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Voir Dire 
Covers topics such as social science approaches to law and legal institutions, legal doctrine and legal policy implementation, and profession issues for academics. Highlights research and academic news.
Post Frequency: 1.6/day Last Entry: November 19, 2009 at 14:18:33 Recent Entries: 488
By Jeff Yates and Andy Whitford
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Facebook Dilemma ? Should we be ?friends? with colleagues?
Posted on November 19, 2009OK, so I’m a pre-tenure professor lucky to have lots of friends and acquaintances from multiple phases of life including high school, college and grad school. I also have several academic colleagues who I consider friends ? we discuss pop culture along with more serious matter at conferences...
Take on currrent enviornment for judicial nominees
Posted on November 18, 2009From BreakingLegalnews.com: Controversial court nominee survives Senate test Political and Legal – POSTED: 2009/11/18 06:23 Democrats on Tuesday crushed a Senate filibuster against a controversial appeals court nominee, demonstrating to Republicans they can’t stop President Barack Obama from turning the federal judiciary to the left...
What role academia?
Posted on November 17, 2009So building off my comments from yesterday I’d like to raise the issue of what political science research has to say about the legitimacy of judicial institutions, point out an apparent discrepancy in research on different aspects of our legal system, and ask (somewhat provocatively) what our role is as academics in informing the general [...
New wave in Empirical Research on Law and Courts:
Posted on November 16, 2009First, I would like to thank Jeff for the nice intro and for inviting me to blog this week. Second, you should all know I have not done this before so I am hoping you will bear with me ? I guess we’ll see if any interesting thoughts develop. My work is on legal decision making [...
Introducing guest blogger Eileen Braman
Posted on November 16, 2009Please welcome to the Voir Dire blog, our guest, Professor Eileen Braman. Eileen is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Indiana, Bloomington. She earned her J.D. at Fordham University School of Law in 1996 and her Ph...
Benching the judge-umpire analogy?
Posted on November 15, 2009Professor Aaron Zelinsky has recently posted “The Justice as Commissioner: Benching the Judge-Umpire Analogy” (forthcoming, Yale Law Journal). Given that this analogy gets tossed around a good bit in Law & Courts and ELS circles, this should be a good conversation starter...
Lesson plans on Ebay?
Posted on November 15, 2009A NYT article indicates that there is indeed a market for teachers’ lesson plans. Should teachers be allowed to sell lesson plans? Should the schools get a cut? Judging from the number of hits on my webpages to classes I am not currently teaching (I know, I know, I should clean that up and delete [...
A nice opportunity for law & courts junior candidates…
Posted on November 13, 2009… if they also have a JD. But, I imagine that at least some of them do. Check out the position at University of Indiana below the fold. KELLEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, INDIANA UNIVERSITY Assistant Professor of Business Law and Ethics The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University seeks applicants for tenure-track positions at the rank of [...
Evidence based medicine?
Posted on November 08, 2009If you can pry yourself away from C-Span and the healthcare debate for a moment, the NYT Magazine has an article this week that addresses, arguably, an even more fundamental aspect of medicine – how it’s performed and how care decisions are made...
Snitch and the Wire
Posted on November 06, 2009Reason’s Damon Root writes about John McWhorter’s list of books on race that should receive more attention. He highlights a quote about Ethan Brown's Snitch: If there were no War on Drugs, I sincerely believe that within a single generation, there would be no perceptible "crisis in black America," and this book shows much of why [...
FDIC Independence
Posted on November 06, 2009The Park National shutdown occurred after several Illinois congressmen, including Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis and Sen. Roland Burris, called the FDIC asking it to delay closing the bank for at least a week, said Marilyn Katz, a bank spokeswoman. and Rep...
Pharm Parties
Posted on November 04, 2009During his immersion in his new job, Gil Kerlikowske attended a focus group of 7-year-old girls and was mystified by their talk about “farm parties.” Then he realized they meant “pharm parties” – sampling pharmaceuticals from their parents’ medicine cabinets...
Introducing the new US Supreme Court Database Website!
Posted on November 03, 2009Washington University professor Andrew Martin and his collaborators have recently released their US Supreme Court Database website. It updates, enhances, and streamlines Spaeth’s original data set. This project looks to be a significant development in the field and a very useful and reliable resource for law and courts scholars interested in studying SCOTUS...
Upcoming conference at Seton Hall law school
Posted on November 03, 2009Seton Hall school of law is hosting “Religious Legal Theory: The State of the Field” November 12th – more details here.
Another Casualty in the War on Drugs
Posted on November 02, 2009Professor David Nutt, the British government’s chief drug advisor, has been fired after claiming that ecstasy and LSD are less dangerous than alcohol. Nutt at Bristol and Wiki. Via Huffington Post.
Cool opportunity for junior judicial candidates
Posted on October 31, 2009In Paris, France … I imagine that having a JD would help too , but apparently is not required … HEC PARIS Faculty Positions in the Area of [...]
Why Political Science Often Is Irrelevant
Posted on October 31, 2009The proposed Coburn amendment to eliminate the political science division of the National Science Foundation and funding for political science research has once again raised the question of whether academic research is relevant to real-world problems...
Introducing guest blogger, Melinda Gann Hall
Posted on October 27, 2009Dear Voir Dire readers, please join me in welcoming professor Melinda Gann Hall to our blog. While she needs no introduction, I’ll provide a little bio information for anyone who is doesn’t follow law and courts or state politics work and is therefore unfamiliar with her scholarship...
Hawaii and healthcare
Posted on October 20, 2009The New York Times reports on the Hawaii healthcare system and how it compares against the rest of the nation. Since 1974 the state has required all employers to provide healthcare benefits to any employee working twenty hours a week or more. As the chart at the left indicates this situation has not led [...
A nationalized bar exam?
Posted on October 20, 2009The Law School Innovation Blog details a movement to establish a “nationalized” or “uniform” bar exam. Apparently, at least 10 states are on board with this idea and the switch should come next year. I am surprised that this hasn’t been bigger news in the media or the blogosphere, if in fact it is not [...
On the law associate job scene …
Posted on October 20, 2009The WSJ Blog has two interesting recent posts on the law associate scene – the first is on lockstep pay increases (and decreases) versus merit pay for law firm associates and the second is on (ew!) networking (it’s actually a very helpful and informative post)...
On the “Giant Pool of Money”
Posted on September 29, 2009Check out my post on the world’s “Giant Pool of Money” and the current financial crises on The Faculty Lounge.
Good Advice for New Market Entrants
Posted on September 26, 2009John Jackson has some nice advice in this quarter’s The Political Methodologist: I suggest to students heading for their first job to write on an index card four institutions where you would be happy to have a tenured position in six years. Select these on the basis of the type of department and university that best [...
Enron Redux
Posted on September 24, 2009A 2001 paper worth reading from Vince Kaminski and John Martin: And in what may well be a unique feature in corporate America, Enron’s top management today uses its human capital flows to guide its allocations of financial capital. Gotta love hindsight...
Protecting insurance companies ?PSA?
Posted on September 23, 2009A good ‘public service announcement’ from the folks at “Funny or Die” with a lot of TV faces you might recognize. Somehow it’s kind of funny to see ad executive Don Draper taking a poke at insurance executives – still works though – but doesn’t everything John Hamm seem just a little better? [hat tip [...
Financial Responsibility Tests for Colleges
Posted on September 20, 2009Yes, we have them. And yes, schools fail them. Lots of seminaries, schools of theology, and Bible colleges on the list. Only one law school, though (or is it a school of theology?).
Richard Florida on the Geography of Income Change
Posted on September 18, 2009Richard Florida blogs on the geography of income change. On the other hand, two states saw income losses of 10 percent or more – Vermont (-10.3 percent) and New Jersey (-10.1 percent); and incomes declined by more than five percent in two others – Georgia (-6...
Wolf Blitzer gets owned on Celebrity Jeopardy
Posted on September 17, 2009A liberal mainstream media? Maybe just a not-so-bright mainstream media. Do you know Andy Richter? He’s the guy who makes the funnies on Conan’s late night show. Final score going into Final Jeopardy? Andy Richter = $39,000, Wolf “CNN Expert” Blitzer = – $4,600 (actress Dana Delany didn’t fare that well either, but I don’t [...
Better than the Fonz?
Posted on September 15, 2009The American Statistical Association has t-shirts. Yes.
More Nudging
Posted on September 14, 2009The WSJ talks about nudges for making society better (and making money for businesses): Since April 2008, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has told 35,000 customers in their monthly bills how their energy use compares with neighbors’, and with the district’s most-efficient customers...
Apparently things aren?t *too* bad at some state universities
Posted on September 10, 2009In the midst of furloughs and massive cut backs at many state schools, the University of Alabama’s announcement of Nick Saban’s 42.35 million dollar coaching contract is almost humorous … almost. The Faculty Lounge details the announcement here...
Most Interesting APSA Rumor Heard
Posted on September 08, 2009So, I’ll start: I heard that UIUC is considering a plan requiring faculty account for every 15 minute increment in their day. What did you hear? [Rumors heard, not started.]
Guest blogging at The Faculty Lounge
Posted on September 06, 2009Check out my posts there! The Faculty Lounge Jeff
Holding narratives accountable
Posted on September 01, 2009Professor Linda Edwards (UNLV Law) has recently posted “Once Upon a Time in Law: Myth, Metaphor, and Authority” on SSRN. In the paper, she evaluates the use of narratives in legal authority and suggests that narratives are pervasive in the law and that we should learn to recognize their presence and hold them accountable by [...
Study for the bar ? on your IPhone
Posted on August 26, 2009WSJ Law Blog details perhaps the ultimate “there’s an app for that”. Of course, not to be outdone, “Law in a Flash” already helps you through law school with their apps.
Decriminalization in Mexico
Posted on August 24, 2009Apparently Mexico is experimenting with drug decriminalization and a number of popular drugs are legal to possess – as depicted in the above photo (showing roughly the amount you can legally possess). More here.
Law and Zaring on citing legislative history
Posted on August 20, 2009David Law (Washington University Law School) and David Zaring (University of Pennsylvania Legal Studies Department) have recently posted “Why Supreme Court Justices Cite Legislative History: An Empirical Investigation” on SSRN. Law presented this paper on our panel at the Western Political Science Association Conference in Vancouver and it sounds like a very interesting project...
Nine habits to stop now
Posted on August 16, 2009Tim “Four Hour Work Week” Ferris has a classic post on some bad habits that you need to stop. Below the fold I’ve listed the first four. You’ll have to check out the link to get the rest (and his explanations). Of course, I don’t follow these rules nearly as well as I should...
A ?grass? roots movement for marijuana legalization?
Posted on August 11, 2009David Simon comments on the growing movement on Prawfs Blawg. Perhaps most interesting is his observation that since the medical marijuana laws require ailments for which almost everyone over 45 qualifies, marijuana could soon become an old person’s drug...
A Conditional Theory of Judicial Accountability
Posted on August 11, 2009Critics of judicial elections have traditionally argued that such elections are insipid events marked by low levels of participation and low levels of information. Under such conditions, it is difficult to imagine elections that achieve their stated goal of promoting accountability to the citizenry...
Ranking Colleges by Alumni Salaries
Posted on August 10, 2009Rankings are often interesting and sometimes useful. The folks at Payscale.com have recently posted their 2009 survey of top U.S. colleges based on either median starting salaries of new graduates or median salaries of graduates who are now mid-career...
iPhone Apps for Lawyers
Posted on August 06, 2009From TUAW. It’s official. The iPhone has come into its own in the legal world. It took a little time, and lawyers are notorious Luddites (you can pry the WordPerfect out of their cold, dead hands) but they do like Bright Shiny Objects, and nothing fills the lapel pocket like an iPhone...
Statisticians are Cool
Posted on August 06, 2009Says the Times. ?I keep saying that the sexy job in the next 10 years will be statisticians,? said Hal Varian, chief economist at Google. ?And I?m not kidding.?
Scarcity and the Value of Journal Publications
Posted on August 03, 2009A couple of recent events has caused me to think about the issue of the scarcity of journal space. Recently, the Law and Courts Section of APSA formed a committee (and surveyed its membership) about the need for a section journal. One of the strongest arguments put forth in support of a section journal is [...
On the Fallacy of Judges as Umpires
Posted on August 02, 2009Much has been made of the whole “judges as umpires” business, popularized by John Roberts. Indeed, Dahlia Lithwick has a column in Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/208123) arguing that Sotomayor’s testimony over the past weeks will make it harder for Obama (or any other president) to appoint a justice who does not subscribe to this mechanical jurisprudence...
Go Madmen yourself :-)
Posted on July 30, 2009Not a lot of people know that I actually got my start in the advertisement business back in the early 1960s … when I smoked … and was more fit …. and was much cooler and better looking than I am now. (By the way, that’s me with the cigarette and coffee)...
Tell me something I don?t already know ? taking meetings
Posted on July 29, 2009This post on Conglomerate does a much better job of explaining why meetings are great for some people and horrible for others than I have done in my occasional treatments of the topic in casual conversation. I might add that for some people meetings are downright enjoyable – they have a captive audience, they (falsely) [...
IBM to Buy SPSS: Why Political Scientists Should Write Code
Posted on July 28, 2009IBM to buy SPSS for $1.2 billion in cash International Business Machines Corp plans to buy technology services company SPSS Inc for about $1.2 billion in cash, the companies said on Tuesday. SPSS shareholders will receive $50 a share, a 42 percent premium to Monday’s closing price of $35...
What to do when your undergraduate degree has been revoked
Posted on July 26, 2009Everyone’s favorite host on The Soup, Joel McHale, has a new pilot on NBC, “The Community.” In the show, he plays Jeff, a smooth talking lawyer who is forced to go back to college (actually community college) when his undergraduate degree is revoked...
Taughannock Falls hiking
Posted on July 26, 2009I did some hiking (glorified walking) at Taughannock Falls yesterday. It’s about 10 miles outside of Ithaca, NY. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to do the loop around the falls. Here are some pictures.
Lesser Known Texas Musicians
Posted on July 24, 2009As we head into the weekend, I thought I would share a post discussing one of my favorite passions: music. The State of Texas has produced a wide range of high-profile musicians: Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly, Lyle Lovett, Roy Orbison, Townes Van Zandt, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, to name but a few...
Assaying the ?top 8 reasons not to go to law school?
Posted on July 23, 2009The H. Luiz blog presents it’s “Top 8 Reasons to Not Go To Law School.” Elaborations are provided, but I’ll set them forth in abbreviated fashion below. While this post has been forwarded by a lot of legal blogs, my hat tip goes to Adjunct Law Prof Blog, since that’s where I saw it first...
America?s most trusted newscaster?
Posted on July 22, 2009Personally, I was pulling for Ted Baxter, but: hat tip Buzzfeed. Don’t get too happy Stewart, I don’t think Fox News was considered in this Time Magazine online poll.
Law school innovations
Posted on July 22, 2009The WSJ blog posts on recent innovations at the new UC Irvine School of Law. It cites an ABA Journal Article as noting the following proposed innovations: According to the article: The school will include an interdisciplinary curriculum and a mandatory semester in one of the planned eight law clinics...
More on Selection Bias
Posted on July 21, 2009In my last blog, I noted the problem of selection bias in studying appellate court decisions and also pointed out that Harold Spaeth is coding a sample of denied certiorari petitions that will help us assess the degree to which this problem exists at the SCOTUS...
