reparations – Overlawyered

October 23 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 10:01:16 +0000

“Per Hailey’s Law, Washington state police are required to impound a vehicle any time they arrest the driver for a DUI, regardless of whether the car is off the road or someone else can safely drive it away. But that violates the state’s constitution, explains the Washington Supreme Court, because warrantless seizures require individualized consideration of the circumstances. This law eliminates that individualized consideration, and the legislature cannot legislate constitutional rights away.” [Institute for Justice “Short Circuit” on Washington v. Villela, in which it signed on to (IJ signed on to an amicus brief; David Rasbach, Bellingham Herald)
“The Great American Vape Panic of 2019 Is Producing Some Wild Lawsuits” [Alex Norcia, Vice; Priscilla DeGregory and Ben Feuerherd, New York Post]
Federal judge rejects state’s challenge to SALT tax revisions, push to raise minimum legal age for marriage, aerial police surveillance in Baltimore, pension funding and more in my new Maryland policy roundup [Free State Notes] Yuripzy Morgan took time on her WBAL radio show to discuss my article on the Supreme Court’s consideration of job bias law and you can listen here;
Great moments in reparations: candidates propose dropping cash from airplanes on neighborhoods that were redlined 50+ years ago. But mostly different people live there now [Robert VerBruggen, National Review; Andre M. Perry and David Harshbarger, Brookings Institution]
Full Fifth Circuit should review ruling upholding Indian Child Welfare Act against constitutional challenge [Ilya Shapiro on Cato amicus brief seeking en banc reconsideration in Brackeen v. Bernhard; earlier]
Bay Area: “Donor who gave $45K to elect sheriff got coveted gun permit from her office” [Josh Koehn, Matthias Gafni and Joaquin Palomino, San Francisco Chronicle; Santa Clara County, Calif.]

Tags: age of majority, Bay Area, DUI, Fourth Amendment, guns, Maryland, reparations, tobacco, Washington state

October 23 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Harvard sued over slave daguerreotypes

Walter Olson — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 15:58:55 +0000

Meritless lawsuits should not be welcome in our legal system: a woman who says she is descended from a slave photographed on the 1850 orders of scientist Louis Agassiz is suing Harvard for recovery of the early photo and for unspecified damages. [Joey Garrison, USA Today]

Tags: Harvard, photography, reparations, statutes of limitations

Harvard sued over slave daguerreotypes is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Hello again, reparations

Walter Olson — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 16:57:23 +0000

Ten years ago I wrote this piece for City Journal pronouncing slavery reparations dead as a national cause. Now, as Astead W. Herndon reports in the New York Times, presidential candidates are getting behind the word: Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) affirmed her support, and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) “also said she supported reparations for black Americans impacted by slavery — a policy that experts say could cost several trillion dollars, and one that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and many top Democrats have not supported.” Did I speak too soon?

One complication is that while candidates have begun using the word, it’s often to describe policies that wouldn’t fit the definition accepted up to now. For example, as I noted in the City Journal piece, beginning in the 1960s many programs were enacted aiding poor persons of all races, often conceptualized and argued for as an alternative to more explicit race-based reparations. Some of the candidates who now describe themselves as being for reparations are vague about whether they intend to go beyond support for new programs that are formally race-neutral. [Jeff Stein, Washington Post]

Tags: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, reparations

Hello again, reparations is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Penn Law reparations conference

Walter Olson — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 05:05:21 +0000

Something about the graphic for this symposium leads me to believe that it's not going to be a forum for the exchange of different points of view about the issue. I can't quite put my finger on it. pic.twitter.com/mQlgUgZkox

— Robert Anderson (@ProfRobAnderson) January 10, 2018

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.

Tags: law schools, reparations

Penn Law reparations conference is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 11 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 12:20:06 +0000

Group letters by law professors opposing nominees should be treated with the respect due, normally zero [John McGinnis, Michael Krauss, Paul Caron/TaxProf with links to columns by Stephen Presser, Scott Douglas Gerber, and James Huffman]
USA, courthouse to the world for compensation claims, even 100+ years later [Guardian on suit in Manhattan federal court by descendants of atrocities committed by Germans in what is now Namibia in early 1900s]
Marvels of NYC tenant law: “Couple renting Chelsea pad hasn’t paid rent since 2010” [New York Post]
Election results could mean 11th-hour save for embattled cause of consumer arbitration [Liz Kramer/Stinson Leonard Street LLP]
Baltimore policing, family leave in Montgomery County, Uber/Lyft fingerprinting, getting money out of Howard County politics, and more in my latest Maryland policy roundup at Free State Notes;
Speaking of ridesharing and regulation: “Without Uber or Lyft, Austin Experiences Skyrocketing DUI Rates” [Brittany Hunter, FEE]

Tags: Germany, landlord tenant law, law schools, Maryland, reparations, taxis and ridesharing

January 11 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 2 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 16:06:48 +0000

