill itself. [Dan Fisher, Forbes]

Filed under: feeing frenzy, lawyers

Banning hidden farm videos?

Lawmakers in at least three states have proposed new laws criminalizing the taking of photos on farms without permission of the owner — and sometimes going much further than that, too. The idea is to stop animal-welfare activists from compiling unauthorized footage of allegedly inhumane conditions. I comment on that — and on some related photography and farm issues — at Cato at Liberty.

Filed under: agriculture and farming, animal rights, photography, privacy

May 12 roundup

Alabama state senate bans knowingly giving illegal immigrant ride in your car [Katherine Mangu-Ward]
Cato U., dynamite summer seminar from my institute, being held this year in Annapolis Jul. 24-29;
Calif.: “64% of Prop 65 settlements go to attorneys’ fees” [CJAC, earlier]
Mississippi jury votes $322 million to individual asbestos claimant [Fair Warning, Mass Tort Prof]
“Emails: Attorney nixed S.C. train injury fund” [AP/The State]
Trump files $100 million counterclaim against customer who sued his “Trump University” [Atlantic Wire, earlier] More: Lowering the Bar.
Two, three, a trend? Another trial-lawyer movie, this time starring Mark Lanier [WSJ Law Blog]

Filed under: Alabama, asbestos, Cato Institute, Donald Trump, immigration law, Mark Lanier, Mississippi, movies film and videos, Prop 65, South Carolina, train

“Why we won’t link…”

It has to do with RightHaven: “Why We Won’t Link To Denver Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Salt Lake Tribune, and Several Others” [Box Turtle Bulletin]

Filed under: online speech, RightHaven

Update: Foreclosing his options

California authorities have revoked the license to practice of attorney Michael T. Pines, who advised clients to break into their foreclosed homes [Funnell, earlier]

Filed under: California, discipline, mortgages

“UK advocacy group proposes to sue predator drone operators”

Kenneth Anderson at Instapundit notes the latest outbreak of “lawfare,” the use of litigation against diplomatic and military actors. “As with most of these advocacy campaigns, the point is not to win cases, but to create a public narrative that says the practice is unsavory and illegitimate, and leverage that into personal legal uncertainty for officials, whether in office or once they leave government.” I’ve got much more on the phenomenon — and its large base of support in present-day legal academia — in Schools for Misrule.

Separately, Gabriel Schoenfeld at National Affairs argues that “when it comes to the American government’s efforts to provide for the common defense, a far-reaching legalism has taken hold,” and Anderson has more on the legalities of last week’s Bin Laden raid.

Filed under: international human rights, military, terrorism