Things to Read
Posted on July 21, 2009So, while I was away last week in beautiful Bermuda, I had some time to catch up on some leisure reading. My two major non-academic hobbies are baseball and our Brussels Griffon, Boss. Those of you who have similar interests would enjoy reading: The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci...
Ten people who almost became president
Posted on July 19, 2009This is a very interesting piece on some close, but no cigar stories on the presidency. Here’s a taste: Marshall was Vice President under Woodrow Wilson, and he probably had a legitimate reason to become president. In 1919 Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke which left him unable to carry out his duties as president...
Getting bang for your (academic degree) buck
Posted on July 19, 2009In which states is it most useful to get a college degree? Paul Caron blogs on the relative productivity of state higher education programs here. But below is the handy dandy chart:
Challenges to Judicial Databases
Posted on July 17, 2009I’m so pleased that Jeff and Andy invited me to blog for Voir Dire. The first item I wanted to raise to readers involves the federal judicial databases that Harold Spaeth (Supreme Court Database) and Don Songer (U.S. Court of Appeals Database) developed for public use using funding from the National Science Foundation...
When baseball and judicial politics scholars collide
Posted on July 16, 2009it makes headlines — Judicial politics scholar Chris Zorn (and methodologist Jeff Gill) are featured in the Wall Street Journal discussing the DH rule and political ideology.
?For the times they are a changin? ? explaining justice drift
Posted on July 15, 2009I recently posted on SSRN a paper by myself and two Georgia graduate students, Brian Levey and Justin Moeller. The title is: “For The Times They Are A Changin: Explaining U.S. Supreme Court Justices’ Voting Through Identification of Micro-Publics...
Bruno-mania
Posted on July 15, 2009Last Friday, I received a phone call from a reporter with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She was in the process of writing a story regarding Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie, Bruno. The story centered on an effort by Movieguide, which is published by the pro-family values interest group Christian Film & Television Commission, to convince [...
New guest blogger ? Stefanie Lindquist
Posted on July 13, 2009Please join me in welcoming Stefanie Lindquist to Voir Dire as a guest contributor to the blog. Stefanie is the Thomas W. Gregory Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law. She is the author of numerous articles on a variety of law and courts topics and has authored two books, Judging [...
Guest blogger featured
Posted on July 12, 2009Voir Dire guest blogger Paul Collins had his work featured recently on the ELS Blog and the Conglomerate Blog. The featured paper, c0-authored with Pamela Corley and Brian Calvin, uses content analysis software (aka plagiarism software) to examine the extent to which SCOTUS opinion writers “lift” content from the lower court opinions they are reviewing...
The Place of Women on the Court
Posted on July 12, 2009In today’s New York Times Magazine, Emily Bazelon has a very interesting interview with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – a small sample below the fold: Q: At your confirmation hearings in 1993, you talked about how you hoped to see three or four women on the court...
Public Support for the Sotomayor Nomination
Posted on July 10, 2009This morning, CNN released the results of a survey regarding public support for Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. About 47% of Americans support confirmation while 40% oppose it (13% had “no opinion”). To provide context, these results suggest that she is faring better than Harriet Miers did at this point...
The Goals of Campaign Finance Law
Posted on July 08, 2009First of all, many thanks to Jeff and Andy for inviting me to guest blog this summer at Voir Dire. My primary interests are in elections and American government broadly, but the ongoing controversy surrounding judicial elections, along with the encouragement of friends & collaborators, continues to pull me further into the study of judicial [...
Sotomayor Rated ?Well Qualified? by the ABA
Posted on July 08, 2009The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Judiciary has unanimously rated Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ?well qualified??the highest rating a nominee can receive. As a District Court nominee, a ?substantial majority? of the panel gave her a ?qualified? rating, while a minority rated her ?well qualified...
Howard Dean on American healthcare ?
Posted on July 07, 2009… in Esquire magazine. A sample below the fold. ESQUIRE:Your book really lays everything out in a very simple, clear way. It’s obvious this is something you’ve been thinking about for a long time. HOWARD DEAN:It was one of the reasons I ran for president...
Keeping up with the literature
Posted on July 07, 2009One of the things I (and I am sure others) struggle with is keeping up with the current literature. Even in a field that seems small (like Law and Courts) there are dozens (if not more) new articles every year that are of interest. Between producing my own stuff, teaching, administrative responsibilities, baseball games, trips [...
On judicial ?qualifications?
Posted on July 05, 2009Over the past few days, there has been an interesting (?) discussion on the Law and Courts Listserv over the nature of judicial qualifications. Specifically, the issue seems to boil down to whether or not the executive (or judicial nominating commission) should recommend/nominate the “most qualified” individual or a person/slate of people who are all [...
Which states have the best (and worst) high courts?
Posted on July 03, 2009Want to know? You’ll have to check it out in a paper by the same name authored by Stephen Choi, G. Mitu Gulati, and Eric Posner. It’s available on SSRN here. I tell you what, I’ll give you the top five contenders for (best overall) state high courts and the abstract below the fold...
Welcoming new guest contributor
Posted on July 02, 2009I’d like to welcome another summer guest contributor to our blog – Damon Cann. Damon is an assistant professor of political science at Utah State University. His research includes work on Congress as well as work on state courts. He is the author of Sharing the Wealth: Member Contributions and the Exchange Theory of Party [...
Cool baseball graphics
Posted on July 01, 2009In keeping with the current baseball theme, I present some cool baseball graphics from flipflopflyball.com. Here’s one on teams breaking the racial barrier. Here’s one showing the relative height of Boston’s Green Monster: And, finally, one that shows Major League Baseball relocations: hat tip to buzzfeed
Rivera?s Historic (?) 500th Save?
Posted on June 30, 2009One of the things that is great about sports is that every game you have the chance of seeing something you have never seen before. In that sense, it is the ultimate reality TV. The other night, while watching the Yankees-Mets game (apologies to Mets fan Bob Howard), we witnessed such a moment...
On the new legal economy
Posted on June 30, 2009Two interesting things to examine on the new legal economy: First, Bill Henderson has a very interesting post on ELS. Check out the differences in salary distribution in 1991 and 2007 that he documents and discusses: Second, a very intriguing take on the latest developments of the legal economy downturn for big firms and the downturn’s ramifications [...
The Joy of Minor League Baseball
Posted on June 30, 2009Following up on Chris? excellent post regarding Mariano Rivera?s 500th save, I thought I?d share a quick post encouraging readers to check out a minor league baseball game. Why? 1) They are cheap. While it?s easy to spend upwards of $75 a ticket on a major league baseball game, one can typically get great seats at a [...
Why the Supreme Court Got It Wrong in the Massey case
Posted on June 28, 2009Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Caperton v. Massey (http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-22.pdf). In this landmark ruling, the Court held that a judge must recuse himself/herself if there was an appearance of impropriety. In this case, the CEO of Massey Energy (which had a case in the legal pipeline that was likely to be heard by the West [...
Introducing new contributor ? Chris Bonneau
Posted on June 28, 2009Please welcome a new summer contributor to our blog, Chris Bonneau. Chris is an associate professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh. He has authored multiple articles on law and courts topics and is the author of two books, Strategic Behavior and Policy Choice on the U...
How Liberal is Sonia Sotomayor?
Posted on June 26, 2009One of the problems in answering questions as to how liberal or conservative a judge might be is coming up with some acceptable measure of ideology. There is no generally accepted measure of lower court ideology. A judge?s own partisan affiliation and the ideology of a judge?s appointing president have often been employed as useful [...
Intradisciplinary Communication
Posted on June 26, 2009A decade ago, it was fairly common for students of law and courts to lament the lack of interdisciplinary communication between political scientists, law professors, and scholars from other disciplines (e.g., Cross 1997; Rosenberg 2000). Fortunately, much has changed in the past decade...
Can Ray break this?
Posted on June 24, 2009… something light and fun to get you through the rest of the week – video of a guy named Ray attempting to break various items while wearing a strong man suit. The circus music and chimpanzee sounds are an especially nice touch. Thank goodness for the serious and thoughtful posting activity of our guest [...
Law, Political Science and citation rates
Posted on June 22, 2009I want to thank Jeff and Andy for the introduction and opportunity to guest blog periodically on their website. Although I publish on all areas of law and courts, my particular area of expertise is on law and policy and I hope to blog about that in the near future...
What Drew You to the Study of Law and Courts?
Posted on June 22, 2009I?d like to extend my sincere thanks to Jeff and Andy for the opportunity to guest blog on Voir Dire. Hopefully, the readers will find what I have to say at least marginally interesting. I plan to cover a number of topics, some academic, some not so much...
Introduction of guest contributors
Posted on June 21, 2009I am very happy to introduce two guest contributors to our blog. As the summer progresses more guest contributors are scheduled to make appearances. The two bloggers who are beginning this week are actually both State University of New York graduates...
Lack of Judges Caused Immigration Backlog
Posted on June 20, 2009We don’t often talk about case processing issues in the courts, but TRAC cares about it. Their new report finds: that the failure to increase immigration judges — promised by the Bush Administration in the summer of 2006 — contributed to a substantial jump in the number of backlogged cases in the Immigration Courts...
Judging the Bias of Judges? Judging
Posted on June 19, 2009In the American Statistican: Judging bias is an inherent risk in subjectively judged sporting competitions, and recent controversies have spurred researchers to explore these biases wherever possible. Unfortunately, detailed judging results are usually unavailable to the public...
Interrupting questions during a presentation ?
Posted on June 15, 2009The topic of unnecessary interrupting questions during a presentation (as opposed to clarification questions), eye rolling, loud sighs of exasperation, one upmanship, and generally preferring the mellifluous sound of your own voice to everyone else’s – all five year old child/ pathetic jerk behavior masquerading as evidence of intellectual rigor or academic norms – is [...
Free!
Posted on June 15, 2009The free access to scholarly journals continues unabated. ?The signatories think that it is important to publicly align ourselves with the stance taken by many university faculties and administrators on scholarly communication,? Mike Rossner, the Rockefeller press?s director, told The Chronicle by e-mail on Wednesday...
The Joy of Less
Posted on June 12, 2009In the NYT this week: If you?re the kind of person who prefers freedom to security, who feels more comfortable in a small room than a large one and who finds that happiness comes from matching your wants to your needs, then running to stand still isn?t where your joy lies...
The SPARC Author?s Addendum
Posted on June 10, 2009Gary King mentions the SPARC Author’s Addendum on his website. Does anyone have experience with it? A preview: Your article has been accepted for publication in a journal and, like your colleagues, you want it to have the widest possible distribution and impact in the scholarly community...
Data from Nixon?s Agency
Posted on June 09, 2009From TRAC: In cases where the DEA is the lead investigative agency, there are significant geographic variations in the rates at which individuals convicted of criminal offenses get sent to prison. According to Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse and just published on TRAC’s DEA website, in the Northern District [...
Issue agenda setting on SCOTUS
Posted on June 08, 2009Our paper, “Agenda Setting, Issue Priorities and Organizational Maintenance: The U.S. Supreme Court, 1955 to 1994″ (c0-authored with William Gillespie) is now available for download on Social Science Research Network here. The abstract is available after the jump: In this study, we examine agenda setting by the U...
Potential criminal procedure lessons with perhaps the most awesome geek ever
Posted on June 02, 2009I’m still working on figuring out what constitutional lessons I can glean from the interaction documented in the video below, but I’ll find something for a future criminal procedure class somehow. I’m not exactly sure what this geek did to get an arrest warrant – maybe he cheated at Dungeons & Dragons or stole something from [...
Recommended Reading: Measuring Judicial Activism
Posted on May 31, 2009Frank Cross and Stefanie Lindquist’s “Meauring Judicial Activism” is now available on Oxford University Press. Which U.S. Supreme Court Justices are the most activist in their jurisprudential decisions? Check out this book and you’ll see that answering this question is perhaps a more complex endeavor than you might have originally thought...
Jack Donaghy on Detroit
Posted on May 23, 2009On the Huffington Post, Jack “30 Rock” Donaghy (ok, actually it’s just Alec Baldwin) goes off on Detroit automakers and Congress. It’s quite informative and entertaining. Here’s a taste: The heads of these corporations did not spend the last thirty years lying in bed each night, sleepless...
On elite education, Supreme Court appointments, and meritocracy
Posted on May 20, 2009Following up on our last post on elite education and academic careers, we now look into the role of elite education and Supreme Court appointments – specifically, President Obama’s upcoming appointment to the Court. On the pol sci Law and Courts discussion listserve participants have debated the role of elite education in considering candidates for [...
In Alien v. Predator ? who would you be? Or, why breaking into legal academia is like purgatory for some people
Posted on May 15, 2009I love great matchups – Alien v. Predator, Ali v. Frazier, Laverne v. Shirley (no, wait that’s a friendship, although I always saw them more as sort of ‘frenemies’). Recently, we have witnessed a small flurry of blogging on the difficulties that non-elite school graduates face in attempting to break into legal academia...
The world of unusual book titles
Posted on May 09, 2009It seems like Andy and I have gone through endless alternative titles for our book (no, it is not the one pictured above) which should be out this summer on Johns Hopkins Press. However, I’m really glad that none of our tentative titles really rivals (in terms of oddness) any of the titles you will find [...
Dorf on the future of graduate/professional programs and ?Great Research Universities?
Posted on April 27, 2009Michael Dorf’s blog includes an interesting post that touches on a lot of related, yet distinct concerns (grad school, tenure, viability of Great Research Universities, etc.). I will touch on just two. First, the referenced NYT article makes an important point about the graduate school model and its possible need of revision...
Lighten up: The Carolla Podcast
Posted on April 26, 2009You may know Adam Carolla from television, radio, or movies, but he also has a very successful podcast. You can check it out for free here. It’s also available free on ITunes. I’ve listened to several podcast and can tell you that it is entertaining, informative (sort of), and sometimes even enlightening...
On the future of state courts research
Posted on April 17, 2009I recently posted on SSRN an early version of a short essay that is forthcoming at Justice System Journal, “On The Future of State Courts Research.” The essay emanates from a panel at last year’s American Political Science Association meeting in which the participants discussed trends and concerns in the study of state courts...
Why I?m not on Facebook
Posted on April 15, 2009A lot of political scientists and other academics are on Facebook, but I find it to be entirely too complicated. I mean, there are so many intricate social rules and mores - as the PSA below demonstrates.
Recent shift in racial incarceration disparity
Posted on April 15, 2009A recent study found that the nation is experiencing a shift in racial incarceration disparity - minority incarceration rates are down and white incarceration rates are up. The primary reasons cited are the development of drug courts and the recent escalation of meth use and dealing...
What is the ?King of Careers? now?
Posted on April 12, 2009A New York Times article questions what will take the place of finance for the nation’s “best and brightest” after the fall of Wall Street. Apparently, the economic downturn has driven more undergraduates into public administration and government programs than in days past: Graduate schools of government and public policy are seeing a surge of applications...
Building a better legal profession?
Posted on April 10, 2009Simple Justice blog reports a recent conference on the “building a better legal profession” movement. Here’s an excerpt (quote from the National Law Journal) that briefs it well: Gathering at Stanford Law School over the weekend, about 50 students from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford and other premier law schools were part of Building a Better Legal [...
What does Miranda mean?
Posted on April 06, 2009And what should it mean? The Simple Justice Blog has an interesting post on these questions and discusses a case that might make the SCOTUS docket which may redefine the parameters of the famous Miranda warnings.
