Legal Commentary

Video: Hay, here's a great idea how to clean up the BP oil spill ? Autoblog Green

Posted on May 13, 2010
Video: Hay, here's a great idea how to clean up the BP oil spill ? Autoblog GreenHat tip to CaryGEE.

Goodwin Liu Approved in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Strict Party Lines 12-7 for 9th Circuit Seat : 2 of the 7 Do Not Even Have Law Degrees : One is a Part-Time Physician

Posted on May 13, 2010
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog calls it A Win for Liu (But Not Necessarily a Good Win. See also Goodwin Liu's controversial judicial nomination approved by Senate committee. It is rather bizarre the way the Senate has handled this case -- see Goodwin Liu and the Case of the Missing Brown Bag...

Did You say PATENTS? Things We Have Now That Star Trek Invented - Courtesy of Craig Baird at Road Tickle

Posted on May 13, 2010
We are often skeptical of certain kinds of patented "inventions" because to us they sometimes simply copy ideas that have long been in the public domain -- e.g. Things We Have Now That Star Trek Invented.

LawDragon Selects The Top 500 Lawyers in America « JONATHAN TURLEY

Posted on May 13, 2010
LawDragon Selects The Top 500 Lawyers in America « JONATHAN TURLEY

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Top 10 Best Legal Commentary Blogs at USLaw.com

Posted on May 13, 2010
 USLaw.com has the following list -- here the top 10 -- of The Best Legal Commentary Blogs as of May 13, 2010: 1. 8387 entries - The Volokh Conspiracy 2. 8161 entries - Talk Left 3. 7632 entries - Althouse 4. 4452 entries - Res ipsa loquitur 5...

Check Out the ECJBlog.com by Allard Knook - News on the European Court of Justice and other European legal developments

Posted on May 13, 2010
Allard Knook in the Netherlands provides news on the European Court of Justice and other European legal developments at ECJBlog.com. Hat tip to EU Law Blog.

Kagan here, Kagan there. Does it matter? Stanley Fish at the New York Times reviews The Living Constitution, a new book by David A. Strauss which says that the Constitution has primarily a Ceremonial Role

Posted on May 12, 2010
Kagan here, Kagan there. Does it matter? In Why Bother With the Constitution, Stanley Fish reviews The Living Constitution, a new book by David A. Strauss, the Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School...

Blackbird Pie "bakes" tweets into HTML for websites, blogs, etc. Try it out. Here is a sample:

Posted on May 11, 2010
Blackbird Pie "bakes" tweets into HTML code for websites and blogs, etc. Try it out. Here is a sample (I may have to change that background at Twitter): .bbpBox{background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/59186894/lawpundittwitterbackground11december2009...

A Texas Senator Shows How Not to Assess a Supreme Court Nomination : Partisan Politics at its Worst : Cornyn Broadcasts His Double Standard to the World

Posted on May 11, 2010
Greetings to all of our many friends in the great State of Texas, but you must have better people than Senator Cornyn to elect to Congress. We say this for non-partisan reasons. As political centrists, one thing that really can raise our hackles is the double standard that some overly partisan politicians -- and voters -- apply to the world, and Texas Senator John Cornyn currently tops our list of people whose forked tongue pronouncements should be eyed with caution...

Glenn Harlan Reynolds writes that Kagan is a Wise and a Safe Nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on May 11, 2010
Glenn Harlan Reynolds in Wise pick for a weak prez writes at the New York Post: "[T]he Kagan pick is a safe, low-risk move for a president who can't afford to run too many more risks at the moment. That he went ... with a safe pick is as much evidence of Obama's current weakness as of Kagan's undeniable strengths...

Mothers, Fathers, Daughters, Sons and the United States Supreme Court Nomination of Elena Kagan

Posted on May 11, 2010
Mothers and Daughters At the New Yorker, Blake Eskin in The Ghost of Mrs. Kagan provides interesting insights to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan via anecdotes about her teaching mother Gloria Kagan, "Mrs. Kagan". Mothers are a major influence. In fact, take an ambitious mother and -- studies show -- you more likely have a successful daughter...

Linda Greenhouse at the New York Times Opinionator on Elena Kagan

Posted on May 11, 2010
In Just Answer the Question, Linda Greenhouse at the New York Times Opinionator gives her take on Elena Kagan.

David Brooks at the New York Times on Elena Kagan

Posted on May 11, 2010
What It Takes is David Brooks at the New York Times with an op-ed on Elena Kagan.

5 Things to Know Before You Trademark : Managing :: American Express OPEN Forum

Posted on May 11, 2010
5 Things to Know Before You Trademark

Ageing in America: The Western world is growing older. What are the consequences? Expectations vs. Reality at Pew Social and Demographic Trends

Posted on May 10, 2010
The Western world is growing older. What are the consequences? This is a comprehensive report on aging in America with lots of charts, etc. VERY informative for everyone, both young and old alike. Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality - Pew Social & Demographic Trends

Who Actually Invented GPS, the Global Positioning System? See Inside GNSS May-June 2010

Posted on May 10, 2010
 Who actually invented GPS, the Global Positioning System? See: Inside GNSS May-June 2010

Another Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Summer Associate to the Supreme Court? Obama Nominates Elena Kagan as U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Posted on May 10, 2010
Just as the newest Justice Sonia Sotomayor, new Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan served as a summer associate at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, of which I am an alumnus (as a summer associate and as an associate)...

