Bernard H. Siegan, R.I.P.

Bernard H. Siegan, a professor of law at the University of San Diego, and an early proponent of the argument that Lochner and its progeny were decided correctly, as a matter of law, has died at the age of 81.

The Siren Song of Technonationalism

David Kang and Adam Segal in the Far Eastern Economic Review

A common fear in countries like China and South Korea is that reliance on market forces might result in imported expertise and an improvement of manufacturing capabilities, but that such reliance will do nothing to elevate homegrown companies from followers to leaders in technological innovation.

Bills enacted March 27, Acts 200-226

Act 200 continuing education and certification requirements for building contractors and certification of building inspectors and granting rule-making authority.

Act 201 contractor notices, claims against certain contractors and suppliers of dwellings, and providing a penalty.

Act 202 changing the amount at which a public construction contract let by a city, village, town, technical college district board, town sanitary district commission, or federated public library system must be let to the lowest responsible bidder.

Act 203 the time period during which impact fees must be used and the refunding of impact fees.

Act 204 construction liens, requirements for securing payment for work on publicly financed projects, and providing a penalty.

Act 205 falsifying title insurance documents and providing a penalty.

Act 206 nonprobate transfer of real property at death.

Act 207 changing the method of appointing members to a town plan commission.

Act 208 requiring notice to persons affected by zoning actions and comprehensive plans that change the allowable use of their property.

Act 209 a speed limit for operation of snowmobiles during the hours of darkness.

Act 210 noise level requirements for snowmobiles and granting rule-making authority.

Act 211 decreasing Medical Assistance reimbursement, transferring moneys from the general fund to the Medical Assistance trust fund, increasing the Medical Assistance reimbursement rate for nursing homes, supplementing the Medical Assistance reimbursement for nursing homes, and making appropriations.

Act 212 offenses against financial institutions, community currency exchanges, and providing penalties.

Act 213 adopting revised Article 5 of the Uniform Commercial Code, concerning letters of credit.

Act 214 certified public accountants.

Act 215 shareholders of service corporations that carry on the profession of certified public accounting; authority of the Division of Banking over loan companies and insurance premium finance companies; regulation of insurance premium finance companies, mortgage bankers, loan originators, and mortgage brokers; and requirements applicable to consumer loans secured by liens on residential real estate or mobile homes.

Act 216 miscellaneous remedial modifications to the Wisconsin Probate Code.

Act 217 regulation of bank branches, mergers and acquisitions of banks, providing an exemption from rule-making procedures, and granting rule-making authority.

Act 218 establishing a clearinghouse for information about special education transition services and vocational opportunities that are available in each county.

Act 219 the calculation of a school district's special adjustment aid and revenue limit when territory is detached from one or more school districts to create a new school district.

Act 220 eliminating various school district and Department of Public Instruction requirements, standards for information technology integration, and city health departments.

Act 221 providing information about meningococcal disease to parents of pupils in grades 6 to 12.

Act 222 state aid paid to consolidated school districts.

Act 223 allowing school boards to charge a fee for transporting certain pupils to school.

Act 224 transportation of public school pupils who live outside the school district in which they are enrolled.

Act 225 counting pupils who attend the Youth Challenge Academy for school district revenue limit purposes.

Act 226 various changes to the statutes governing public libraries.

Appellate Decisions Released March 30, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court released these opinions today, including the following:

Rebernick v. Wausau General Ins. Co. (insurance companies must provide notice of availability of UIM coverage under umbrella policies)

Rocker v. USAA Casualty Ins. Co. (automobile insurance coverage and co-employee exclusions as related to a full-service car wash)

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, including the following, which were recommended for publication:

State v. Medina (motion to disqualify prosecutor brought on the morning of jury selection is untimely (you think?), post-verdict motion to disqualify did not adduce clear and convincing evidence of a conflict-of-interest between prosecutor and defendant).

In re Warnecke II (DNR is required to withdraw real property from the Managed Forest Land program when owner fails to satisfy contingency in quit claim deed by which he acquired the property).

Immigration Reform debate

The beginning of an exchange in "five questions" format between Professor John Eastman of Chapman University School of Law and Professor Margaret Stock of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

High court race kicks off with a bang

Spivak and Bice in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the race shaping up for the open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court created by Justice Jon Wilcox's planned retirement.