Race in the War on Drugs: The Social Consequences of Presidential Rhetoric
Posted on April 03, 2009The Voir Dire team has recently publicly posted on the Social Science Research Network their paper from the Empirical Legal Studies conference, “Race in the War on Drugs: The Social Consequences of Presidential Rhetoric.” The abstract is available below the fold...
Judicial decision making and the ?Foxermeasaluppycat?
Posted on April 01, 2009Last week I attended the “What’s Law Got To Do With It?” conference on judicial decision making, hosted by Indiana School of Law. I encourage you to check out the above hyperlinked website for the conference since it provides many of the papers that were presented...
2008 Law School rankings by moot court performance
Posted on March 19, 2009Can be found here. But, for now, here’s the top 5: 1. South Texas 2. UC Hastings 3. Georgetown 4. Washington University - St. Louis 5. Mississippi College
Determining the top quality legal journals
Posted on March 13, 2009Leiter’s Law School Reports has an interesting post on the question of what are the top quality law journals. A poll was conducted and it seems that, initially, peer review and faculty edited journals did well, but in the home stretch the well known student edited law reviews took over...
Your brain on the War on Drugs
Posted on March 09, 2009This is a really funny cartoon attached to an interesting post on the ACS Blog. To be fair, I think that you could insert just about any government policy you wanted in the second panel of the cartoon and it would be just as funny.
A decline in the legal profession?
Posted on February 18, 2009On the Volokh Conspiracy Blog there’s a discussion on the coming law firm hiring crises. They examine the odd situations that law firms have essentially made for themselves in which they lay off their existing associate attorneys while at the same time interviewing and hiring a crop of brand new graduates - not exactly moneyball, [...
Levitt taunts Lott
Posted on February 13, 2009Well, kind of… or maybe he’s just showing off his powers of prediction. Here’s the entirety of the text from the Freakonomics blog post announcing his legal victory: The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the earlier decision in my favor in the defamation lawsuit filed by John Lott against me...
Data Notes: New at ICPSR
Posted on February 06, 200920357 Reducing Violent Crime and Firearms Violence in Indianapolis, Indiana, 2003-2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20357 20360 Sexual Assault Among Intimates in Houston, Texas, 2003 http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20360 20740 National Evaluation of Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP), 1996-2003 [United States] http://dx...
End of Rego II?
Posted on February 03, 2009The nominee for Chief Performance Officer/Czar withdraws. Shortly after her appointment, the Associated Press reported that Killefer had a tax lien placed on her house by the D.C. government because of a failure to pay unemployment taxes on household help...
? and Salaries are Frozen at Many Top NY Law Firms
Posted on January 29, 2009From the NYT: In mid-December, the legal profession was taken aback when Latham & Watkins, considered a market leader, announced that it would keep 2009 associate salaries at their 2008 levels. At least 20 large firms nationwide have since done the same...
Race and Ethnicity in Parole Decisions
Posted on January 28, 2009Huebner and Bynum in the journal Criminology (200 : The study found that Black offenders spent a longer time in prison awaiting parole compared with White offenders. The racial and ethnic differences remained as an influence on parole decisionmaking after controlling for legal, various individual demographic, and community characteristics...
News of the obvious: Wall Street bonuses down this year
Posted on January 28, 2009So sayeth (or reporteth) the estimable Gawker Blog. Of course, this will have detrimental ripple effects for the citizens of New York. But, on the other hand, they’ll gain the psychic benefits of watching Wall Street millionaires lose their ridiculous lifestyles...
Regulatory Czar Sunstein
Posted on January 27, 2009I was on a self-inflicted media fast last week, so I missed talking about this one: Sunstein to be the new “regulatory czar”. Anyone wanting a paper trail can easily find it. He’s a maverick, having backed John Graham when Bush nominated him in 2001...
CAFE Standards to Change
Posted on January 26, 2009First big environmental/energy move by the new president. President Obama will direct regulators to move swiftly on an application by 14 states to set strict automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards. Which brings up my fave in-class movie: HR 6161: AN ACT OF CONGRESS...
DOJ Antitrust
Posted on January 26, 2009Al Kamen says: Christine Varney is the new head of DOJ Antitrust. Here’s what wiki says about Varney. Does Antitrust Policy Improve Consumer Welfare? We find no evidence that antitrust policy in the areas of monopolization, collusion, and mergers has provided much benefit to consumers and, in some instances, we find evidence that it may have lowered consumer [...
?Right? said who? Academic hotness rankings
Posted on January 25, 2009The iconic early nineties musical act “Right Said Fred” proclaimed that “I”m too sexy” for various things in their spoof of the fashion industry (or were they totally serious? Who knows.) But who is the hottest academic discipline? And, what are they too sexy for? Recent blog posts on the esteemed The Monkey Cage and Crooked [...
Blundering constables
Posted on January 15, 2009The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Herring v. United States essentially brings to bear the axiom of Justice Benjamin Cardozo, stated so many years ago, that the criminal should not go free because he constable has blundered. Cardozo essentially saw a disconnect between the right and the remedy...
Props to the puppies!
Posted on January 12, 2009Last night, Mickey Roarke won the Golden Globe for best actor for his work in “The Wrestler.” While people may have conflicting views of what kind of guy he is off screen, he won big points with me by paying tribute to man’s best friend in his acceptance speech...
Presidential Researchers 1, Bush Administration 0 (for now)
Posted on January 12, 2009A little bird just told me this: The House of Representative just passed legislation (H.R. 35) by a vote of 359-58 to overturn a Bush E.O. and help researchers gain access to presidential records.
Miller-McCune
Posted on January 11, 2009I understand (and maybe even respect) the whole idea behind Miller-McCune: to offer a “Scientific American”-type of outlet for the social science/policy analysis community. That said, the headline “Winter beach reading for the vacationing wonk” on this month’s print issue cover is just wrong in so many ways...
Today in Presidential History: Up in Smoke Edition
Posted on January 11, 20091.11.1964: The Surgeon General releases the first report saying that smoking may be dangerous to your health. President-elect Obama says he will quit. Soon.
Today in Presidential History: 60 Minutes Edition
Posted on January 10, 20091.10.2005: CBS fires three for their roles in the Bush/National Guard scandal at 60 Minutes. Here’s the Terence Smith report on the scandal. Mary Mapes is now occasional blogger at the Huffington Post.
On Perceptions of Corruption
Posted on January 10, 2009Steve Van de Walle’s new paper on corruption called “Perceptions of Corruption as Distrust? Cause and Effect in Attitudes Towards Government” is now abstracted on SSRN. The paper is gated, so I’m flying blind here, but I’m struck by his abstract: In this paper we criticise the use of general perceptions of corruption as indicators [...
RFP: Southern Africa: Transforming Community-Based Natural Resource Management
Posted on January 10, 2009From HED: HED expects to make one (1) award of up to $600,000 for a three-year higher education partnership. This partnership will enhance community-based natural resource management education in southern African higher education institutions in at least three southern Africa countries, potentially including but not limited to: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe...
Today in Presidential History: Yorba Linda Edition
Posted on January 09, 20091.9.1913: Nixon was born in Yorba Linda. A dynasty: One of Yorba’s daughters, Maria Rosa, married Leonardo Cota, a renown ranchero-pueblo descendant, of Mexican-American war fame, later to be one of the early Los Angeles County Supervisors. Another daughter, Ramona, married Benjamin Davis Wilson, one of the first mayors of The City of Los Angeles...
Modeling Collegial Courts
Posted on January 09, 2009New from Chuck Cameron and Lewis Kornhauser: We present a formal game theoretic model of adjudication by a collegial court. Distinctively, the model incorporates dispute resolution as well as judicial policy making and indicates the relationship between the two...
RFP: Evaluation and Analysis of USAID?s Political Party Strengthening Programs
Posted on January 09, 2009From HED: HED expects to make one (1) award of up to $685,000, contingent on USAID funding, for a two -year period of performance for an evaluation to identify the impact of USAID assistance on political party development and democratization, and advance technical knowledge and understanding in the field of political party strengthening...
Today in Presidential History: Johnny Horton Edition
Posted on January 08, 20091.8.1815: Jackson leads American troops against the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
RFP: CAFTA-DR Environmental Law Capacity Building Initiative
Posted on January 08, 2009From HED: HED expects to make one (1) award of up to $650,000 for a higher education partnership to strengthen environmental law capacity building in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua as part of the U.S.-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and the Environmental Cooperation Agreement (ECA)...
Hodgepodge
Posted on January 08, 2009Teach yourself programming in ten years Harvard Business School’s “Working Knowledge” blog’s Most Popular Articles and Working Papers of 2008 USAID data at Pitt You and Your Research Turn text into a audio file in OS X
Government Performance Czar
Posted on January 07, 2009For those tracking such things, Obama just named Nancy Killefer from McKinsey & Company as “chief performance officer.” WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama, who faces trillion-dollar government deficits stretching into coming years, named on Wednesday a former Treasury official as the first U...
CFP: 2nd International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets
Posted on January 07, 2009Submission Deadline: January 12th, 2009 The conference aims to facilitate dissemination of state of the art research on corporate governance in emerging markets, with the objective of supporting policy and practice development. To this end, it solicits ideas from both theory and policy perspectives as to how to further improve corporate governance research...
Today in Presidential History: First Race Edition
Posted on January 07, 20091.7.1789: The first U.S. presidential election is held. The electoral count is here. The Constitution left it up to each state to choose the manner in which their Electors were chosen (Article II, section 1). North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified the Constitution and had no Electors in the election of 1789...
Moneylaw for UW Law?
Posted on January 07, 2009Moneylaw blog editor and dean at Louisville School of Law Dean Jim Chen is in the mix for the Dean position at the University of Washington School of Law. Will UW play moneylaw? Stay tuned.
On killing the billable hour
Posted on January 07, 2009The WSJ Blog has an interesting interview with Cravath, Swain & Moore managing partner Evan Chesler on killing the billable hour paradigm in legal services. Here’s an excerpt: Evan Chesler, a Cravath lifer and the firm?s presiding partner, has become the most recent high-profile lawyer to call for the end of the billable hour...
PoMo on the Decline
Posted on January 06, 2009Sez Gabrielle Spiegel, president of the AHA: ?The whole influence of poststructuralist and postmodernist historiography is receding,? she said. ?What is worth saving?? Where it came from: By the late 1980s, Ms. Spiegel noted, many historians were calling the impact of postmodernism ?an epistemological crisis? that undermined traditional ideas of causation and action in history...
Bureaucratic Politics Panels at the Southern Political Science Association
Posted on January 06, 2009Three panels this Thursday in beautiful downtown NOLA: New Approaches for Understanding Preferences, with Christian R Grose (Vanderbilt University), David Lewis (Princeton University), George A. Krause (University of Pittsburgh), and Anthony M Bertelli (University of Georgia/University of Southern California), Thu, Jan 8 - 11:30am - 1:00pm...
One Fish, two Fish ?
Posted on January 06, 2009Movie fans might check out Stanley Fish’s top 10 American movies of all time and his discussion thereof in the New York Times. Here’s the quick read (only the first 2 are in order, the others are tied for 3rd according to Fish): 1. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) 2...
Today in Presidential History: TR Edition
Posted on January 06, 20091.6.1919: TR dies. But the “bully pulpit” lives!
The Power of R
Posted on January 06, 2009R hits the NYT. To some people R is just the 18th letter of the alphabet. To others, it?s the rating on racy movies, a measure of an attic?s insulation or what pirates in movies say. R is also the name of a popular programming language used by a growing number of data analysts inside corporations and [...
What Historians are Saying about Bush/Cheney
Posted on January 05, 2009From the Chronicle: But at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association here, the collective judgment seems to be that those trends haven?t been all that new ? and won?t be easy to change. None of those trends are new in the last eight years, Ms...
Data Notes: New at ICPSR
Posted on January 05, 20094457 Role of Law Enforcement in Public School Safety in the United States, 2002 22460 Exploring Factors Influencing Family Members Connections to Incarcerated Individuals in New Jersey, 2005-2006 23082 Federal Court Cases: Integrated Data Base Bankruptcy Petitions, 2007 23900 Executions in the United States, 1608-1940: The ESPY File — Summary Data of Executions Collected by M...
Mean Neurotics Win!
Posted on January 05, 2009Reports the Economist: ECONOMISTS are not known for their scintillating personalities. So it comes as little surprise that, when it comes to accounting for the wage premium, skills and cognitive ability tend to be studied more than personality. Guido Heineck bucks that trend by looking at the correlation between personality traits and income...
Today in Presidential History: Coolidge Edition
Posted on January 05, 20091.5.1933: Calvin Coolidge dies. Interesting: Although Calvin Coolidge is widely judged to have been a weak and even an incompetent president, this study concludes that he was a leader disabled by a crippling emotional breakdown. After an impressive early career, Coolidge assumed the presidency upon the death of Warren Harding...
RFP: Science of Virtues
Posted on January 05, 2009See here. The Arete Initiative at the University of Chicago announces a new $3 million research program on a New Science of Virtues. This is a multidisciplinary research initiative that seeks contributions from individuals and from teams of investigators working within the humanities and the sciences...
On ?Some Modest Advice for Young Scholars?
Posted on January 05, 2009On the Conglomerate Blog, editor Gordon Smith provides some advice for young legal scholars working toward tenure. Overall, I think that his advice is helpful and provides some good guidelines. However, like some of the post’s commenters, I’m concerned that his points may be a little too general and some discussion about the nuances of [...
The Next Solicitor General
Posted on January 05, 2009The Economist’s Democracy in America writes: ELENA KAGAN, the dean of Harvard Law School, will be America’s next solicitor general. That probably won’t get A1 coverage, but it’s pretty important. Call it a “prelude”: But the selection of Ms Kagan also invites further speculation about just how far she will rise...
Today in Presidential History: Great Society Edition
Posted on January 04, 20091.4.1965: LBJ speaks about the “Great Society” in his SOU address. For your reading pleasure: Shapers of the Great Debate on the Great Society: A Biographical Dictionary, by Lawson Bowling.
Review of Reviews
Posted on January 04, 2009Pearce, Fred. When the Rivers Run Dry: Water–The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006. Yellin, Keith. Battle Exhortation: The Rhetoric of Combat Leadership. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2008...
More applications of ?Outliers? to academia
Posted on January 03, 2009On the Law School Innovation Blog Mark Osler has two posts relating Malcolm Gladwell’s ideas in “Outliers” to legal academia; the first on Gladwell’s ‘hours of practice’ concept and the second on how rules of advancement affect outcomes as to who becomes ‘outliers’ or star performers...
CFP: Relational Theories of Organization
Posted on January 03, 2009Call for Papers?Special Issue on Towards a Relational Understanding of Organization and Value: For Whom? For What? To What Effect? Guest Editors: Craig Prichard, Massey University, New Zealand Sarah Stookey, Central Connecticut State University, USA Stefano Harney, Queen Mary, University of London, UK Deadline for submissions: 2 March 2009 This special issue is posed as a challenge to critical organizational scholars to [...
Today in Presidential History: March of Dimes Edition
Posted on January 03, 20091.3.1938: The March of Dimes is organized. In 1937, after he was already president, Roosevelt established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Comedian Eddie Cantor suggested a plan to help raise money for the foundation, whose goal was to provide care to polio victims and to support research...
Need a Syllabus?
