Voting Rights Act – Overlawyered

February 5 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 05:04:24 +0000

In November I wrote in Jurist on a Third Circuit panel’s refusal to order that sports great Jim Thorpe be disinterred and reburied under provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA); in response, Elizabeth Varner, Diane Penneys Edelman and Leila Amineddoleh of the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation argue that the panel could have based its result on specific language in the statute rather than via the roundabout path it did take [Jurist]
Electing judges, a relic of Jacksonianism, still generating problems today [John Steele Gordon, Commentary]
“Obama issues ‘executive orders by another name'” [USA Today on Presidential “memoranda”; earlier on executive orders]
“Legislators Say E-Cigarette Companies Are Bound by an Agreement Reached Before They Existed” [Jacob Sullum]
Woman upset at exclusion of service kangaroo but agrees to leave McDonald’s [AP, Wisconsin News, earlier (although local law may vary, federal government these days takes view that aside from qualified dogs and some miniature horses, ADA does not require businesses to accept customers’ service animals)]
Join the crowd: “Various plaintiffs v. various defendants,” an actual case caption [Lowering the Bar]
“..the very kind of odious racialization of politics that Congress wrote the Voting Rights Act to forbid” [Ilya Shapiro]

Tags: executive orders, Indian tribes, judicial elections, service animals, tobacco settlement, Voting Rights Act

February 5 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Supreme Court roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 04:05:20 +0000

Now with more detailed program descriptions: reserve your seat now for Cato’s 12th annual Constitution Day Sept. 17 in Washington, D.C.;
White House keeps losing SCOTUS cases 9-0, and there might be a lesson in that [Ilya Somin/USA Today, more]
“Another big term for amicus curiae briefs at the high court” [ABA Journal] “The Chief’s dissent reads over long stretches like something from the Cato Institute” [Michael Greve, Liberty Law Blog, on the administrative law case City of Arlington v. FCC, which was in fact one of the three cases where Cato’s amicus position lost last term]
Ilya Shapiro on misconceptions about last term’s Shelby County case on voting rights [USA Today] and on the pending Schuette affirmative action case from Michigan [Cato]
“I count myself an originalist too.” — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg [CAC] Evaluating Ginsburg’s claim that the present Court is unusually activist [Jonathan Adler]
In Bond v. U.S., the treaty power case, Solicitor General urges high court not to overrule Missouri v. Holland [Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, more, earlier]
Cato seeks certiorari in cy pres (class action slush fund) case involving Facebook [amicus brief filed in Marek v. Lane, Ilya Shapiro]

Tags: administrative law, constitutional law, cy pres, Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act

Supreme Court roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Court strikes down section 4 of Voting Rights Act

Walter Olson — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 04:15:05 +0000

Dylan Matthews at the Washington Post has a relatively calm explainer on yesterday’s Court decision striking down one section of the VRA. While implicitly siding with the liberals, he takes some of the steam out of hyperbolic reactions portraying the latest decision as some horrid onslaught against the VRA, as opposed to an incremental evolution in its application. Other views: Ilya Shapiro, Cato, more, and background here and here; Trevor Burrus; Cato merits brief, PDF. More: Jonathan Adler on the Court’s rationale.

Tags: Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act

Court strikes down section 4 of Voting Rights Act is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Constitutional law and Supreme Court roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:05:46 +0000

The 173rd, maybe? “This is not the first time [Linda] Greenhouse has misrepresented the views of her opponents” [Ilya Somin; more from ABA Journal on federalism argument against DOMA as supposed anti-federal-power “Trojan horse”] Was it improper for trial judge Vaughn Walker and appeals judge Stephen Reinhardt not to have recused themselves from Prop 8 case? Legal Ethics Forum bloggers weigh in [John Steele, Richard Painter, etc.] Funny graphic by Cato social media team about Cato’s “odd couple” joint brief with Constitutional Accountability Center [CAC] “Right and Left Continue to Change Where they Stand on Standing” [Ilya Somin] And if you’re going to be on Capitol Hill this Friday and are interested in the DOMA and Prop 8 cases, be sure to attend the panel discussion at which I’ll be joined by Ilya Shapiro and Mary Bonauto;
On courts’ role in advancing liberty [Roger Pilon exchange with Ramesh Ponnuru] Incidentally, Cato’s “Mr. U.S. Constitution” is now on Twitter at @Roger_Pilon; and he discusses Cato’s high-profile SCOTUS amicus program [here]
Cook County official has creative theories about federal supremacy [Illinois Watchdog]
Amicus brief: Congress can’t assert perpetual jurisdiction over anyone and everyone, and that goes for ex-sex offenders too [Trevor Burrus]
“What are the Weirdest Constitutional Arguments Ever Asserted in Court?” [Orin Kerr and Volokh readers]
As Court considers voting act in Shelby County case, Chief Justice Roberts sees problem with pretending it’s still 1965 [Ilya Shapiro; more on VRA, 2010 Abigail Thernstrom backgrounder, National Affairs]

Tags: constitutional law, recusals, same-sex marriage, Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act

Constitutional law and Supreme Court roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Toward a more uneducated electorate

Walter Olson — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:31:16 +0000

The teacher’s union in Oregon is trying to get the legislature to repeal a voter-approved measure that warns electors in the state when a property tax hike is on the ballot. I’ve got more at Cato at Liberty (& Brian Doherty, Reason).