In one corner, you have Linda Clifford, a Madison lawyer with ties to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who has already poured $140,000 of her own money into her Supreme Court campaign war chest and collected another $60,000.

Facing her is Washington County Judge Annette Ziegler, a conservative jurist who has little in her campaign account but has access to a lot of cash as a member of the family that launched the investment firm The Ziegler Cos. Inc.

That might not be all.

[John] Yingling, the political insider, said since it will probably be a while before there is another open seat on the court, he wouldn't be surprised to see enough candidates to fill a baseball diamond.

The battle of ideas

From the "Lexington" column in The Economist

America now far outclasses Europe in its ability to produce intellectuals with root-and-branch schemes for improving society. There are lots of reasons for this. One is that America is much less consensus-orientated than Europe, especially when it comes to policymaking. ...

Another reason is that policy intellectuals can make a much better living in America than Europe. America has been fabulously successful at providing its projectors with Grand Academies in the form of lavishly-funded think-tanks, well over 100 of them in Washington alone. And American projectors have been superb at getting their message across.

Marriage and Caste

Kay S. Hymowitz in City Journal on America's chief source of inequality: The Marriage Gap.

Bills enacted March 24, Acts 194-199

Act 194 coverage of certain health care costs in cancer clinical trials.

Act 195 prescription drug labels.

Act 196 prescription drug labels.

Act 197 requiring a home care placement agency that places a home care worker in the residence of a home care consumer to provide notice to the consumer concerning the duties, responsibilities, and liabilities of the consumer with respect to the worker and notice to the worker concerning the worker's employment status and granting rule-making authority.

Act 198 public health planning, services, and functions; reporting of communicable diseases; public health agreements; required vaccinations, isolation, or quarantine; contracts between municipalities and federally recognized American Indian tribes or bands; and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority.

Act 199 special distinguishing registration plates associated with the Wisconsin Women's Health Foundation and making an appropriation.

Appellate Decisions Released March 29, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions, including the following, which were recommended for publication:

Barber v. Weber, in which the Court stated that the doctrine of claim preclusion prevented the Zoning Board of Appeals' final decision from being challenged in circuit court other than on certiorari review.
Update: Dave Sheeley's report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [-TB]

Jay M.H. v. Winnebago County DH&HS, in which the Court concluded the Circuit Court has authority to reconsider its decision on a DHSS child abuse determination and must remand the determination to the agency for further proceedings upon a showing of newly discovered evidence.

Moussaoui Trial Mishaps

Compiled by The Onion

P.S. The Associated Press reports

In another twist to an already convoluted case, the jury deciding whether al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui will be executed learned that he offered last month to testify for prosecutors against himself at his death penalty trial.

(via U.S. News & World Report)

Ziegler to run for Supreme Court

Washington County Senior Judge Annette Ziegler announces [pdf] candidacy.

(via Wheeler Report)

Crunchy Cons Rising: An Interview with Rod Dreher

Angelo Matera in GodSpy

When Rod Dreher wrote an article for National Review confessing to being a Birkenstock wearing, countercultural conservative, hundreds of emails and letters of support came pouring in. Now he’s published Crunchy Cons--a manifesto that celebrates faith, family, community and nature against the forces of greed and lust. We spoke to him recently about his book, and why conservatism needs an overhaul.

It's Always Something

Russell Roberts in The Freeman

It's always something. Something to scare people who do not understand how trade really works, how markets work, or how wealth gets created and spread. You'd think that the abysmal track record of the worriers would dent their credibility. But it doesn't seem to.

Bills enacted March 23, Acts 184-193

Act 184 prohibiting a person responsible for a child's welfare while the child is being transported in a child care vehicle from leaving the child unattended and providing penalties.

Act 185 the immobilization, impoundment, and disposal of unregistered motor vehicles.

Act 186 authorizing the creation of neighborhood improvement districts.

Act 187 authorizing medically related actions by advanced practice nurse prescribers.

Act 188 expanding the Volunteer Health Care Provider Program to include provision of services to students from 4-year-old kindergarten to grade 6 in public elementary schools, charter schools, and private schools that participate in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and expanding the definition of volunteer health care provider.