Posted on January 02, 2009UVA’s Miller Center has a nice collection, mostly history-oriented.
Today in Presidential History: Kennedy Announces Edition
Posted on January 02, 20091.2.1960: Kennedy announces his candidacy for the presidency.
CFP: 10th Public Management Research Association Conference
Posted on December 28, 2008Call for Proposals 10th Public Management Research Association Conference The Ohio State University, Columbus October 1-3, 2009 We are excited to open the call for proposals for the 10th Research Conference of the Public Management Research Association...
Today in Presidential History: John C. Calhoun Edition
Posted on December 28, 200812.28.1832: Calhoun resigns as Old Hickory’s Veep. Quotes John Yoo: By 1831, the break with Calhoun became complete when Jackson obtained documents showing that Calhoun had attacked him during the invasion of Florida. In a letter to Calhoun accusing him of ?endeavoring to destroy? his reputation, Jackson wrote ?in the language of Caesar, Et tu [...
Today in Presidential History: Bank Edition
Posted on December 27, 200812.27.1945: Birth of the World Bank, which became an integral part of Truman’s “Point 4″ program of technical assistance to developing countries.
CFP: State Politics and Policy Conference
Posted on December 26, 2008CFP: State Politics and Policy Conference, 5.22-23.09, Chapel Hill, NC I want to point you to the Call for Paper Proposals for the Ninth Annual State Politics and Policy Conference to be held in Chapel Hill, NC on May 22-23, 2009 (sponsored jointly by UNC and Duke)...
Today in Presidential History: Truman Doesn?t Defeat Death Edition
Posted on December 26, 200812.26.1972: Truman dies.
Hodgepodge
Posted on December 25, 2008Guinnessometrics: The Economic Foundation of “Student’s” t Symposium on “Implication Analysis” in Sociological Methodology Fractal Gingerbread House
CFP: 5TAD Fifth Transatlantic Dialogue, The Future of Governance in Europe and the U.S.
Posted on December 25, 20085TAD Fifth Transatlantic Dialogue The Future of Governance in Europe and the U.S. 11-13 June 2009 ! Washington, D.C. Conference Co-Sponsors American Society for Public Administration European Group of Public Administration School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University-Campus at Newark, U...
Today in Presidential History: Delaware Edition
Posted on December 25, 200812.25.1776: Washington crosses the Delaware.
Review of Reviews
Posted on December 24, 2008Wolfe, Wojtek Mackiewicz. Winning the War of Words: Selling the War on Terror from Afghanistan to Iraq. McClintock, Russell. Lincoln and the Decision for War: The Northern Response to Secession. Hilbink, Lisa. Judges beyond Politics in Democracy and Dictatorship: Lessons from Chile...
CFP: Reducing Poverty
Posted on December 24, 2008*CALL FOR PAPERS* Conference on: *Reducing Poverty: Explaining Recent State Policy Innovations and Strategies* at The Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions Emory University Atlanta, GA November 19-20, 2009 The goal of this conference is to bring together scholars and practitioners to examine and explain recent efforts by a number of states to take a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to alleviating poverty?one [...
Today in Presidential History: Pardons Edition
Posted on December 24, 200812.24.1992: Bush pardons officials involved in Iran-Contra.
Minerva Research Initiative
Posted on December 23, 2008The first round of grants have been made: Nazli Choucri, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: ?Explorations in Cyber International Relations.? Patricia M. Lewis, deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies: ?Iraq?s Wars From the Iraqi Perspective: State Security, Weapons of Mass Destruction, [...
Today in Presidential History: ?Twas the Night ?? Edition
Posted on December 23, 200812.23.1823: Clement Moore publishes “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”. A rendition: Students. Merry Christmas. The President. Thank you. Third graders? Students. Yes. The President. Good. Where’s your teachers? Thank you for teaching...
Today in Presidential History: Goetz Edition
Posted on December 22, 200812.22.1984: Bernie Goetz shoots four kids. Says the president: Q. Mr. President, a man in a subway in New York City took a gun and shot four youths who apparently were trying to shake him down. Without reference to that specific case, since it is in the courts, what do you think of the use of deadly [...
Today in Presidential History: The King Edition
Posted on December 21, 200812.21.1970: Elvis meets Nixon. [It's a great story, but I'll leave it for our forthcoming book on the war on drugs. The best part is that The King was packing heat when he showed up at the White House.]
Charles Tilly
Posted on December 21, 2008From the ASA: Memorial Conference Papers and Tilly Fund for Social Science History. The presentations and papers of the Hirschman Prize Ceremony and memorial conference in honor of Charles Tilly are now available online at www.ssrc.org/hirschman/event/2008...
New book by Frank Cross
Posted on December 21, 2008The Theory and Practice of Statutory Interpretation This looks to be a good book for practitioners, scholars, and students. Here’s the ad copy: Today, statutes make up the bulk of the relevant law heard in federal courts and arguably represent the most important source of American law...
Today in Presidential History: Secession Edition
Posted on December 20, 200812.20.1860: South Carolina secedes. On November 10, 1860, the South Carolina House altered the convention bill passed by the State Senate, changing the date the convention would meet to December 17, and changing the date of the election of convention delegates to December 6...
CFP: Conference on Public Service Motivation
Posted on December 20, 2008CALL FOR PAPERS International Public Service Motivation Research Conference The School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington and the Public Management Institute, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven are co-sponsoring the International Public Service Motivation Research Conference that will be held in Bloomington, IN on June 7-9, 2009...
Changes at NSF
Posted on December 20, 2008In the recent Dear Colleague letter, new initiatives: Complexity Science. We recognize that the concept of complex systems means different things in different areas, and we encourage work on complex systems incorporating analyses of the interaction of simpler systems to explain observed complexity; the dynamics of complex systems, for example ?tipping points,? where many things [...
Harrison on ?Outliers?
Posted on December 20, 2008On the Class Bias in Higher Education Blog Jeff Harrison posts reflections on how Gladwell’s “Outliers” applies to education and provides a personal experience: I was reminded how institutionalized the “special requests” have become when I visited my son’s school to pick him up after an exam that ended at 11 AM...
New Measures of Policy Spending Priorities
Posted on December 19, 2008On Political Analysis Advance Access, by Bill Jacoby and Sandy Schneider: In this paper, we develop and test a general measure of policy expenditures in the American states. Our approach is to construct a spatial proximity model of yearly state program spending...
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve
Posted on December 19, 2008Jawbreaker says “I wanna be your shirt”. Andrew Gelman blogs about statistical graphics on t-shirts. Which brings up the holiday season. Looking for a last minute gift for that person into statistical visualization? Try these! I am statistics ninja! Eat...
Today in Presidential History: Valley Forge Edition
Posted on December 19, 200812.19.1777: Washington encamps at Valley Forge. … creating what became an enduring symbol of American determination. In 1952, Truman addressed the Congress, saying: In all we do, we should remember who we are and what we stand for. We are Americans...
Whistle-blowing Today
Posted on December 19, 2008Today’s Federal Eye asks: could “deep throat” do it today? We write a lot more about whistle-blowing after Watergate and the Pentagon Papers than we did before, although I don’t know of formal citation evidence to support this claim...
RFA: Eisenhower Academy
Posted on December 18, 2008Yikes! People pay for this stuff? The 12th annual Eisenhower Academy, a summer institute for teachers, will be held July 12 - 17, 2009 at Gettysburg College and Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA. Sponsored by the National Park Service, Gettysburg College, and Mount St...
Today in Presidential History: Insider Edition
Posted on December 18, 20086.12.1987: Reagan names Ivan Boesky to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. 12.18.1987: Boesky sentenced to prison for insider-trading.
Data Notes: Criminal Victimization, 2007
Posted on December 17, 2008New from the BJS: Criminal Victimization, 2007. Presents estimates of rates and levels of personal and property victimization for 2007 and describes the substantial fluctuations in the survey measures of the crime rates from 2005 through 2007. These changes do not appear to be due to changes in the rate of criminal activity during this period, [...
CFP: JPAM on Immigration Policy
Posted on December 17, 2008Journal of Policy Analysis & Management Call for Papers: Immigration Policy The Journal of Policy Analysis & Management publishes research articles that empirically inform the effectiveness of a wide range of public policies and public management strategies...
Today in Presidential History: Family Edition
Posted on December 17, 200812.17.1975: Squeaky Fromme sentenced for an assassination attempt on President Ford. Of course, Fromme was a member of the infamous “Manson family”. Her attempt was the first of two (the second by Sara Jane Moore, another former Manson family member)...
Top 10 Law Firms: Ranking the Firms on Martindale-Hubbell
Posted on December 16, 2008Not to be confused with DJ Rob’s Top 5 lists in High Fidelity (below), these lists use M-H’s information to provide rankings of law firms on a number of dimensions. Here are the Top 10 US Law Firms by M-H visability (profile views) for November 2008: Rank Top 10 Law Firms: United States Change in Rank Last Month Months on [...
Today in Presidential History: ?I am in control here? Edition
Posted on December 16, 200812.16.1980: Reagan names Alexander Haig as his Secretary of State. At a press conference after the shooting of President Reagan, Alexander Haig uttered the famous phrase, ?As of now, I am in control here in the White House.? It turns out that as Secretary of State Mr...
Hodgepodge
Posted on December 16, 2008Alcohol and Drugs History Society Kaufrman Foundation gives $10 million for law and economics
CFP: M@n@gement on ?Sustainable Development Strategy?
Posted on December 16, 2008M@n@gement is a Tier 2 (out of 4) strategy/management journal categorized by the Comité National de la Recherche Scientifique. The submitted papers will cover the whole field of strategies of sustainable development. The purpose of the following list is just to give an idea of the themes which could possibly be of interest: Voluntary agreements The role investment [...
Today in Presidential History: Disney Edition
Posted on December 15, 200812.15.1966: Walt Disney dies. I’m a big Disney fan, and the Hall of Presidents is one of my all-time favorites. I go every time I visit. And I make my kids watch it, too. Disney built the audio-animatronic figure of Abe Lincoln for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair; the Imagineers built the Hall of Presidents at [...
Data Notes: New At ICPSR
Posted on December 15, 200823080 Federal Court Cases: Integrated Data Base Bankruptcy Petitions, 2005 23081 Federal Court Cases: Integrated Data Base Bankruptcy Petitions, 2006 23780 Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: County-Level Detailed Arrest and Offense Data, 2006
Lawyering up ?down under?
Posted on December 15, 2008A recent issue of Judgment and Decision Making has an article from Australian authors Victoria Gilliland and John Dunn, “Decision making in civil disputes: the effects of legal role, frame, and perceived chance of winning.” Here’s the abstract: The present study investigates the effect of framing and legal role on the propensity to accept a settlement [...
Cabinet Carousel
Posted on December 15, 2008Play the game! I matched Mukasey and Holder in 19 seconds. Bam!
Electing Judges
Posted on December 15, 2008More fuel for the fire, by Jim Gibson in the latest Law and Society Review: A new era has emerged in the ways in which candidates for state judicial office campaign. In the past, judicial elections were largely devoid of policy content, with candidates typically touting their judicial experience and other preparation for serving as [...
CFP: Institutions and National Competitiveness
Posted on December 15, 2008The Korea Institution and Economics Association announces the conference on ?Institutions and National Competitiveness? to be held in Seoul, Korea, on August 17-20, 2009. The official language of the conference will be English. While the theme of the conference is national competitiveness, papers on institutions broadly defined are welcome...
Top ranked law schools - by corruption
Posted on December 14, 2008On the Concurring Opinions Blog Scott Moss ranks law schools by the number of alumni “who were high public officials convicted, or simply forced to leave office, following criminal or otherwise serious unlawful misconduct they allegedly committed while in office in the 1990s or 2000s...
Today in Presidential History: Father of His Country Edition
Posted on December 14, 200812.14.1799: Geo. Washington dies. One for the syllabus: “Death of a President” by D.M. Morens (NEJM, 1999). But on a frigid afternoon, three physicians, gathered around a dying man, were not so optimistic. The man’s wife looked on as he gasped for air, constantly shifting position...
RFP: Higher Education Support for Legal Reforms in Mexico
Posted on December 14, 2008From Higher Education for Development (HED): Mexico?s Congress recently passed constitutional reforms making it mandatory for all states, the federal district and the federal government to transform their criminal justice system from a mixed inquisitorial into an oral adversarial criminal justice system...
Turnover at the National Archives
Posted on December 13, 2008So reports Al Kamen: National Archivist Allen Weinstein, who has Parkinson’s disease, has submitted his resignation effective Dec. 19, citing health reasons. Weinstein’s 2005 appointment by President Bush sparked controversy, especially over concerns that he would be an independent archivist...
Chronicle Posts Stipend Data
Posted on December 13, 2008Get yer stipend data here! In a Chronicle survey, 111 institutions responded to questions about the stipends and benefits they provide to teaching and research assistants. The institutions are designated as doctoral/research universities by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching...
Today in Presidential History: Bush Wins! Edition
Posted on December 13, 200812.13.2000: Bush Wins! 36 days later. Shameless self-promotion: “The Presidency and the Supreme Court After Bush v. Gore: Implications for Institutional Legitimacy and Effectiveness” by Yates and Whitford (Stanford Law & Policy Review, 2002)...
RFP: Environmental Law
Posted on December 13, 2008CAFTA-DR Environmental Law Capacity Building Initiative HED expects to make one (1) award of up to $650,000 for a higher education partnership to strengthen environmental law capacity building in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua as part of the U...
Today in Presidential History: DJIA Edition
Posted on December 12, 200812.12.1914: the Dow drops 24.39 percent in a single day. Says Woodrow Wilson: nothing (in the official papers, at least). Why? Says Mishkin and White: However, we exclude the 1914-1915 crash because although there is a drop, stock markets were closed from July 31 to to December, 12, 1914, leaving little data for analysis...
The financial crises and teenage employment
Posted on December 12, 2008The New York Times has an interesting article and the cool graph above on teenage employment. The basic idea is that at times get tough, teenagers go to work. What would have been really interesting is to see some statistics on the type of job that teenagers have relative to their family’s socio-economic status...
The Media and Institutional Change
Posted on December 12, 2008Political scientists, economists, sociologists, and legal scholars think (and write) a lot about institutional change. Here’s a new spin: We argue that mass media is a mechanism of institutional evolution and identify three important effects media has on institutions...
RFP: Institute for Historical Studies
Posted on December 12, 2008The Institute for Historical Studies at UT-Austin welcomes applications for one semester and full year residential fellowships from junior, mid-career and senior faculty. The fellowships provide full salary replacement. The theme for 2009-10 is Global Borders, and we seek fellows whose work explores the theme in a wide variety of creative ways, conceptual as well as geographical...
?We Done Good ??
Posted on December 11, 2008Excellent. Perhaps the most awkward moment of the evening came early on, courtesy of Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, who was asked to make a few remarks about McGinniss? tenure. ?I was asked along with 3,000 other people to submit my letter of resignation last week,? he joked at [...
Today in Presidential History: Impeachment Edition
Posted on December 11, 2008Ten years ago today: an early Christmas present: three articles of impeachment from the House Judiciary Committee, for Bill Clinton. An interesting experiment: Students estimated the chance that President Clinton would be convicted or acquitted in the U...
Persuasion Techniques among Would-be Fascists
Posted on December 11, 2008Quoting extracts from the BNP articles, Finlay and Wood say the arguments resemble a conspiracy theory and they identify the use of two tools of persuasion in relation to Muslims in Britain: the “accentuation effect”, which is the attempt to portray outgroups as homogeneous and distinct from ingroups; and “essentialism”, which is the idea that [...