How do you pronounce Eyjafjallajokul - the Volcano in Iceland that is Erupting Again, May, 2010? The Associated Press provides the Pronunciation

Posted on May 09, 2010
THAT volcano in Iceland is at it again. We found this pronunciation at the Associated Press from Frank Jordans and Slobodan Lekic at Ash from Iceland's volcano shuts European airports: Eyjafjallajokul (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl)

Strong Lingering Doubts about Elena Kagan as a Potential Nominee for the United States Supreme Court

Posted on May 09, 2010
Paul Kampos, Professor of Law at the University of Colorado, has a nice article at The New Republic (Blank Slate) -- via CBS News (The Lingering Mystery Around Elena Kagan). Our lingering question is WHY would Kagan accept a Supreme Court position where her human "people skills" would be largely wasted? If nominated -- if she actually accepted the nomination, and if confirmed -- if she actually took the job, we would regard this as a sign of bad judgment on her part in taking up a job which does not appear to be the best place for her undenied strengths.

U.S. Senator Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Presents His View on the Upcoming Supreme Court Nomination to Replace Justice Stevens : What is Justified and What is Not Justified

Posted on May 09, 2010
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, gives us a partisan Democratic senatorial -- political -- view at The Burlington Free Press on the upcoming nomination of a Supreme Court Justice to replace Justice Stevens...

Root Canal Politics Replace the Tooth Fairy for Baby Boomers | Friedman at the NYTimes Sees Harder Times Ahead

Posted on May 09, 2010
Thomas L. Friedman at the New York Times has a somewhat black post at Root Canal Politics where he writes, inter alia, that the Tooth Fairy has died, being survived by 400 million Baby Boomers in North America and Europe. The core of Friedman's article is this thought: "After 65 years in which politics in the West was, mostly, about giving things away to voters, it?s now going to be, mostly, about taking things away...

The Greek Crisis, Angela Merkel and the Swabian Housewife : In the Long Run, You Can't Live Beyond Your Means

Posted on May 09, 2010
Katrin Bennhold at the New York Times has a thoughtful article at In Greek Crisis, a Window to the German Psyche - NYTimes.com which she opens as follows: "A few weeks after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the world plunged into a financial crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany offered some common-sense advice to reckless bankers, indebted consumers and profligate governments...

Judicial Activism and Originalism : The Upcoming Supreme Court Nomination

Posted on May 09, 2010
Linda Greenhouse at Opinionator Blog at the New York Times in Whose Originalism? discusses judicial activism as we all await the Obama nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court seat to replace Justice Stevens.

Are Lax Environmental Laws and Safety Rules Partially at Fault for the Deepwater Horizon Explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and the Ongoing Gulf Coast Oil Spill Disaster? What About Consumer Demand?

Posted on May 09, 2010
Gusher! 5000 barrels of oil per day.... The ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an environmental disaster of possibly unprecedented proportions. Could it have been prevented by better lawmaking and more stringent enforcement of environmental laws and safety rules and standards? How about consumers? Is it time for Congress to end the irresponsible gas-guzzling culture that has prevailed in the USA for decades? Richard S...

New Privacy Rights Violations at Facebook -- the New York Times reports

Posted on May 09, 2010
It seems like a never-ending string of violations of privacy rights by social networking platforms. Jenna Wortham at the New York Times reports on the newest Facebook incursion on privacy rights at Glitch Brings New Worries About Facebook?s Privacy: "On Wednesday, users discovered a glitch that gave them access to supposedly private information in the accounts of their Facebook friends, like chat conversations...

Happy Mother's Day : Send a Card

Posted on May 09, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!Here is link to Mother's Day Cards.This is not an ad.We just know Hallmark Cardsbut there are also other card companies online.Let your mother know you care!

Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices: Text of the FTC Complaint of May 5, 2010 by EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) In the Matter of Facebook, Inc.

Posted on May 09, 2010
See the .pdf of the FTC Complaint of May 5, 2010 by EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) In the Matter of Facebook, Inc. alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices in the form of recent privacy violations at Facebook.

The U.S. Supreme Court? Bits and Pieces in 10 Things You Might Not Know About the Court - from the Chicago Tribune

Posted on May 08, 2010
Take a look at this entertaining AND illuminating read on the United States Supreme Court 10 things you might not know about the U.S. Supreme Court - Chicago Tribune.

Is an Elena Kagan Supreme Court Nomination Imminent? : We Hope Not

Posted on May 08, 2010
 [Reposted from a previous, now deleted posting.] "Impartiality" is such a forgotten word -- also in judging -- that our Blogger spell checker does not even recognize its existence. Par for the course for Blogger ... but what about the rest of the world? David G...

FTC Complaints Filed Against Facebook Against Policies Which Have Drawn Criticism by Consumer Groups

Posted on May 07, 2010
Douglas MacMillan for Bloomberg at BusinessWeek.com in Facebook Policies Draw Criticism by Consumer Groups (Update2, which Adds FTC comment in seventh paragraph) writes: "Recent changes at Facebook ?violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook?s own representations,? said Marc Rotenberg, who runs the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of 15 groups that complained about Facebook in a filing with the Federal Trade Commission late yesterday...

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