Jun
20
Thoughts on Yeager: Role of Appellate Judges, Special Verdict Forms, and the Significance of a Hung Jury
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | June 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Last week, in Yeager v. United States, the Supreme Court resolved a longstanding tension between two aspects of Double Jeopardy law: the collateral estoppel doctrine, which precludes relitigation of issues previously found in the defendant’s favor, and the hung jury rule, which permits relitigation of charges as to which a jury cannot reach agreement. Yeager, [...]
Jun
19
$1.92 Million Damage Award for Filesharing
Posted by: Bruce E. Boyden | June 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
$1,920,000 for filesharing. As reported by the L.A. Times, Ars Technica, and Ben Sheffner, that’s what a jury in Minnesota just awarded several record labels for the willful infringement of their recordings by Jammie Thomas (now Jammie Thomas-Rasset), the Minnesota woman who allegedly downloaded and uploaded copyrighted songs over KaZaA. $1.92 million is an astounding [...]
Jun
19
75th Anniversary of the FCC
Posted by: Joseph D. Kearney | June 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Communications Act of 1934. For most of its existence, the Communications Act provided much of the essential regulatory structure for the telecommunications (in Title II of the Act) and broadcast (in Title III) industries. The former provided some of the basis for my own practice back in the [...]
Jun
17
Immigration Enforcement at the Worksite
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | June 17, 2009 | 4 Comments
Our recent graduate Ben Crouse has a fascinating new paper on SSRN entitled “Worksite Raids and Immigration Norms: A ‘Sticky’ Problem.” Drawing on Dan Kahan’s theory of social norms, Ben critiques the government’s use of high-profile worksite raids as a tactic to deter employers from hiring illegal immigrants. Here is a taste: The government’s high-profile raids may encourage an [...]
Jun
17
Criminal Appeals Conference Podcast
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | June 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I had a great time at the Criminal Appeals Conference here on Monday and Tuesday, with an impressive line-up of speakers covering a wide variety of topics, from the historical development of the harmless error doctrine to the dysfunctional handling of death penalty appeals in California to federal sentencing appeals to the failure of appellate [...]
Jun
17
More on Caperton
Posted by: Richard M. Esenberg | June 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
In a comment following Ed Fallone’s post on Chief Justice Robert’s little list (actually it as a rather long list), he argues that there is little in the text, structure and history of the Bill of Rights that might inform the question of when the due process clause requires a judge to recuse herself because of the [...]
Jun
16
Berlusconi in the United States
Posted by: Irene Calboli | June 16, 2009 | 2 Comments
I am an Italian citizen (and very proud of it), so I read the Italian news every day. This is not really ”legally relevant,” but the BBC has a very funny article on the current Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Belusconi, visiting President Obama: “Oh no, Silvio! Will Italian PM avoid offending anyone on US visit?” So far, Silvio [...]
Jun
16
Bork Reconsidered, Part II
Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | June 16, 2009 | 5 Comments
In an earlier post, I compared the nominations of Judge Sonia Sotomayor and Judge Robert Bork in order to make some observations about the role of stare decisis and its relationship to judicial activism. My argument was that a respect for the wisdom of past practice and a preference for incremental change will allow Judge [...]
Jun
16
The Old Gray Lady Ain’t What She Used To Be
Posted by: Richard M. Esenberg | June 16, 2009 | 1 Comment
On a Sunday evening, I gather my dogs, pour a glass of wine, fire up the grill, and repair to the deck with the Sunday New York Times. For a conservative, this is a guilty pleasure. But this week, I am afraid, it caused me to lose my religion.
Jun
16
Who Do We Hate?
Posted by: Richard M. Esenberg | June 16, 2009 | 3 Comments
A recent e-mail exchange with our Dean raised the following question: What team is a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers supposed to hate? This was the provocative statement: “My distaste for the Cubs meant that, even if the White Sox had lost to the Brewers this weekend, I could have seen something good in the [...]
Jun
16
Why Intellectual Property is Often (Literally) the “Icing on the Cake”
Posted by: Irene Calboli | June 16, 2009 | 1 Comment
I often tell my students that Intellectual Property is like the “icing on the cake”—the “cake” being the structure created by a product or service to which Intellectual Property law (IP) applies. As I will elaborate in a future post, this is one of the reasons why I like IP so much. In other words, while [...]
Jun
16
Looking for Lakefront in Northwestern Wisconsin
Posted by: Tiffany Winter | June 16, 2009 | 1 Comment
My husband and I decided that we really needed a getaway of our own, someplace where we could relax and escape the stresses of everyday life with our two pooches. So we started out on our search for the perfect little cabin on a piece of lakefront property in northwestern Wisconsin. I knew the search [...]
Blog Editors
- Alan Borsuk
- Bruce E. Boyden
- Edward A. Fallone
- Melissa L. Greipp
- Scott C. Idleman
- Lisa Mazzie
- Michael M. O'Hear
- Ryan Scoville