CFP: useR! 2009, the R user conference
Posted on December 11, 2008Deadline: February 27, 2009. useR! 2009, the R user conference, will take place at Agrocampus Ouest, Rennes, France from 2009-07-08 to 2009-07-10. Pre-conference tutorials will take place on July 7. The conference is organized by Agrocampus Ouest and the Rennes 2 University and it is funded by the R Foundation for Statistical Computing...
Judicial decision making in a ?blink?
Posted on December 10, 2008I have recently read a trio of books by Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point, Outliers, and Blink. I will likely post on these reads in more depth in the future, but I recently read a review of Blink by Judge Richard Posner in The New Republic. He aptly articulates the gist of Gladwell’s work: Malcolm Gladwell, [...
The Review of Reviews
Posted on December 10, 2008Review of “The Making of FDR: The Story of Stephen T. Early, America’s First Modern Press Secretary,” Review of “Act of Justice: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War.” Review of “Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race...
Woodrow Wilson School, Not R.I.P.
Posted on December 10, 2008From the Chronicle: Princeton and Robertson Family Settle Titanic Donor-Intent Lawsuit Princeton University and the heirs of a major donor to the institution have settled their bitter dispute over an endowment that supports the university?s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs...
The Center for American Progress
Posted on December 10, 2008An interesting discussion of the Center for American Progress in Joe Davidson’s Federal Diary column today: Despite Soloway’s misgivings, the report takes on added significance because it comes from the Center for American Progress just weeks before Barack Obama becomes boss-in-chief...
Today in Presidential History: Teddy Bear Edition
Posted on December 10, 200812.10.1906: Teddy Roosevelt awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping negotiate the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War. This paper argues that Roosevelt was constrained by European nations when searching for a mediated solution...
CFP: Annual Meeting of the International Network for Social Network Analysis
Posted on December 10, 2008Second Call for Abstracts: Sunbelt XXIX: The Annual Meeting of the International Network for Social Network Analysis San Diego, California, March 10-15, 2009 Abstract & Early Registration Deadline: December, 15, 2008 Conference registration, Abstract Submission, and Hotel Accommodations can be made at: http://www...
Winter Law & Courts newsletter
Posted on December 09, 2008… is now available here, and has an address by the new section chair, Stefanie Lindquist.
Zorn and Peppers on law clerk influence
Posted on December 09, 2008Just in case you want to see some source material on the recently famous work of Chris Zorn and Todd Peppers on law clerk influence on SCOTUS, they have posted the paper on SSRN here. Their project was highlighted in the New York Times and the ABA Journal...
Fake America
Posted on December 09, 2008From IEEE Spectrum: The group has designed what it claims is the largest, most detailed, and realistic computer model of the lives of about 100 million Americans, using enormous amounts of publicly available demographic data. The model?s makers hope the simulation will shed light on the effects of human comings and goings, such as how a [...
CFP: American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting
Posted on December 09, 2008The 19th Annual Meeting of the American Law and Economics Association will be held on Friday and Saturday, May 15-16, 2009, at The University of San Diego. To submit a paper, click here.
The Power of Coincidence
Posted on December 09, 2008Asks Science: does coincidence enrich your life? Some excerpts: James Redfield, author of the best seller The Celestine Prophesy (1), describes a number of insights that he predicts may have an impact on us in the future as we become more aware of how human beings are connected to each other through coincidence...
Hodgepodge
Posted on December 09, 2008RFP: Healthy Kids, Health Communities Syncing Gcal and iCal WDVX
RFP: Summer Doctoral Institute for Research and Study on Institutions & Development
Posted on December 09, 2008At GW: Learn from renowned professors in your field of study. Network with peers from around the world. Grow as a researcher and creator of knowledge. This summer, seven to ten doctoral students will be selected to participate in the prestigious GW-CIBER Summer Doctoral Institute for Research and Study on Institutions & Development...
Today in Presidential History: Bailout/Credible Commitments Edition
Posted on December 09, 2008December 9, 1975: Ford signs a $2.3 billion loan package to keep NYC from going broke. Check out this view on the management of NYC post-1975: The paper develops a critical analysis of the intellectual project of the “new urban right,” highlighting the role of conservative and free-market think tanks in the formation, elaboration, and diffusion of [...
Taking tests
Posted on December 08, 2008Jeff Lipshaw has a pretty interesting and entertaining post on test taking on the Legal Profession Blog. It focuses on fact pattern type essay questions, but has some applications that are more general. Certainly, there is a lot that can be said on this topic...
Today in Presidential History: Gompers Edition
Posted on December 08, 2008December 8, 1886: The AFL is formed in Columbus, Ohio. Samuel Gompers is the first president. In October 31, 1932, Hoover quoted Gompers (who died in 1924), on the eve of a landslide defeat to FDR: “It is a question of whether it shall be government ownership or private ownership under control...
The Facebook Effect
Posted on December 08, 2008Says Al Kamen: Question No. 58 in the transition team vetting document for the Obama White House asks that applicants “please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g. Facebook, My Space, etc...
Interior, Energy, and the EPA
Posted on December 08, 2008Lots of names being mentioned as possible appointees. These two stand out: but Kansas Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’s considerable stock seems to be holding steady for energy — or at least some Cabinet post. and There’s buzz that the transition folks are also looking hard at some scientific types for the energy job, including Steven Chu, director [...
Nudge
Posted on December 08, 2008For Nudge fans: Cass Sunstein on Nudge (along with commentators), at Cato. Expanding on their widely discussed article on “libertarian paternalism,” Professors Sunstein and Thaler argue that people often make bad choices on diet, retirement savings, health insurance, and contributing to climate change...
CFP: ?Rapid Modelling? Conference
Posted on December 08, 2008[NB: I know, I think it should be "modeling", too.] CFP: 1st rapid modelling conference “Increasing Competitiveness - Tools and Mindset” The RMC09 Conference team is pleased to invite you to the 1st Rapid Modelling Conference (http://www.unine...
Today in Presidential History: Adams Family Edition
Posted on December 07, 2008December 7, 1796: John Adams chosen president by electors. “I cannot O! I cannot be reconciled to living as I have done for 3 years past? Will you let me try to soften, if I cannot wholy) releave you, from your Burden of Cares and perplexities?” The Adams family wrote a lot of letters...
Parents in Prison
Posted on December 07, 2008New from the BJS, “Parents in Prison and their Minor Children“. Abstract: This report compares estimates of the number of incarcerated parents and their children under the age of 18, by gender, age, race, and Hispanic origin in State and Federal prisons in 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, and 2007...
CFP: Group & Organization Management Conceptual Issue
Posted on December 07, 2008Group & Organization Management: CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Conceptual Issue The Editorial Team of Group & Organization Management would like to invite authors to submit proposals for a new feature of the Journal ? a Conceptual Review Issue. Articles for the Conceptual Issue are intended to be high-impact scholarly conceptual pieces based on extant development in research [...
CFP: The James C. Johnson Student Paper Award Competition 2008-2009
Posted on December 06, 2008Of interest, for students working on personnel/management issues in public agencies: The IPMA-HR Assessment Council (IPMAAC) is sponsoring its annual James C. Johnson Student Paper Competition in order to recognize the contributions of students in the field of personnel assessment...
Today in Presidential History: Broadcast Edition
Posted on December 06, 2008December 6, 2008: The first radio broadcast of a presidential address, by Calvin Coolidge to Congress. Here’s the speech. Here are some key radio events in 1923. Possibly more important than Coolidge’s address: the first broadcast of the Rose Bowl, and the first broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada...
Frost/Nixon
Posted on December 05, 2008The Times has a review. Here’s the trailer: I know it’s silly, but I think Frank Langella would look more like Nixon if they had used one of those plastic masks.
H.M.
Posted on December 05, 2008Worth remembering: “H. M., an Unforgettable Amnesiac, Dies at 82“. And for those five decades, he was recognized as the most important patient in the history of brain science. As a participant in hundreds of studies, he helped scientists understand the biology of learning, memory and physical dexterity, as well as the fragile nature of human [...
Hodgepodge
Posted on December 05, 2008Study finds that Katrina kids are the sickest children in the U.S. How Many U.S. Jobs Are “Offshorable”? The Andrew Johnson Celebration Carbon Markets, Institutions, Policies, and Research For Three Years, Every Bite Organic
Today in Presidential History: Happy Birthday Edition
Posted on December 05, 2008Happy birthday, Martin Van Buren, born December 5, 1782 in Kinderhook, New York. Kinderhook is still home to the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. Here’s a virtual tour. Was Van Buren the originator of “O.K.”?
Diversity in the Top Leadership of Agencies
Posted on December 05, 2008The GAO is writing about it. Congress is investigating. Joe Davidson at the Post reports: Diversity within the group of men — and still only men — who have been president of the United States will change significantly when Barack Obama is sworn in next month...
Police Officers? ideas on the war on drugs
Posted on December 04, 2008The Simple Justice Blog has an interesting post on cops against the war on drugs. Especially interesting is their take on forfeiture and the example of the owner of the Empire State Building losing the landmark to the state if s/he gets caught smoking a joint in the lobby...
?I have one word for you Benjamin. Iodine.?
Posted on December 04, 2008Okay, maybe I took some liberties with the classic quote from The Graduate. In the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof makes the case that giving people more iodine will cure much of the world’s troubles. Almost one-third of the world?s people don?t get enough iodine from food and water...
New Federal Prosecutions Data
Posted on December 04, 2008From TRAC: When monthly 2008 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (43 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 65...
The Accuracy of Judges? Workload Measures
Posted on December 04, 2008From the GAO, “Federal Judgeships: General Accuracy of District and Appellate Judgeship Case-Related Workload Measure“, testimony by William O. Jenkins, Jr. Highlights: In 2003, GAO reported that the 1993 district court case weights were reasonably accurate measures of the average time demands that a specific number and mix of cases filed in a district court could [...
How to Interrogate
Posted on December 04, 2008… new political appointees. From the GAO, “Confirmation of Political Appointees: Eliciting Nominees’ Views on Management Challenges within Agencies and across Government“: While some progress has been made in recent years, agencies urgently need to strengthen basic management capabilities to successfully address current and emerging demands...
Today in Presidential History: Sphere of Influence Edition
Posted on December 04, 2008December 4, 1816: James Monroe elected president. Of course, we all know about the Monroe Doctrine. There are 81 mentions in the presidential papers of the phrase “Monroe Doctrine”, dating from 1856 to 2007. Ten of those occurred before 1900...
Today in Presidential History: Old Hickory Edition
Posted on December 03, 2008180 years ago today: Andrew Jackson elected president of the U.S. President Jackson is not remembered as a great defender of “an independent and virtuous judiciary” but instead has gained notoriety and fame for the legendary statement, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it...
Bush and the Bureaucracy
Posted on December 03, 2008New on Palgrave, President George W. Bush’s Influence over Bureaucracy and Policy, ed. by Colin Provost and Paul Teske. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 provided President George W. Bush with unprecedented levels of public support. The Bush administration used this support to push forward many aspects of its policy agenda...
Yellow Badges
Posted on December 03, 2008Says the Post: Wearing yellow badges and traveling in groups of 10 or more, agency review teams for President-elect Barack Obama have swarmed into dozens of government offices, from the Pentagon to the National Council on Disability. With pointed questions and clear ground rules, they are dissecting agency initiatives, poring over budgets and unearthing documents that may [...
Where is the love?
Posted on December 02, 2008The ABA Journal recently announced its 2008 Top 100 blogs. Alas, your favorite blog (I hope) was not mentioned. Indeed ABA Journal list-makers, Molly McDonough and Sarah Randag, where is the love?
Today in Presidential History: Birth of USEPA Edition
Posted on December 02, 2008December 2, 1970: USEPA begins operations. As Moe said, During the year of its creation, 1970, the politics of structural choice focused not on what kind of agency was to be created or where it was to be located, but on the bureaucratic powers, procedures, , and deadlines that would be written into the Clean Air Act...
The Transfer of Power
Posted on December 02, 2008On transition planning, worth a look. What was being said, October 2008 (Paul Light): He also said that criticism of Mr. Obama for starting his transition planning too early ? he started in July ? was ?nonsense.? ?I thought, if anything, the Obama people were late,? he said, noting that the Reagan campaign had started planning its [...
Today in Presidential History: Electoral College Edition
Posted on December 01, 2008December 1, 1824: The Electoral College swings the election for John Quincy Adams (over Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay). Go read Jenkins and Sala. For the consequences, Carson and Engstrom. Or you can go to the source:
Cabinet Possibilities Who Are Saying ?No, Thanks?
Posted on December 01, 2008So says Al Kamen in the Post, of interest: John Brennan Jim Clyburn Susan Collins Kent Conrad Artur Davis Chet Edwards Jim Hunt Richard Lugar Claire McCaskill Sam Nunn Colin Powell Penny Pritzker Olympia Snowe Gotta love the implications of Lugar, Collins, or Snowe...
Hodgepodge
Posted on December 01, 2008Politics on Librivox CFP: Representations of the Serial Killer in Film and Television U.S. Government and Environmental Policy Encyclopedia Encyclopedia of American Environmental History Dorian and Antony Fisher Venture Grants
Economists Get All the Cool Toys
Posted on December 01, 2008Like job market signaling mechanisms, says Al Roth: The signaling mechanism run by the American Economic Association closes on Monday at midnight (but signalers must register by Sunday). Economists may use it to send up to two signals of interest to potential employers...
Today in Presidential History: Mark Twain Edition
Posted on November 30, 2008November 30, 1835: Mark Twain born. In 1936, FDR spoke at the opening of the Mark Twain bridge in Hannibal, Mo.: It was my privilege last year to have a part in the opening of the centennial commemoration of Mark Twain’s birthplace. On that occasion from the White House I pressed a key which caused [...
Today in Presidential History: Campaign Promise Edition
Posted on November 29, 2008November 29, 1952: Eisenhower keeps a campaign promise and visits Korea.
Today in Presidential History: John Paul Stevens Edition
Posted on November 28, 2008November 28, 1975: Ford nominated John Paul Stevens to SCOTUS. In December he lauded the process that led to Stevens’ nomination: Let me talk about personnel for just a moment. I think we have put together a very good team, both in the White House and in the Administration...
NSF Replaces SGER Grants With Two New Grant Mechanisms
Posted on November 28, 2008Of interest: The updated NSF Grants Policy Guide (GPG) describes two new grant programs that will, collectively, replace the old Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) funding mechanism. Effective January 5, 2009, grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) will take the place of the old SGERs...
Today in Presidential History: Macy?s Edition
Posted on November 27, 2008November 27, 1924: The First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is held. In 2002, George W. Bush addressed the nation in videotaped remarks: Good morning. As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, let us remember to share our blessings and make this holiday season a time for giving to those in need...
Hodgepodge
Posted on November 27, 2008A list of the “best advanced math books” The world in 17 years Alexi shotguns a Red Bull The Righteous Path
We are ?The Thinkers? type blog
Posted on November 27, 2008At least according to Typealyzer, a website that analyzes a blog’s writing style. H/T to Marquette Law Faculty Blog. Here’s the full explanation of this type from the site: The logical and analytical type. They are especialy attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into...