Tags: labor unions, Oregon, schools, taxes, Voting Rights Act

Toward a more uneducated electorate is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Supreme Court roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 04:08:11 +0000

Court hears oral argument in Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles, the CAFA evasion case [transcript in PDF, Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog rounding up links, Federalist Society podcast with Brian Fitzpatrick, earlier here, here]
Shelby County case invites SCOTUS to revisit Voting Rights Act [Ilya Shapiro, Cato; Eric Posner and Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Slate] But does Jeffrey Toobin understand the VRA? [Derek Muller, Prawfs]
Speaking of that New Yorker writer, Toobin’s account of the Heller Second Amendment case is definitely not one for the history books [Tim Lynch, Cato]
On gay marriage cases, jurisdiction/standing issues could leave Court fractured like Turkish taffy [Art Leonard] Best result for gays, argues Jonathan Rauch, might be narrow or mixed decision [TNR] Beyond the Court, idea of local option could offer national GOP a graceful retreat from its current untenable position [Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle quotes me arguing to that effect]
SCOTUS asked to consider tribalism-trumps-adoption Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 [NYT]
Despite amicus urgings from various good guys, Supreme Court declines to review Hettinga, the economic liberty case with the blazing Janice Rogers Brown/David Sentelle concurrence [Ilya Shapiro/Cato, Damon Root, Tim Sandefur/PLF, earlier here and here]
Is the Sixth Circuit replacing the Ninth as perennial SCOTUS reversee? [Adler]

Tags: adoption, Class Action Fairness Act, guns, Indian tribes, same-sex marriage, Sixth Circuit, Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act

Supreme Court roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

December 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:05:06 +0000

Georgia: “Twiggs County Landgrabber Loses, Must Pay $100K in Fees” [Lowering the Bar]
“Major California Rule Change For Depositions Takes Place In 2013” [Cal Biz Lit] Discovery cost control explored at IAALS conference [Prawfs]
Gift idea! “Lego version of the Eighth Circle of Hell (where false counselors and perjurers suffered)” [John Steele, Legal Ethics Forum; Flavorwire]
“Don’t Worry About the Voting Rights Act: If the Supreme Court strikes down part of it, black and Hispanic voters will be just fine.” [Eric Posner and Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Slate, via @andrewmgrossman]
“Why did Congress hold hearings this week promoting crackpot [anti-vaccination] views? [Phil Plait, Slate]
“Debunking a Progressive Constitutional Myth; or, How Corporations Became People, Too” [John Fabian Witt, Balkinization]
“Federal ‘protection’ of American poker players turning into confiscation” [Point of Law]

Tags: constitutional law, discovery, forfeiture, gambling, Georgia, property law, vaccines, Voting Rights Act

December 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

September 17 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 04:05:54 +0000

Montana considers “corporations aren’t people” ballot measure with all the expectable flaws plus some others; vainly presumes to instruct state’s delegation to Congress [Bainbridge, more]
Dutch phone book publisher claims that “Cancel my Dutch phone book” website infringes its trademark [24 Oranges]
The problem with Section 5 (preclearance) provision of the Voting Rights Act, cont’d [Ilya Shapiro; SCOTUSBlog symposium with Shapiro, Abigail Thernstrom and others]
D.C. bans a bar’s jape at Marion Barry: “The Government Commission on Acceptable Satire” [Julian Sanchez, Cato]
Inquiry cost seen at £100m over alleged UK troop brutality in Iraq; defense lawyers say charges trumped up [Telegraph]
Banning outdoor tobacco use: “Obama administration to push for eliminating smoking on college campuses” [Caroline May, Daily Caller]
“And so it has come to this: Cameras that monitor speed cameras.” [Mike Rosenwald, WaPo; Prince George’s County, Md.]

Tags: colleges and universities, red light cameras, Voting Rights Act, Washington D.C.

September 17 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

International law roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:39:25 +0000

NAACP takes complaint against American election laws to U.N. Human Rights Council [PowerLine, Steyn, von Spakovsky, Ku]
Also at Opinio Juris: David Landau, Mark Tushnet on judicial/constitutional enforcement of “social rights”; getting international law enforced in U.S. courts is hot topic in legal academia [Oona Hathaway, Sabria McElroy and Sara Aronchick Solow and Steve Vladeck]
Too many strings in Toronto: “York University Faculty Torpedo $60 Million International Law Donation” [Ku/OJ]
What UNESCO is up to: “Empowering the Poor Through Human Rights Litigation” [long PDF]
“Taming Globalization,” new Yoo-and-Ku book on international law [Liberty and Law: about, interview, more]
Baby thrown out with bathwater: courts now coping with grossly overbroad state enactments barring reception of foreign law [WSJ Law Blog, earlier here, etc.]

Tags: international human rights, law schools, Voting Rights Act

International law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

March 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:32:11 +0000

Part III of Radley Balko series on painkiller access [HuffPo]
“Note: Add ‘Judge’s Nameplate’ to List of Things Not to Steal” [Lowering the Bar]
California’s business-hostile climate: if the ADA mills don’t get you, other suits might [CACALA]
Bottom story of the month: ABA president backs higher legal services budget [ABA Journal]
After string of courtroom defeats, Teva pays to settle Nevada propofol cases [Oliver, earlier]
Voting Rights Act has outstayed its constitutional welcome [Ilya Shapiro/Cato] More: Stuart Taylor, Jr./The Atlantic.
Huge bust of what NY authorities say was $279 million crash-fraud ring NY Post, NYLJ, Business Insider, Turkewitz (go after dishonest docs on both sides)]

Tags: ADA filing mills, bar associations, California, crash faking, insurance fraud, legal services programs, New York, pharmaceuticals, Voting Rights Act

March 15 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system