Act 189 investment of funds by the City of Milwaukee Employes' Retirement System.

Act 190 exclusive municipal court jurisdiction in proceedings against juveniles 12 years of age or over, but under 16 years of age, for municipal traffic ordinance violations.

Act 191 notice of appeal of a municipal court judgment and requesting a jury trial on appeal from that judgment.

Act 192 noncompliance with a municipal court order.

Act 193 traffic control signal emergency preemption devices, and providing a penalty.

Appellate opinions released March 28

Today's Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinions included the following recommended for publication:

City of Milwaukee v. Ruby Washington (confinement for tuberculosis treatment under Wis. Stat. sec. 252.07(9) may be in jail when defendant previously failed to cooperated with home confinement order)

Mohns, Inc. v. TCF National Bank (Defendant's internal misdirection of Summons and Complaint to old address of just-moved legal department not "excusable neglect" justifying reopening default judgment under Wis. Stat. sec. 806.07(1)(a))

Justice Wilcox to retire

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jon P. Wilcox will retire at the end of the court's 2006-2007 term.

Update: Statement of Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson on the Retirement of Justice Jon P. Wilcox [-TB]

One occupant's objection trumps other's consent

The U.S. Supreme Court held that evidence obtained during a consent search is inadmissible against another resident who was also present but refused to consent to the search.

Feeney Amendment unconstitutional

The Seventh Circuit held that the Feeney Amendment -- which prohibits district courts from granting downward departures to sex offenders -- violates the Sixth Amendment right to jury.

"Natural Law Today" and McInerny Banquet

On April 1st, the McInerny Center for Thomistic Studies in Washington, DC will sponser a conference on "Natural Law Today." The conference is followed by a reception and then a banquet in honor of Dr. Ralph McInerny, with guest speaker Michael Novak.

Prof. Christopher Wolfe of our chapter's advisory board serves on the Executive Committee of the McInerny Center.

Manufacturers’ Immunity and the FDA

A webcast of this March 21, 2006 panel discussion at Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been archived. On the panel were:

- Hon. Daniel Troy, Sidley Austin Brown and Wood and former General Counsel, FDA
- Dr. Michael Greve, The American Enterprise Institute
- Professor Peter Hammer, Wayne State Law School
- Professor Lars Noah, University of Florida Law School
- Dean Bernard Dobranski, Ave Maria Law School, Moderator

The event was presented by the Federalist Society's Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Group.

Judging By His Handwriting

From The Smoking Gun, a February 20, 2006 order in the Eighth Circuit Court District of Mississippi.

(via WisBlawg)

Russ Never Sleeps

Chris Lehmann in The New York Observer

... Democrats had to endure the additional embarrassment of hearing William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard and a key conservative opinion-maker, announce on Fox News Sunday that Senator Feingold "is smarter than the Democratic Congressional leadership" and "deserves credit for taking a principled stand."

How Class Disappeared From Western Politics

Shalom Lappin in Dissent

It is tempting to see the alliance of people who claim to be secular socialists with religious extremists pursuing a totalitarian theocratic vision as a temporary marriage of convenience based on a common opposition to Western imperialism. Although this explanation is correct for the distance that it covers, it does not account for the fact that rather than using Islamic militants as a vehicle for progressive politics many left-wing participants in this alliance have effectively become advocates of the Islamists' agenda.

Saddam's Delusions: The View from the Inside

Kevin Woods, James Lacey, and Williamson Murray in Foreign Affairs presenting key excerpts from the recently declassified book-length report of the USJFCOM Iraqi Perspectives Project.

Bills enacted March 22, Acts 174-183

Act 174 granting a parent electronic communication with a child.

Act 175 the enrollment of the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

Act 176 reporting of information by nonresident registrants under the campaign finance law.

Act 177 deletion of changes to campaign finance and related laws made by 2001 Wisconsin Act 109.

Act 178 deletion of changes to campaign finance and related laws made by 2001 Wisconsin Act 109 affecting public information concerning the Wisconsin election campaign fund.

Act 179 repealing provisions that may be inconsistent with federal law of, and modernizing, chapters 189 to 192 and 195 and other provisions related to railroad regulation and providing a penalty.

Act 180 grants to certain organizations that provide support to a manufacturing extension center.