Today in Presidential History: Wartime Holiday Edition
Posted on November 26, 2008November 26, 1953: Eisenhower addresses the nation on Thanksgiving: AMERICA, of course, has countless things for which to be thankful on this November 26th. But I think the most important is this: for the first Thanksgiving in the last four, we sit down to our traditional Thanksgiving feast without the fear of the casualty list hanging [...
Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability
Posted on November 26, 2008Of interest: First Annual Conference: Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability, May 8-9, 2009 Sustainability is quickly becoming a core issue for business strategy and management. A body of rigorous academic research is emerging that provides an objective base of intellectual capital on corporate sustainability that informs both scholars and corporate executives...
Today in Presidential History: Fawn Hall Edition
Posted on November 25, 2008November 25, 1986: Reagan and Meese admit to diverting funds from sales to Iran to fund rebels in Nicaragua. Somebody else likes shredding paper:
Conservatism and talk radio
Posted on November 25, 2008The FiveThirtyEight Blog has an interesting post on the dynamics of talk radio and conservatism. Particularly interesting is a long quote on David Foster Wallace’s take on what it means to be good at talk radio and what this means. Here’s a brief excerpt: Hosting talk radio is an exotic, high-pressure gig that not many people [...
Science & Technology Policy Fellowships
Posted on November 25, 2008Of interest: The American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowships are awarded to highly qualified individuals interested in learning about the science-policy interface while applying their scientific and technical knowledge and analytical skills to the federal policy realm...
Going Slow
Posted on November 24, 2008Joe Davidson, in the Post’s “Federal Diary“: Jennifer L. Dorn, who has had four presidential appointments, remembers her first days in a new agency this way: “It’s like being on a first date. How close do I dance with my partner?” Particularly unsettling is that 20 percent of the senior executives agreed with the statement: “I have [...
Today in Presidential History: Whigs Edition
Posted on November 24, 2008No, not that Whigs. November 24, 1784: Zachary Taylor born in Orange County, Va. Taylor died while in office from a dinner of cherries and milk. Conspiracy theorists, unite! But see Parenti (1998): Was President Zachary Taylor poisoned? Sometimes an event in history wins our attention not solely because of its generalizable significance but because of its inviting [...
Nonlinear Innovation
Posted on November 24, 2008IDEO is a textbook case of doing stuff that doesn’t make a lot of sense in the short term, but where the impact is significant in the long term. Check out the IDEO “Global Chain Reaction Experience”. [Hat tip: Bob Sutton.]
Today in Presidential History: Conspiracy Edition
Posted on November 24, 2008November 24, 1963: Ruby shoots Oswald.
Student Fellowships in Environmental Research
Posted on November 24, 2008Of interest: EPA established the National Network for Environmental Management Studies (NNEMS) in 1986 to foster a growing interest among higher education students in environmental careers. The NNEMS program is a comprehensive fellowship program that provides undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to participate in a fellowship project that is directly related to their field of [...
Today in Presidential History: Pierce Edition
Posted on November 23, 2008Franklin Pierce, born November 23, 1804 in Hillsboro, NH. Many rank Pierce one of the worst presidents in history (a title that’s up for contention), so why not consider a trip to the Franklin Pierce homestead the next time you’re in the Granite State? And stop by the Pierce barbecue pit while you’re in town...
Best bets for a Bush pardon
Posted on November 23, 2008Are set forth on Slate Magazine here. Top contenders are: Scooter Libby and Michael Milken. Less likely to receive a pardon are: Michael Vick and Jack Abramoff.
Bureaucracy and Asymmetric Information
Posted on November 23, 2008By me, in the December 2008 issue of Rationality and Society: How does the informational role of interest groups interact with institutions when politicians seek to control the bureaucracy? In 1992, Banks and Weingast argued that bureaucrats hold an informational advantage vis-à-vis political principals concerning policy-relevant variables, and that when it is prohibitively costly to audit, [...
Hodgepodge
Posted on November 22, 2008Obama and the War on Drugs Search Engines Predict Flu Engadget on Netbooks Toodledo
The 2009 George C. Edwards III Dissertation Award
Posted on November 22, 2008The Presidency Research Group (PRG), an organized section of the American Political Science Association (APSA), has established the George C. Edwards III Dissertation Award, to be granted annually for the best dissertation in presidency research completed and accepted during the calendar year prior to the APSA Annual Meeting at which it is announced...
Today in Presidential History: The Gap Edition
Posted on November 21, 2008No, I don’t mean that Gap. November 21, 1973: J. Fred Buzhardt lets us know about the 18 1/4-minute gap in one of Nixon’s recordings. Is it the “curse of the mummy“? (NB: now that’s a well-written abstract.)
Geithner to Treasury?
Posted on November 21, 2008So says the NYT. Who wins? Somebody thinks shareholders do, since stocks jumped 300 points. He’s involved with the bailout already, so there’s no learning curve. In 2005, he wrote “Changes in the Structure of the U.S. Financial System and the Implications for Systemic Risk” in Systemic Financial Crises: Resolving Large Bank Insolvencies, ed...
The Emoluments Clause
Posted on November 21, 2008Al Kamen in today’s “In the Loop”: Even if the problems involving Bill Clinton’s finances can be resolved, there’s another potential issue for his wife’s nomination. It’s called the Constitution of the United States, specifically Article I, Section 6, also known as the emoluments clause...
Today in Presidential History: Silent Spring Edition
Posted on November 20, 2008November 20, 1969: Seven years after the publication of Silent Spring, the Nixon administration phased out residential use of DDT. It’s impossible to talk about environmental politics in advanced industrialized democracies and not talk about the silent spring metaphor...
Obama - Change is gonna come ? to college football!
Posted on November 20, 2008Slate magazine has Obama’s take on the BCS rankings and his promise of change. (H/T to VC Blog). Here’s the interview.
Corruption and Regulation
Posted on November 20, 2008Don’t really know what to make of all the counter-intuitive results in one of the latest papers on this topic: This paper evaluates the extent of regulation in a democracy with corruption. Elected politicians can restrict entry of firms in exchange for bribes from entrepreneurs...
Waxman In, Dingell Out
Posted on November 20, 2008As Chair of Energy and Commerce. One of the better discussions of the rivalry between Dingell and Waxman (often waged over cars and clean air requirements) is Marzotto, Burnor, and Bonham’s The Evolution of Public Policy: Cars and the Environment (2000, Lynne Rienner), who describe Waxman as Dingell’s “nemesis”...
History Repeats Itself
Posted on November 19, 2008The question of proportional versus progressive taxation has not been settled in either theory or practice. First line of “Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice,” published by E.R.A. Seligman in the American Economic Association Quarterly...
Today in Presidential History: Four Score and Seven Years Ago Edition
Posted on November 19, 2008November 19, 1863: Lincoln speaks at Gettysburg. It’s as much about what you don’t say as what you do say.
Matchday: U.S. Soccer Edition
Posted on November 19, 2008Nats v. Guatemala, 11/19, 8 PM ET, Denver.
Shading Shows Uncertainty
Posted on November 19, 2008In the October 2008 American Statistician: A new technique is presented for illustrating several probability distributions on the same axes. The density strip is a shaded monochrome strip whose darkness at a point is proportional to the probability density of the quantity at that point...
New at ICPSR
Posted on November 19, 2008Of interest, new at ICPSR: 22404 Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: Arrests by Age, Sex, and Race, 2006 23600 Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: Hate Crime Data, 2003 [Record-Type Files] 23625 Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: Hate Crime Data, 2002 [Record-Type Files] 23781 Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: Hate Crime [...
ReDeckStacking the SEC
Posted on November 19, 2008The SEC is getting a makeover, called the “Restacking Project”. It is a response to “a recurrent complaint” from various offices that people were “frustrated by the time it takes to communicate,” even with people in their own divisions, who might be on different floors...
Burrowing Again!
Posted on November 18, 2008Gotta love the games: Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department’s top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies — including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions — into senior civil service posts...
Happy Anniversary!: V.O. Key Edition
Posted on November 18, 2008Fifty years ago, V.O. Key published “The State of the Discipline” in the APSR. A few tidbits: We are, in a sense, the victims of our own success. If we are to narrow the gap between our knowledge and our responsibilities, we must devote greater resources in manpower and ingenuity to the systematic analysis of [...
Some of Rehnquist?s papers released - the Court?s dining table called into question
Posted on November 18, 2008A relatively small portion of Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist’s personal papers were released to the public on Monday. The New York Times reports: The papers released Monday are a small part of a collection of documents donated to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University after Chief Justice Rehnquist?s death in 2005...
Today in Presidential History: Drug Czar Edition
Posted on November 18, 2008November 18, 1988: Reagan signs legislation creating the cabinet-level position of drug czar. Also in the legislation: the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill.
Today in Presidential History: Law & Order Edition
Posted on November 17, 2008Live from Orlando: “I am not a crook.”
?If I had a million dollars?
Posted on November 16, 2008I’d buy you a fur coat, but not a real fur coat, that’s cruel.” So sang the Barenaked Ladies. But what if you had 200 hundred million dollars and you were the dean of a top 15 law school trying to break into the top 10? A number of law blogs, including Leiter Law School, [...
Coffee? Tea? a Depression? ? Anyone?
Posted on November 11, 2008Judge Richard Posner suggests that an economic depression might not be that bad for the country and that depressions often have a silver lining. His co-blogger, Gary Becker, counters that if there’s a silver lining, then it’s awfully thin...
Customized political science graduate program rankings ?
Posted on November 08, 2008… available here. You can rank programs in other disciplines as well. Programs can be ranked based on a number of criteria such as placement rates, time to degree, faculty quality, cost and funding, and demographics, among others.
A new LSAT?
Posted on November 07, 2008Possibly. Of course, changes were already made to the LSAT a short time ago, but they were nothing to write home about. A new study out of Berkeley which suggests a more meaningful change is outlined in a recent WSJ Blog post. Here’s an excerpt: Former Berkeley law prof Marjorie Shultz (pictured) thinks they can do [...
Bitter Lawyer?
Posted on November 04, 2008Recently featured on the WSJ Blog, “Bitter Lawyer” is an interesting website providing insights on the world of large law firm associates. You can find tales of associate abuse at the hands of partners, interviews with legal actors and actor lawyers, and some funny webisodes from the site’s series “Living the Dream...
Hack the vote?
Posted on November 02, 2008An interesting video is provided below which shows a professor demonstrating how easy it is to hack a voting machine and steal votes. (It takes less than 7 minutes). This is part of the recent Princeton report on Sequoia voting machines. More videos from the report are available here, here, and here...
Joel Stein on Halloween
Posted on October 31, 2008LA times columnist Joel Stein has a problem with Halloween - and a solution. Here’s a start: Holidays are for children and conservatives. And the one holiday that is still just for kids — free of campaigns to replace Santa with creches, painted eggs with crucifixes, fireworks with flag lapel pins — has been ruined by [...
Top 25 pricey colleges ?
Posted on October 28, 2008…for undergraduate education - as detailed on the Consumerist. It’s helpful in that it combines the cost of room and board, but given that many students now live off campus, it would be interesting to see a pure tuition top 25. Here they are: Highest Total Cost 2008-2009 College | Total Cost 1...
Prediction Markets?
Posted on October 27, 2008Well, not quite. Intrade isn’t publicly-traded (it’s a “Irish incorporated service business“) and Knowledge Networks is held by private equity. But Harris Interactive is publicly-traded. Here’s the share price since Dec...
Moneylaw on professors playing poker
Posted on October 27, 2008On the Moneylaw blog Jim Chen has an interesting post that features an analogy between faculty hiring and decisions to admit new members to a poker club. I also liked the picture (above) that he used - the bulldog with an ace in his lower paw is pretty sneaky - look out for that one...
The *real* victims of the financial crises ?
Posted on October 25, 2008… the high end financial executives, of course. Gawker provides a funny youtube video chronicling life after the high life in NYC (below). Perhaps this guy can find fulfillment on Odd Todd - a site devoted to helping those who are unemployed pass the time...
Why model?
Posted on October 22, 2008The Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science Blog has a post on an interesting paper by J.M. Epstein concerning modeling. Here’s an excerpt: In summary, while most mathematical treatment of statistical modeling tends to be focused purely on prediction, there is a good reason why the cost of interpretation should be considered...
The impact of the down economy on academia?
Posted on October 21, 2008… more specifically on hiring trends, on Leiter and Alfred Brophy on the Faculty Lounge Blog here and here. They make some interesting comments and predictions. I may post on this later when I’ve had more time to think about the topic, but I’ll posit two quick thoughts here: 1) any downturn in the economy creates [...
The Americans have invaded Britain
Posted on October 20, 2008… The American Moms, that is - check it out on Althouse.
Update on moneyball for law firms
Posted on October 17, 2008Paul Caron has a summary of blogs on moneyball for law firms and there is also a recent ABA Journal article on the study. We now know that two factors in associate success (as defined by hours billed and months tenure) are group hobbies/collegiate sports and grades in certain classes (no, we don’t know which [...
Ok, I was wrong ? employment rights in presidential debate
Posted on October 16, 2008In the post prior to this one I lamented the fact that employment rights had not received much coverage in the presidential debates and predicted that they would receive zero treatment in last night’s debate - but they did. Here’s a summary of that treatment (of sorts) from CNN’s fact checker: Fact Check: Would Obama ‘take away [...
Employment rights in the next presidential administration
Posted on October 15, 2008On the Marquette Faculty Blog, Paul Secunda sets forth a number of preferred priorities for the next presidential administration in the area of employment rights. I actually wouldn’t mind hearing about these issues during tonight’s presidential candidate debate...
Moneyball for law firms?
Posted on October 14, 2008As kind of an aside in a recent post, ELS’s Bill Henderson notes a study by Kerma Partners on lawyer productivity/success at large law firms. The idea is that law firms want to develop better indicators or predictors of lawyer success at their firms...
What the Markets are Saying
Posted on October 08, 2008As of this morning, Obama got the bigger bounce:
The Consequences of Research in Professional Schools
Posted on October 08, 2008New from NYU Stern: “New Study from NYU Stern Demonstrates Measurable Return-On-Investment of Academic Research on B-School Performance“ In publishing the first empirical evidence measuring the value of academic research on business school performance, NYU Stern Marketing Professor Peter Golder, with Debanjan Mitra of the University of Florida, use data to challenge the widely publicized 2005 [...
Elite or Joe Six Pack? Who Has What
Posted on October 05, 2008Given that there has been a lot of rhetoric in the presidential race on “being a regular guy (or woman),” Paul Caron’s post on the candidates’ released tax returns is informative. Much has been made concerning the candidates’ relative charitable giving...
Letterman?s Top 10 list ?
Posted on October 04, 2008… of messages left on Sarah Palin’s answering machine after the debate.
The Intersection of Judicial Attitudes and Litigant Selection Theories
Posted on October 04, 2008I recently posted a paper of mine, “The Intersection of Judicial Attitudes and Litigant Selection Theories: Explaining U.S. Supreme Court Decision Making” on SSRN. It is co-authored with Elizabeth Coggins, a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill...
McSweeney?s things that can cost you your thesis?
Posted on October 02, 2008… including footnotes, endnotes, and parentheticals. Perhaps this presents a good opportunity to think about the most absurd things we’ve ever seen in a thesis or dissertation. Here’s a partial list below; more here. 3. Who, although a gifted academic, is still a douche...