Clarence Thomas completes a quarter century of distinguished service on the Supreme Court, not that certain journalists will ever see past their loathing [Adam White, Weekly Standard; Ann Althouse]
Hollywood actor’s lawsuit-related vengefulness against anonymous Twitter troll endures past death [Mike Masnick]
United Nations panel: U.S. owes racial reparations [PBS]
“Yesterday’s Antitrust Laws Can’t Solve Today’s Problems” [Tyler Cowen]
“As a gay man, I’m horrified that Christian bakers are being forced to surrender their beliefs” [Neil Midgley, Telegraph on ruling by Belfast, Northern Ireland court of appeal]
Another review of Naomi Schaefer Riley’s new book, The New Trail of Tears: How Washington Is Destroying American Indians [W. B. Allen, earlier] ABA Journal covers ongoing controversy over Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) [earlier]

Tags: antitrust, celebrities, Clarence Thomas, Indian tribes, reparations, United Nations

November 2 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

February 3 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 05:05:19 +0000

To what extent should law schools pursue missions other than that of training lawyers to practice competently? [Ken at Popehat]
Survivors of woman slain in terror attack seek $200 million from county of San Bernardino [Courthouse News] A pertinent 2001 Elizabeth Cabraser quote about terrorism and litigation: “If we sue each other, the terrorists win. We need to be united.”
Self-driving car revolution is coming quickly, but there might still be time for feds to mess it up [Randal O’Toole]
“NYT throws hissy-fit, sues over use of thumbnails in critical book” [Rebecca Tushnet via Mike Masnick, TechDirt]
New laws from Brussels could endanger thousands of historic guns in British museums [Telegraph]
Drawing on the organization’s entire moral authority, i.e. none at all, United Nations panel calls for U.S. to pay slavery reparations [Independent, Vice]
Aviary Attorney: “The hottest bird lawyering game to come out of 1840s France!” [Steampowered via Lowering the Bar]

Tags: autos, guns, law schools, New York Times, photography, reparations, terrorism, United Nations

February 3 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

January 27 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 05:05:23 +0000

Fee-vergnügen: John Edwards, who knows a thing or two about tactical concealment, seeks to rep Volkswagen owners in mass litigation [Grist, Politico]
Speaking of auto litigation: first General Motors ignition case goes to trial, automaker charges fraud, plaintiffs hire criminal counsel [Bloomberg, more]
The Maryland redistricting project I was involved in this past fall has now resulted in a bill filed with the legislature by Gov. Larry Hogan [Danielle Gaines/Frederick News-Post, WBAL, Anjali Shastry/Washington Times, Baltimore Sun, earlier]
Discovery and other procedural reforms in the federal courts: “Chief Justice Roberts on speedier civil litigation … and dueling?” [Howard Wasserman, PrawfsBlawg]
Shackled Philly priest died in prison, accused by “Billy Doe.” But how well does Doe’s story hold up? Questions about another big sex assault story from Rolling Stone/Sabrina Rubin Erdely that preceded their U.Va./”Jackie” tale [Ralph Cipriano/Newsweek, Robby Soave/Reason].
“Oversimplification is at the heart of a Coates-style approach to the reparations issue.” [John McWhorter on an unexpected bid to get me to side with Bernie Sanders; more on reparations, Glenn Loury and (missed this earlier) Jonathan Blanks, Rare, 2014]
Federal Trade Commission went after LabMD on data security complaint. Unlike so many targets, LabMD chose to fight the FTC. And then… [Steven Boranian, Drug and Device Law, earlier]

Tags: autos, discovery, Federal Trade Commission, General Motors, John Edwards, redistricting reform, reparations, sexual assault, Volkswagen

January 27 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Reparations demanded for Jamaica

Walter Olson — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 16:17:46 +0000

A Jamaican official says British Prime Minister David Cameron must “apologize personally” because “his lineage has been traced and his forefathers were slave-owners” Well, no. [Brendan O’Neill, The Spectator; Daniel Hannan; NY Times “Room for Debate”; earlier here and here, etc.] More on reparations here and here; I wrote about them at chapter length in Schools for Misrule.

Tags: reparations, United Kingdom

Reparations demanded for Jamaica is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 13 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 13 May 2015 04:05:44 +0000

“Lawyers Won 10x Fee Payoff By Avoiding Competition, Objector Claims” [Daniel Fisher, Center for Class Action Fairness on Capital One TCPA settlement]
DMCA surprise: “Automakers are supporting provisions in copyright law that could prohibit home mechanics and car enthusiasts from repairing and modifying their own vehicles.” [Mike Masnick, TechDirt; Pete Bigelow, AutoBlog]
Comments deadline May 19 on proposed Indian Child Welfare Act regulations; American Academy of Adoption Attorneys files comments warning they go beyond statute, will harm kids [related group, earlier and general]
Asbestos lawsuits are “economic engine” of rural Edwardsville, Ill. [Associated Press]
Chicago pays damages to victims of police torture, suggestively labeled “reparations” [Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post, thanks for quote]
Court dismisses pro se litigant’s handwritten “God v. gays” complaint for lack of basis for federal jurisdiction, other predictable deficiencies [Volokh, Lowering the Bar and followup]
“Starbucks not liable in police coffee-spill case, jury decides” [WRAL, earlier]

Tags: adoption, asbestos, autos, class action settlements, copyright, hot coffee, Indian tribes, Madison County, pro se, reparations

May 13 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system