Act 181 substance abuse by employees who are required to be paid the prevailing wage rate for work performed on projects of public works, other than state highway projects.

Act 182 the assessment of forfeitures by the Department of Commerce for violating certain licensing requirements for persons engaged in plumbing activities and granting rule-making authority.

Act 183 recovery of noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases.

Don't We Need a New Political Language?

Katrina vanden Heuvel at The Nation

Here's a modest proposal for improving national political discussion. Let's stop equating our opponents WITH famous dictators, their chief executioners, police apparatus, or ideologies. Let's declare a national ceasefire on "his (or her) view reminds me of..." -- fill in the blank: Hitler, Goebbels, Eichman, Stalin, Mao, the Gestapo, the Gulag, the KGB, etc.

She gives a long list of examples, to which I'll add this from Without a Doubt by Damon Linker in The New Republic, reviewing Catholic Matters by Richard John Neuhaus.

But how can we know, by what authority can we determine, which authority is the right authority? This is a significant problem for anyone who combines a longing to obey with a refusal to recognize as authoritative the traditions into which he happens to have been born.

Carl Schmitt, the political theorist who devoted a great deal of thought to this dilemma, determined that such men have no choice but to make an arbitrary yet resolute decision to obey some authority, any authority. Taking account of the options in Germany in 1933, Schmitt swore obedience to Hitler. Neuhaus, of course, makes an infinitely more respectable decision in favor of the Vatican.

Bills enacted March 21, Acts 145-173

Act 145 employment rights of certain employees in the state civil service (suggested as remedial legislation by the Office of State Employment Relations).

Act 146 amending and revising s. 86.21 (2) (a) of the statutes for the purpose of eliminating ambiguities (Revisor's Revision Bill).

Act 147 amending and revising sections 85.21 (3m) (b) 4. and 346.923 (6) of the statutes for the purpose of correcting and clarifying references (Revisor's Correction Bill).

Act 148 amending and revising sections 66.0621 (1) (b) and 229.844 (8) (c) of the statutes for the purpose of reconciling conflicts, supplying omissions, and repelling unintended repeals (Revisor's Correction Bill).

Act 149 repealing, consolidating, renumbering, amending and revising various provisions of the statutes for the purpose of correcting errors, supplying omissions, correcting, and clarifying references, and eliminating defects, anachronisms, conflicts, ambiguities, and obsolete provisions (Revisor's Revision Bill).

Act 150 deferred compensation program (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).

Act 151 death benefits under the Wisconsin Retirement System (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).

Act 152 access to medical records possessed by the Department of Employee Trust Funds (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).

Act 153 changing the name of the fixed retirement investment trust to the core retirement investment trust (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).

Act 154 calculation of death benefits and the amount of a money purchase annuity under the Wisconsin Retirement System (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).

Act 155 renumbering and reorganizing various provisions of chapter 895 of the statutes and creating chapter 995 of the statutes. (Revisor's Revision Bill).

Act 156 the frequency of permanency plan reviews for a juvenile who is placed outside the home (suggested as remedial legislation by the Director of State Courts).

Act 157 changing the name of the appropriation for the Office of Lawyer Regulation (suggested as remedial legislation by the Director of State Courts).

Act 158 various changes regarding the Department of Financial Institutions and persons regulated by the Department of Financial Institutions and granting rule-making authority (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Financial Institutions).

Act 159 the deadline for applying for the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Natural Resources).

Act 160 a system of classifying invasive species (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Natural Resources).

Act 161 boats and associated tackle and equipment that are public nuisances under the fish and game laws (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Natural Resources).

Act 162 the authority of a warden to kill certain dogs that injure wildlife (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Natural Resources).

Act 163 possession of firearms by juveniles while hunting (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Natural Resources).

Act 164 repealing reporting requirements related to area cooperation compacts.

Act 165 the provision of information regarding shaken baby syndrome and impacted babies to the parents of newborn infants, training regarding shaken baby syndrome and impacted babies for day care providers, and instruction regarding shaken baby syndrome and impacted babies for middle school and high school pupils; the identification of, and documentation of certain information concerning, shaken and impacted babies; granting rule-making authority; and making an appropriation.

Act 166 managing state forest lands, harvesting of timber from certain forested properties, emergencies on state forest lands, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority.