Marquette law faculty blog
Posted on September 28, 2008The faculty of Marquette Law School have entered the blogosphere. Of course, some of the faculty are already quite well known in the legal blogging world. Blog editors include: Michael O’Hear, Bruce Boyden, Jessica Price, Paul Secunda, Richard Esenberg, and John Kircher...
Assessing the debate
Posted on September 27, 2008A poll taken friday night reveals that Obama was the “winner” of the presidential debate; however, it’s more likely that it was closer to a draw. Here’s an excerpt from the CNN story relaying the poll results: A national poll of people who watched the first presidential debate suggests that Barack Obama came out on top, [...
Is America a good financial bet?
Posted on September 25, 2008Well, I’d like to think so. However, China apparently may have some reservations. Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday...
Obama discusses strategy with President Bartlet
Posted on September 24, 2008Or at least that’s how ‘West Wing’ creator Aaron Sorkin imagines it in Maureen Dowd’s NYT column. An excerpt below the fold… BARACK OBAMA knocks on the front door of a 300-year-old New Hampshire farmhouse while his Secret Service detail waits in the driveway...
Extremely belated lateral move announcement
Posted on September 21, 2008Namely, mine (Jeff, not Andy). As of this fall I can be found in the department of political science at Binghamton University. I was waiting to post this until I finished getting my Binghamton web page put together and it took me a little longer than I had anticipated since, as I came to find [...
Argument starter? Talking about (judicial) ideology
Posted on September 20, 2008Bryan Lammon has posted a paper on SSRN titled “What We Talk About When We Talk About Ideology: Judicial Politics Scholarship and Naive Legal Realism.” As you might expect from the title, it takes on political science accounts of judicial decision making and suggests that political science conceptions of judicial ideology are “quite unsatisfying...
Presidential candidate commercials through time
Posted on September 16, 2008While the satirical candidate public service announcement video (below), starring Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) and Amy Poehler (as Hillary Clinton) is good fun, if you want to see the actual presidential candidate commercials they are available on “The Living Room Candidate...
Barack Rolled II: Rick Astley Strikes Again
Posted on September 08, 2008I am going to continue to post these until either McCain or Obama makes a campaign promise to appoint Rick Astley to the Supreme Court. But I want to be reasonable — so they could alternatively appoint to a Supreme Court seat, collectively, Journey...
The words they used - analysis of convention buzzwords
Posted on September 06, 2008A recent graphic in the NY Times provides an interesting take on what words were predominant in the respective conventions. Check it out after the jump…
Update: McCain & Obama speech accessibility scores
Posted on September 05, 2008I have now updated the table on yesterday’s post regarding the readability (accessibility?) scores for the candidates’ speeches. The short story is that while Palin had the highest grade level score among the four speakers (McCain, Obama, Biden & Palin), her running mate had the lowest level...
VP Candidates speak to the people - but at what level?
Posted on September 04, 2008With all of the recent hoopla over the VP candidates’ speeches (especially Palin’s speech), it seemed appropriate to do the geeky pol sci thing and analyze their speeches. Rather than provide pundit reactions to the speeches or discuss my feelings about them, I decided to try something a bit more systematic...
Check it out - ?Predictably Irrational?
Posted on September 03, 2008I have taken to listening to books on tape - or, more accurately on IPod - during my commute to work. Recently, I began listening to a book written by a behavioral economist, Dan Ariely. In “Predictably Irrational” he argues that, contrary to the assumptions we typically see in [...
The Republican convention and Comic-Con to merge?
Posted on September 01, 2008Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. This is an awesome photo. (hat tip to Volokh blog)
Intriguing Law & Courts panels at APSA
Posted on August 26, 2008The upcoming American Political Science Association conference in Boston has a good number of interesting panels to attend. So, if you are not sightseeing in Boston and would like to sit down for a while, you might check out some of the particularly noteworthy Law & Courts panels listed below...
On the Constitutionality of Tennessee?s method of selecting judges
Posted on August 21, 2008Brian Fitzpatrick has recently posted an interesting paper on SSRN concerning Tennessee’s method of selecting (appellate) jurists and its Constitutionality. But, then again maybe we’re just biased given that here at Voir Dire we find all things Tennessee fascinating...
Jeff Harrison on ?behaving for success?
Posted on August 15, 2008Over on the Class Bias in Higher Education blog Jeff Harrison has an interesting post on how to behave for success. Here’s his setup paragraph: It’s not an official term but what I use to describe those with working class backgrounds who end up in the world of academics is “socioeconomic displacement...
Who pays for what?
Posted on August 11, 2008This Marginal Revolution post on faculty subsidization is, um… interesting. And here I was thinking that football paid all faculty salaries Actually, more interesting is a comment from the post which I provide below the fold. There may be a way to find out how much the professors within a given department are subsidized by [...
Rejection letter stories - what is your best story?
Posted on August 10, 2008On Legal Profession Blog they have an interesting post on rejection letters with links to actual rejection letters and the stories behind them. Pretty much everyone has received rejection letters, regardless of their field or profession. These links focus on law firm rejection letters and there are some good ones (or should I say “bad [...
Barack Obama - ?I?m never gonna give you up?
Posted on August 10, 2008From the blog who once Rick rolled you (sorry) - we bring you the sweet sound and dance sensation that is Barack Obama! (hat tip to Gawker)
Congress! Congress! Congress!
Posted on August 09, 2008Yes, there are not one, not two, but three papers on the Social Science Research Network on congress that I’d like to highlight. The papers, by Samuel Kernell, Ann Laquer Estin, and Matilde Bombardini & Francesco Trebbi, are set forth below the fold along with their abstracts...
?Old Advertisements? added to ?Old Polls? feature
Posted on August 05, 2008I haven’t come up with any “Old Polls” in a while so I thought I’d make things a little easier on myself and add “Old Advertisements” to this feature. These ads tell us something about yesteryear and give context to our understanding of the events we experienced (or weren’t old enough to have experienced); plus, [...
Battlestar Galactica - the show up to now
Posted on August 03, 2008Get ready for the Battlestar Galactica finale by watching show video clips below! You can skip the “Caprica” ad video and go straight to the final season recap if you prefer.If you’ve never seen the show, then you might start out with the earlier recap here...
?The trial of a case, in its simplest form, is telling a story jurors can understand.?
Posted on August 02, 2008Famous trial attorney Gerry Spence has started a blog and has something to say about the state of American legal education - here’s an excerpt: The trial of a case, in its simplest form, is telling a story jurors can understand. Yet most lawyers are taught little, if anything, about communicating with others...
How does the top 1% do?
Posted on August 01, 2008Very well, actually, and a lot better than in previous years, relatively speaking. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has posted some interesting analysis on its site regarding how the very well to do have faired vis-a-vis the rest of the crowd over time...
Legal education and real world lawyering
Posted on June 11, 2008Bill Henderson has an excellent post over at the Legal Profession Blog on legal education and how it prepares (or fails to prepare) students for what most of them will do - work in solo, small, or medium law offices. Here are some points he makes regarding real world skills or practices that lead to [...
Peer assist review, American Idol, and the future of academic writing
Posted on June 10, 2008In past posts, both here and during my guest stint at ELS, I discussed comparisons between law review and peer review publishing. A set of similar movements have posited somewhat different forms of determining what gets published in academic journals...
Knoxpatch
Posted on June 08, 2008I’ve never heard Knoxville referred to as “the couch”, but the NYT hits all the hight points in today’s 36 Hours review. Yee-Haw does some good stuff. The Blue Plate Special at WDVX is not to be missed (listen online every day)...
How did they vote? Clinton or Obama? Here?s how it breaks down?
Posted on June 05, 2008The NY Times online has a pretty cool flash presentation of the demographics of how the vote split between Clinton and Obama. It doesn’t answer all the questions that one might have on how the votes went in the primary, but it’s fun. There is another graph here on the candidates’ support bases [...
Entry level law school teaching placement rankings
Posted on June 04, 2008Leiter has it ranked and here’s who had the top 10 placement rates: 1) Yale 2) University of Chicago 3) Stanford 4) Harvard 5) University of Virginia 6) Northwestern 7) Columbia & NYU 9) University of Michigan 10) University of Texas Somehow I think Judge Smails would be proud...
A ?deluge? of new law schools ?
Posted on June 02, 2008… are in the works. At least that’s what a recent article in the National Law Journal suggests. While the article doesn’t go into much detail on each of the plans, it appears that we are looking at possibly 10 new law schools in the next few years...
Scalia urges appellate advocates to learn as much as they can about the judge deciding the case
Posted on May 31, 2008Justice Antonin Scalia gives an interview with the WSJ Blog (see here, here, and here) to discuss his book, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. Here’s the Q&A that prompts the post title: In the section entitled ?Know your audience,? you urge advocates to learn as much as they can about the judge who [...
Interview with one of the fired US Attorneys
Posted on May 30, 2008Last Sunday, the NYT’s Deborah Solomon interviewed former US Attorney David Iglesias. Below are some selections: Q: In 2001, you were tapped by President Bush for your dream job ? U.S. attorney for New Mexico ? only to end up as one of the eight federal prosecutors whose firing five years later set off [...
Jim Chen on ?Elite Trappings? and presidential candidates
Posted on May 28, 2008Moneylaw’s founder and Dean of University of Louisville School of Law, Jim Chen, has an excellent post on ML discussing a very interesting article in last Sunday’s NYTimes “Week in Review” by Elizabeth Bumiller. As the post and article discuss, all of the the fuss created by the Clinton, Obama, and McCain camps over [...
?College sports pays your salary?
Posted on May 17, 2008How many times have university professors heard this? If you are at a big sports school, then it is likely that you hear it a lot. When I was in law school at the University of Tennessee I took a sports law class taught by the Dean at the time, Marilyn Yarbrough...
I don?t think I?m gonna go anymore ?
Posted on May 13, 2008This is what Peter (played by Ron Livingston) says to his date Joanna (played by Jennifer Aniston) in the classic workplace comedy “Office Space” after announcing that he really hates his job. Here is some dialogue that follows: Joanna: You’re just not gonna go? Peter Gibbons: Yeah...
Judicial decision-making in two books
Posted on May 12, 2008Paul Horwitz (University of Alabama School of Law) has recently posted his review essay “Review - Constitutional Conscience: The Moral Dimension of Judicial Decision, by H. Jefferson Powell, and How Judges Think, by Richard A. Posner” on SSRN...
Are You so Blind that You Cannot See?
Posted on May 09, 2008Thirteen years ago, Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first elected black president. But on July 8, 1986 Reagan claimed it wasn’t clear whether Mandela should be freed: Mr. Drake. One last question on South Africa. When we were talking about black leaders in the country and the necessity of dealing with them, what do you think the [...
The Buck Stops Here
Posted on May 08, 2008Happy Birthday, Harry. Truman is known for popularizing the saying “the buck stops here”, but I can find only two mentions in his official papers. At a 1951 DNC dinner he talked about the sign on his desk that says “the buck stops here” when describing his four main jobs: president and chief executive, head [...
Don?t stand so close to me
Posted on May 08, 2008No, really, please do not stand next to me … if you are not considered socially desirable. As opposed to the Police song in which the narrator has mixed feelings about the attractive subject standing so close to him (for fear of scandal or worse), recent research suggests that it can also be detrimental to [...
Propaganda and Metaphor
Posted on May 07, 2008The Lusitania was torpedoed today in 1915, killing 1198 people and eventually leading to US involvement in World War I. The event was covered widely in the US and Europe, although “Remarkably, this event dominated the headlines for only about a week before being overtaken by a newer story...
RFP: Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF)
Posted on May 06, 2008The Social Science Research Council, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is pleased to announce a call to faculty for interdisciplinary research field proposals for the 2009 Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) program. Established in 2006, the DPDF combines financial support and workshop experience for early-stage graduate students engaged in predissertation research and [...
The Sum of All Fears
Posted on May 06, 2008It seems that there’s been growing concern recently about export controls and strategic national resources (for example, regarding technical information, fissile materials, and even rice). In an early example of the debate over export controls, the Hindenburg crashed and burned 71 years ago today: There are no records of the president speaking publicly about this following the [...
Voir Dire E-Interview: Jamie Carson
Posted on May 05, 2008I’d like to introduce the premiere of a new Voir Dire endeavor: E-Interview. In this feature we basically interview a variety of people via email. Alas, I can’t promise a consistent theme to these interviews or how they will go - one simply cannot predict the creative process...
Marx-isms
Posted on May 05, 2008Born: Karl Marx, 190 years ago today (1818 in Prussia). Harry Truman made the first recorded public mention of Marx in a 1950 speech to the Better Business Bureau: The most persuasive argument the Communists have is not anything Marx or Lenin ever wrote, or anything Stalin ever said–but the depression which began in the United States [...
Coincidence or Not?
Posted on May 02, 2008On this day: Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., died at age 48, in 1957 J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI for 48 years, died at age 77, in 1972 Former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals, in 1974 Tony Blair became, at age 44, Britain’s youngest prime minister in 185 years, [...
Imperfect selection systems: A lesson from Brett Michaels?
Posted on May 01, 2008Selection systems can sometimes be imperfect. This may occasionally be revealed when a great candidate or performer comes to a position through unusual circumstances or a “fluke”. Witness Brett Michaels’ (lead singer of “Poison”) VH1 reality show, “Rock of Love” (or Rock of Love 2 for purists)...
Your Mind on Meth
Posted on May 01, 2008The Economist is running a series this week on meth. Their Democracy in America blog points us to the Montana Meth Project and current anti-meth ads:
? the United States and our allies have prevailed.
Posted on May 01, 2008May 1, 2003: Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed...
Hodgepodge
Posted on April 30, 2008TRAC on federal immigration prosecution trends Canadians believe in privacy Survival Analysis: A Primer
The World of Tomorrow
Posted on April 30, 2008FDR opened the New York’s World Fair today in 1939 - the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s Inauguration. From henceforth in our history the thirtieth day of April will have a dual significance: the Inauguration of the First President of the United States, which began the Executive Branch of the Federal Government, and the opening of [...
Remedy of Last Resort
Posted on April 29, 2008April 29, 1974: Nixon released additional Watergate tapes, first saying: I have asked for this time tonight in order to announce my answer to the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena for additional Watergate tapes, and to tell you something about the actions I shall be taking tomorrow–about what I hope they will mean to you and about [...
Presidential rhetoric and speechwriting - an interview with Ted Sorenson
Posted on April 28, 2008The New York Times’ Deborah Solomon hits Ted Sorenson with ten questions; some on presidential speeches. Here are some choice Q & As: You served John F. Kennedy for 11 years, as his counselor, adviser and legendary speechwriter. Why did you choose to be so modest in your forthcoming memoir, ?Counselor: A Life [...
The Era of Good Feelings
Posted on April 28, 2008Today is James Monroe’s birthday. One of Monroe’s greatest challenges was the Panic of 1819, the first major financial crisis in the U.S. Economists still debate the causes of the panic, but most agree that Monroe could do little in trying to manage the economy...
Ghostwriters in the sky?
Posted on April 25, 2008The New York Times has an interesting article on ghost writing in medical academia - here’s the lead in: The drug maker Merck drafted dozens of research studies for a best-selling drug, then lined up prestigious doctors to put their names on the reports before publication, according to an article to be published Wednesday in a [...
This ? is CBS
Posted on April 25, 2008No, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but today’s Edward R. Murrow’s birthday. In 1954, Eisenhower was asked: Q. Joseph Harsch, Christian Science Monitor and NBC: Mr. President, would you care to say anything to us about the loyalty and patriotism of Edward R...
