When speaking of rights

When speaking of rights, note that the word “right” “means many things, and has long meant many things.” A statement such as “Governments do not have rights, only individuals have rights” might cohere and be worth discussion as an claim of political philosophy, but does not accurately track the usage of the word “rights” in the Anglo-American legal system, now or in the past. [Eugene Volokh, post series one, two, three, four]

Public employment roundup

Penn Law reparations conference

More on Penn’s fair-and-balanced reparations conference, and earlier conferences in its Edward V. Sparer Symposium series, here. My two cents on the reparations campaign here, or in greater detail in Schools for Misrule.

Environment roundup

“They confessed to minor crimes. Then City Hall billed them $122K in ‘prosecution fees'”

“In Indio and Coachella, prosecutors take property owners to court for some of the smallest crimes, then bill them thousands and threaten to take their homes if they don’t pay.” [Brett Kelman, The Desert Sun, California, via Dan Mitchell who besides citing this story, and my writing on the new Philadelphia bulletproof glass law, relates local government ticketing sprees arising from Chicago window sign rules and Los Angeles pedestrian laws] The Institute for Justice [press release] has now filed a lawsuit challenging the Indio/Coachella practices. [Kelman, Desert Sun]

February 14 roundup

  • “One-Sided Loser Pays Is the Worst of Both Worlds” [Mark Pulliam at his new blog Misrule of Law, and thanks for mention]
  • My first piece for Quillette debunks claims of jump in rate at which gay men are being murdered in U.S.;
  • Welcome news: Department of Justice memo advises DoJ attorneys to seek dismissal of meritless False Claims Act suits [Reuters, Federalist Society teleforum with Brandon Moss, Greg Herbers/WLF, Michael Granston memo]
  • Empirical evidence on factors that lead to approval of low-quality patents [Timothy Lee, ArsTechnica, noting ideas for improving patent review process: (1) eliminate issuance fees, (2) limit re-applications, (3) give senior examiners more time per patent]
  • “Will we see tort reform in the midterms?” [Joseph Cotto interview with me for San Francisco Review of Books, YouTube audio, 33:51]
  • FSMA will drive many smaller farmers/foodmakers out of business, only question is how many [Baylen Linnekin, our earlier]

“What made you think I wanted 53 firms churning on this case?”

“A federal judge in California last week criticized two lawyers for bringing an additional 49 law firms into a data-breach case, raising to 53 the total number of firms representing the plaintiffs….’What made you think I wanted 53 firms churning on this case?’,” asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, telling lawyers from Altschuler Berzon and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll that she was “deeply disappointed.” Koh went on to grant a request for a special master filed by Ted Frank, class action reformer with CEI and formerly a blogger in this space. [Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal]

Wage and hour roundup

Upcoming speeches: Pitt Law, IU-Bloomington

Pittsburgh and Indiana readers! I will be giving talks about gerrymandering and redistricting reform this Thursday (Pittsburgh) and Mar. 20 (Bloomington, Ind.). Details of the lunchtime talks:

Feb. 15: Pitt Law School Federalist Society chapter, with Duquesne Law Prof. Will Huhn.

Mar. 20: Indiana University Maurer School of Law Federalist Society chapter.

If you’re a longtime reader and would like to see if we could grab coffee, email editor at overlawyered dot com.

Relatedly, I’m pleased to report that my piece on politicians, voters, and gerrymandering is the lead essay in the latest Cato Policy Report, and that it’s now online.