Act 167 annual or consecutive month permits for certain overweight vehicles or vehicle combinations, requiring certain persons to maintain weight records related to the transportation of raw forest products, vehicle weight limitation violations, and providing a penalty.

Act 168 Council on Forestry membership.

Act 169 discharging a firearm in the direction of an electric or telecommunications transmission facility and providing a penalty.

Act 170 single trip permits for oversize vehicles transporting certain buildings on the highways.

Act 171 limiting the reasons for which a local government may withhold approval of a permit.

Act 172 making various changes in the worker's compensation law, requiring the exercise of rule-making authority, and making appropriations.

Act 173 damages to rental vehicles, and granting rule-making authority.

Appellate Decisions Released March 27, 2006

Neither the Wisconsin Supreme Court nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released any opinions or dispositional orders today.

U.W. Law School needs moot court judges

The Legal Association for Women Newsletter reports

The U.W. Law School’s annual national Evan A. Evans Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition needs judges! Judges for the oral arguments are needed on Friday,March 31st from 5:30-8:30 p.m., and Saturday, April 1st from 10 a.m. - 1p.m. Arguments will take place in the courtrooms of the new Dane County Courthouse (it’s your chance to sit in the judges’ seats!). The problem concerns First Amendment issues of Free Association and the EstablishmentNo specialized knowledge is needed--you will receive a bench memo containing the case information and relevant legal precedent. Participating attorneys will receive CLE credits. If you are able to help out, please contact Julia Ledbetter (jegonzalezst@wisc.edu or 608-263-1691).

(via WisBar)

On Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"

James R. Otteson in The Independent Review reviews On Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations": A Philosophical Companion by Samuel Fleischacker.

As Fleischacker states at the outset, he does not "defend any overarching thesis about Smith" (p. xv); rather, he raises by turns several philosophical issues of central concern to political philosophy or political economy--such as human nature, justice, and private property--and astutely shows, in more or less self-contained chapters, how Smith deals with them in WN.

Brother From Another Planet

Russell Jacoby in The Nation reviews The Disappearing Liberal Intellectual by Eric Lott.

To the sellout liberal boomers with their dunderhead politics and ideas, Lott juxtaposes a bevy of postmodern thinkers with cutting-edge politics and ideas. Unfortunately, time again runs out, and Lott can only list his heavy hitters. Professor Lott's List of Top Radical Writings begins--hold your hat--this way:

Walter Benn Michaels's neopragmatist critiques of identity, Paul Gilroy's elaboration of a diasporic "black Atlantic," Lisa Lowe's postnationalist deconstruction of U.S. reliance on and political exclusion of Asian labor, Lauren Berlant's explorations of antinormative citizenship, the exchanges between Judith Butler and Nancy Fraser on the relations between queer recognition and economic redistribution, Robyn Wiegman's attention to the institutional half-life of women's studies and the limitations of so-called whiteness studies, Lisa Duggan's attempts to suggest alternative discourses to redescribe the state....

Even hardened academics would break into a sweat just reading the list or identifying many of Lott's heroes.

Comment invited on proposed revised rules of ethics

The [Wisconsin Supreme] Court invites the members of the Ethics 2000 Committee, the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Office of Lawyer Regulation, and other interested persons, to review its proposed revisions and comments to SCR Chapter 20. Interested persons may submit written corrections or comments to the Court on or before August 1, 2006.

Neo No More

Paul Berman in The New York Times reviews America at the Crossroads, by Francis Fukuyama

His resignation [from neoconservatism] seems to me, in any case, a fairly notable event, as these things go, and that is because, among the neoconservative intellectuals, Fukuyama has surely been the most imaginative, the most playful in his thinking and the most ambitious. Then again, something about his departure may express a larger mood among the political intellectuals just now, not only on the right. For in the zones of liberalism and the left, as well, any number of people have likewise stood up in these post-9/11 times to accuse their oldest comrades of letting down the cause, and doors have slammed, and The Nation magazine has renamed itself The Weekly Purge. Nowadays, if you are any kind of political thinker at all, and you haven't issued a sweeping denunciation of your dearest friends, or haven't been hanged by them from a lamppost -- why, the spirit of the age has somehow passed you by.