Free Books!
Posted on April 24, 2008Flat World Knowledge has a new business model: free textbooks. They’re not the first (they won’t be the last), but they’re making a major investment in digital distribution. So much for Texas campaign contributions.
Libraries: The Medicine Chest of the Soul
Posted on April 24, 2008In 1800, Congress passed the bill that created the Library of Congress. Clinton spoke a number of times about the power of the Internet - and often used the Library of Congress as an example of the Internet’s ability to spread information far and wide...
Ken Lay Chair
Posted on April 23, 2008Finally has a holder: Joseph Haslag, who has been at Missouri since 2000.
Panic!
Posted on April 23, 2008Today is James Buchanan’s birthday. Most remember him for overseeing the collapse of the Union, but in 1857 his most pressing concern was the rapid spread of financial panic that lead to many bank and business failures. The panic didn’t last long, but by the end of 1857 the impact on government finances [...
I?ve Got a Secret
Posted on April 22, 2008April 22, 1954 marked the start of television broadcasts of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings. The upshot: it was the beginning of the end for McCarthy. Eisenhower was asked about the hearings at a press conference in May: Q. Marvin L. Arrowsmith, Associated Press: Mr...
Is ?moneyball? out of gas?
Posted on April 21, 2008Possibly, but unlikely according to Dan Drezner. See the story here and audio commentary is also provided on the website. Can the Oakland A’s keep moneyball working? Here’s a snippet. But as sabermetric methods have become more accepted in the boardrooms of baseball, Beane and other innovators have fewer inefficiencies to exploit...
Happy Birthday!
Posted on April 21, 2008To Max Weber, born in 1864. Some light reading from Weber: Politics as a Vocation, and Science as a Vocation. I think sometimes we forget that Weber was a sociologist, not an organization theorist. My favorite presidential quote of Weber: In 1918, the famous German sociologist Max Weber said that politics is the long [...
Today in Supreme Court History: Get on the Bus
Posted on April 20, 2008In 1971, the Supreme Court: upheld today the constitutionality of busing as a means to “dismantle the dual school systems” of the South. Now, in 2007, we’re looking for alternatives to busing: The end of busing of primary and secondary school students has been a major setback for integration of public schools in the USA...
SCOTUS Justices on state judicial elections
Posted on April 20, 2008The Brennan Center for Justice recounts a recent conference at Fordham Law School on state judicial elections which featured former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer. At issue were the implications of state judicial elections for judicial independence and citizens’ views of courts...
Today in Presidential History
Posted on April 19, 2008The US went off the gold standard: THE PRESIDENT: What is the news? Q. There has been some talk again about inflation. I don’t know . . . THE PRESIDENT: How do you define inflation? Q. I don’t know what it is. (Laughter) THE PRESIDENT: Neither do I...
A city in a time of cholera
Posted on April 15, 2008The New York Times has an intriguing article on how the city of New York was influenced by and how it reacted to the cholera epidemics of the 18th century. It is an interesting case study for students of public policy and perhaps topical given recent threats of epidemics...
One Pill Makes You ? Focus
Posted on April 11, 2008Says Nature. The Chronicle sums it up: In an online survey of 1,400 readers, Nature found that 20 percent had taken pharmaceuticals for the nonmedical purpose of improving their concentration, focus, and memory. Most of the people who responded to the survey were involved in science, engineering, or education...
The future of legal education?
Posted on April 08, 2008… according to UC Irvine-Law founding Dean, Irwin Chemerinsky can be found on Madisonian.net. On the role of interdisciplinary instruction: At the same time, law schools can do a much better job of providing interdisciplinary instruction to law students...
Presidential Power and ? Pomeranians
Posted on March 31, 2008In this week’s broadcast of This American Life Ira Glass presents “The Audacity of Government” in which the show relays “Stories of the Bush Administration, its unique style of asserting presidential authority, and its quest to redefine the limits of presidential power...
Hodgepodge
Posted on March 31, 2008State Court Processing of Domestic Violence Cases, from NIJ From Dissertation to Book The Grad School Challenge, from GTDA Multistate Analysis of Time Consumption in Capital Appeals, 1992-2002, from ICPSR
New Rankings for Schools of Public Affairs
Posted on March 31, 2008The new rankings: 1. Syracuse 2. Harvard 2. Indiana 4. Princeton 4. Georgia What’s the verdict? The big winners have to be Indiana and Princeton. Interestingly, David Lewis, Princeton’s main person doing public management/bureaucracy, is now leaving for Vandy...
The Teaching Law Firm
Posted on March 28, 2008On the Madisonian Blog they have a post about the prospect of the “teaching law firm.” The post outlines some of the competing demands of law schools and broader questions on whether the practical training of new lawyers is appropriately fully placed in the laps of the law school: Many views can drive the analysis...
The ANES
Posted on March 27, 2008In the mail: American National Election Studies surveys have routinely included open-ended questions, tapping respondents’ factual knowledge about politics, people’s beliefs about the country’s most important problems, and questions about what people like about political candidates and parties...
The CSI Effect
Posted on March 24, 2008The most recent edition of the NIJ Journal explores the “CSI Effect”: Those ratings translated into this fact: five of the top 10 television programs that week were about scientific evidence in criminal cases. Together, they amassed more than 100 million viewers...
Lateral move: Lindquist from Vandy to UTexas Law - is very excited, yet sad
Posted on March 19, 2008Sorry Stefanie, but I had to have a little fun with this announcement since it’s already on Leiter’s Law School reports, and therefore is not really new news at this point. Here’s Dr. Lindquist’s approved quote on the topic: “I’m very excited to be joining the distinguished faculty at UT, although sad to leave behind the [...
?Real men of?? law school vs. graduate school
Posted on March 19, 2008The TaxProf Blog has some funny videos spoofing some familiar ad campaigns with stereotypes that you may or may not remember from law school. I am guessing that there are some equally funny (and true) graduate school types. Any nominations? Here’s a sample from the collection: hat tip to Prettier than Napoleon Blog [...
Rumor: New U.S. News Rankings for Public Affairs Schools Available March 28
Posted on March 12, 2008What’s your guess?
What Bush Wrote
Posted on March 12, 2008A new GAO report argues that few agencies implemented Bush’s 2006 signing statements: In total, GAO examined how 21 agencies executed 29 different provisions of law. GAO determined that in all but 9 cases the agencies had either taken actions to execute the provisions as written, or conditions requiring agency action had not [...
Sounds Like Collusion to Me
Posted on March 11, 2008The NYT is running stories about scholarships for athletes, and today’s story talks about how small the scholarships sometimes are. Says one coach: ?Families will try to play the coaches off each other,? said Kim Ciarrocca, who coaches women?s lacrosse at Delaware...
Who are the most powerful members of Congress?
Posted on March 10, 2008It’s all right here: Check out more on this graphic on the Monkey Cage Blog.
The New National Drug Control Strategy ?
Posted on March 03, 2008Targets sales of pharmaceuticals over the Internet. Huh.
Data Notes
Posted on March 03, 2008Two new data sources, one worth bookmarking: Criminal Victimization, 2006 Motoring Offences and Breath Test Statistics, England and Wales 2005
Money Laundering and the ?Shadow Economy?
Posted on March 03, 2008The Australian government estimates that from A$10B to A$100B is laundered through the shadow economy. They’re “guesstimates”, of course, but you gotta love the graph:
More on Judicial Elections
Posted on March 03, 2008From Sandy Gordon and Greg Huber in a recent QJPS: What is the marginal effect of competitiveness on the power of electoral incentives? Addressing this question empirically is difficult because challenges to incumbents are endogenous to their behavior in office...
Jack Nicholson?s endorsement for Hillary
Posted on March 03, 2008Honestly, I don’t know what to think about this one…. Maybe Barack will counter with a strange montage message from Matthew McConaughey … and maybe John McCain will counter with, um … Peter O’Toole - I don’t know.
?Deadwood? - the report, not the HBO series
Posted on February 28, 2008Apparently, the “Deadwood Report” is coming and it’s all the rage in the legal blog world. Basically, Green Bag is going to law schools’ websites and collecting information on faculty activities, such as research, teaching and service...
The topic: government subsidies for college tuition - talk amongst yourselves
Posted on February 27, 2008The Volokh Conspiracy Blog has a provocative post outlining the case against government subsidization of college tuition. You don’t have to agree with everything it says to find it interesting. The comments are also pretty read-worthy.
The law of ?Battlestar Galactica?
Posted on February 25, 2008Over on Concurring Opinions Blog, Daniel Solove and crew are featuring a three part interview with the creators, writers, and producers of the sci-fi tv show ‘Battlestar Galactica‘. The focus of the interviews is the role of law in the show; topics include trials and tribunals, necessity vs...
Criminal procedure and ?new rules? of the Constitution
Posted on February 21, 2008I teach criminal procedure about once every other year or so and it can be quite challenging because this is one area of law that is especially dynamic in that the Supreme Court typically issues a good number of rulings every year that change the landscape of crim pro doctrine in important ways...
Labor relations explained through sock puppets
Posted on February 18, 2008I think that the title pretty much says it all. Congrats to the television writers on their successful strike! What did they actually win and what did we learn? (Hat tip to Balkinization)
The Irony of Judicial Elections
Posted on February 15, 2008David Pozen’s “The Irony of Judicial Elections” is forthcoming at the Columbia Law Review and is available on SSRN here. The abstract is available below the fold. Abstract: Judicial elections in the United States have undergone a dramatic transformation...
Update on Reich?s ?Totally Spent?
Posted on February 15, 2008Some interesting comments on Robert Reich’s NY Times article, “Totally Spent,” can be found here. His blog is here. Below are some remarks by Reich at the Goldman School.
It?s the economy stupid - Robert Reich on being ?Totally Spent?
Posted on February 13, 2008As the presidential candidate field narrows and the parties begin to square off against each other we will be hearing many familiar “competing yet somehow similar” solutions to how to handle the economy. Will any of the usual strategies offered by the candidates work? Robert Reich doesn’t seem to think they will...
Obama the professor?
Posted on February 09, 2008You can check out Barack Obama’s professor profile (at University of Chicago Law School) here, although I can’t guarantee that he will answer emails sent to his listed address. There’s a call for former students to chime in on his performance as a professor on the Above the Law Blog - check out the comments...
Marriage as a mundane and boring non-profit business - but in a good way!
Posted on February 09, 2008In The Atlantic, Lori Gottlieb’s article, “Marry Him!The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough” advises women to heed just what the title indicates. While it’s certain to be an argument-starter, it’s also a very interesting read, regardless of how you feel about her views...
The revise and resubmit process captured on video
Posted on February 06, 2008Well, sort of… it’s not the academic revise and resubmit process per se, but I think that this video captures the spirit of how it feels for the authors sometimes….
We should do this at the Midwest or APSA conferences
Posted on February 04, 2008If you aren’t already familiar with Improv Everywhere they are a very loosely associated group of improvisation artists who stage some pretty freaky gags in everyday settings. Here is one of their latest endeavors: Freezing in place in Grand Central Station...
Interdisciplinary faculty, publishing, teaching loads, and the costs of legal education
Posted on February 03, 2008In the seemingly never ending discussion of the utility and appropriateness of hiring interdisciplinary scholars for 3-4 tier law schools Alfred Brophy offers a fresh perspective that gets to the bottom line. First, no one has offered any systematic evidence that interdisciplinary scholars are better or worse law teachers than non-interdisciplinary scholars - when I [...
Presidential Candidate Crushes - ?Who Loves Ya Baby??
Posted on February 01, 2008Lee Sigelman has chronicled all (or at least most) of the candidate crushes on The Monkey Cage. What can we say? People love their presidential hopefuls. Yup, Obama Girl, Hillary Boy, McCain Momma, they’re all there (and below): Hillary Boy Just when I think I?ve gotten caught up, along comes something new...
Academic Outsourcing
Posted on January 30, 2008Andrew Gelman asks “Why do I coauthor papers?“, which has devolved into a discussion of citation standards across the disciplines (e.g., alpha ordering of authors). “Biomed Tim” pointed readers to a recent New Economist entry on academic outsourcing, in which reference is made to Roland Fryer’s American Inequality Lab...
Ripped from the political science headlines - John Grisham?s ?The Appeal?
Posted on January 29, 2008In his latest book, John Grisham takes on a topic that has been the subject of a good number of recent political science studies - judicial elections - and doesn’t paint a pretty picture. You can read an excerpt on the Today Show website. See the advertisement video below: [...
Does your TSCS data sometimes feel sluggish or time-invariant?
Posted on January 27, 2008… If so, then maybe it’s time you tried FEVD, that’s right, FEVD - or “Panel Fixed Effects Regression with Vector Decomposition” (stata command is xtfevd). It’ll have your data up and feeling better in no time. Well, ok, maybe not all that...
New Fave: GTDA
Posted on January 25, 2008Getting Things Done in Academia. This week’s tidbit: 5 books that will make you write better.
The death of the billable hour and speculations on the limits of legal change
Posted on January 24, 2008Nancy Rapoport’s recent post ponders the viability of the “death of the billable hour.” There is also a recent NY Times article on changing attitudes toward the billable hour at Big Law firms. Most of the discussion focuses on the lifestyles of lawyers, but what are the long term legal policy implications of such a [...
Celebrity Death Match: Blogs vs. Peer-Review
Posted on January 22, 2008The experiment starts today: That’s the question being posed by an unusual experiment that begins today. It involves a scholar studying video games, a popular academic blog with the playful name Grand Text Auto, a nonprofit group designing blog tools for scholars, and MIT Press...
Apparently, someone doesn?t like STATA
Posted on January 21, 2008On the Law and Letters Blog, Belle Lettre goes into some detail on exactly how much she hates the statistics software program STATA. Below is an excerpt from her rant (slightly edited to preserve our pseudo PG rating): STATA is the worst program in the history of the world, and if I didn’t need to know [...
But wait, there?s more?.
Posted on January 20, 2008… on interdisciplinary scholarship and the costs of law school - summarized well on Law and Letters here. An excerpt from Solov: I wonder how much costs could be cut at non-elite schools by moving away from interdisciplinary studies. Why would this be a significant way to cut costs? I’m no expert on the economics [...
The path of interdisciplinary legal scholarship
Posted on January 20, 2008The recent brouhaha sparked by Brian Tamanaha’s questioning whether interdisciplinary hiring is a good idea for 2-4 tier law schools, documented well here and here, has prompted Larry Solum to pen a very interesting (and long) take on the history of interdisciplinary scholarship in law schools...
Changes at Justice System Journal
Posted on January 18, 2008From Bob Howard of Georgia State, now editor of Justice System Journal: I would like to take this opportunity to announce a change in editorship of the Justice System Journal and to thank the *outgone* editor, Steve Wasby, for his service and dedication...
Something for the presidential candidates to debate?
Posted on January 17, 2008The New York Times features a compelling story on the nation’s declining working class - at least as we used to know it. It would seem to me that the phenomena discussed in this article should dominate any presidential candidate debate - but it likely won’t...
Questioning the midlife crises
Posted on January 15, 2008In the New York Times health section, Dr. Richard Friedman questions the viability of the seemingly widespread “midlife crises” among people (primarily men) of a certain age. He notes: Why do we have to label a common reaction of the male species to one of life?s challenges ? the boredom of the routine ? as a [...
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