The Volokh Conspiracy blog has finally made the move behind the Washington Post paywall, and that led to an interesting comment on Twitter by conspirator Orin Kerr about the change in audience from being an independent blog to being part of a major media outlet: I think we've gained some and lost some. I'm worried we lost the law nerds and gained general interest readers. As … [Read more...] about Of Experts and Explainers
Uncategorized
Je ne suis pas Charlie
I am not Charlie.Honestly, until this shit happened, I didn't know a damned thing about Charlie Hebdo. I don't have a clue what Charlie Hebdo stood for, so I'm not about to identify myself with them or support their editorial agenda, whatever it is.Besides, in my mind, "I am Charlie" links to the scene in the 1960 film Spartacus where rebellious former Roman slaves … [Read more...] about Je ne suis pas Charlie
Should It Be a Crime to Hate Police?
One of the implicit assumptions I make here is that the criminal justice system is not exempt from the general principle that social institutions enforce social norms. In a society hostile to minorities, giving authorities another law to enforce is giving them another way to punish minorities. Even a law intended to help minorities can end up hurting them if the intended effect … [Read more...] about Should It Be a Crime to Hate Police?
I’m Sorry, But I Simply Can’t
Over at Defending People, Mark Bennett is explaining to lawyers how to decide when to reject a potential new client, and what to do about it. I have developed, and I suspect that most criminal-defense lawyers develop, an intuitive sense for when we shouldn’t take cases. I get myself in trouble when I ignore that intuition. So I listen to it. As Mark points out, this is also … [Read more...] about I’m Sorry, But I Simply Can’t
Hiding from Satan’s Radio
I've read several articles about the Texas school district being sued for their policy of forcing students to use an ID card embedded with "tracking" technology. The religious freedom angle seems dubious at best (though in Texas you never can tell), but I was surprised by the number of people worried about technology to "track" school children and the supposed dangers of the … [Read more...] about Hiding from Satan’s Radio