Appellate Decisions Released March 24, 2006

Neither the Wisconsin Supreme Court nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released any opinions or dispositional orders on March 24, 2006.

Appellate Decisions Released March 23, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders on March 23, 2006.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions on March 23, 2006, including the following, which were recommended for publication:

Borreson v. Yunto, holding that in an action to enforce a physical placement order, in which the petitioner establishes he has been unreasonably and intentionally denied periods of physical placement, he may recover attorney's fees.

Bilda v. County of Milwaukee, in which the Court addressed Bilda's challenge to the manner in which the County paid administrative, operational, and investment management costs associated with the Retirement System. Substantively, he claimed the County should have paid such expenses directly, instead of making a contribution in the projected amount of those costs into the retirement fund. The alleged result was a diminution in resources available to meet the obligations of the Retirement System amounting to, in plaintiffs' eyes, an unconstitutional Taking. Procedurally, he argued the County Board violated state law in not obtaining an actuarial report before modifying the funding structure of the Retirement System.

The Court rejected Bilda's procedural argument, finding the County substantially complied with the "actuarial report" requirement when the County Pension Study Commission received the actuary's projection that the proposed change would not materially affect the funding of the Retirement System.

On the substantive argument, the Court found that, while participating employees have a constitutionally protectable property interest in the benefits to which they are entitled, they do not have a property interest in determining exactly how the County fulfills its obligations. Because nothing in the adopted changes would decrease or impair their rights under the Retirement System, there could be no constitutionally-cognizable taking of a property right.

The Court affirmed the Circuit Court, finding (a) there was no constitutionally-protected property right and, even if there was, it had not been taken, and (b) no defect in the manner in which the County adopted its change to how it pays the administrative expenses of the Retirement System.

Ken Lay Claims Amnesia After Coconut Fell on His Head

Andy Borowitz in Newsweek

While most trial watchers expected Lay's defense team to use inventive tactics to secure an acquittal for the embattled former CEO, few expected the coconut-falling-on-head explanation for Lay's claim that he was out of the loop during the entirety of Enron's multibillion-dollar fall from grace.

As the trial resumed this morning, Lay's defense attorney used a diagram, a pointer and a coconut itself to dramatize the incident in what legal experts are already calling "The Gilligan Defense."

Impact of Blogging on Election 2006

WisPolitics reports on this panel discussion at last weeks Blog Summit, including a link to the webcast of same.

On the panel were Ed Garvey, Charlie Sykes, Mark Pocan, and Brian Fraley.

Thousands march for immigrants

Mark Johnson and Linda Spice report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the 'A Day Without Latinos' demonstration.

In one of Milwaukee's largest demonstrations in recent years, a mile-long swath of peaceful protesters marched into the city's downtown Thursday chanting, "¡Sí, se puede!" ("Yes, we can!"), carrying Mexican and American flags and signs condemning what they called "anti-immigrant" legislation.

March 30 - Jonah Goldberg, "Online Political Journalism"

At Marquette University

Thursday, March 30, 7 p.m., Varsity Theatre: Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large of the National Review Online and syndicated columnist, will speak about "Online Political Journalism."

Also upcoming at MU

Monday, March 27, 4:30 p.m., Alumni Memorial Union Ballroom: Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Millennium Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools at Boston College, will give the inaugural address in the Tommy G. Thompson Educational Reform Lecture Series on "Teaching for Social Justice."

Tuesday, March 28, 3 p.m., Beaumier Suite of Raynor Memorial Library: Juan E. Gilbert, a nationally recognized scholar in computer science and software engineering from Auburn University, will discuss "Application Quest: A Response to the U.S. Supreme Court Decision in the University of Michigan Affirmative Action Cases."

Wednesday, March 29, 7 p.m., Alumni Memorial Union Ballroom: Kurt Eichenwald, New York Times reporter who broke the story about the California youth performing sex acts via a web cam for pay, will discuss "A Delicate Balance: Objective Journalist or Engaged Citizen."

"A decent Respect to the Opinions of [Human]kind"

Subtitled "The Value of a Comparative Perspective in Constitutional Adjudication," this is an address to the Constitutional Court of South Africa given February 7, 2006 by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

(via Stephen Kaus at the Huffington Post)

Also by Justice Ginzburg,
Brown v. Board of Education in International Context, given at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, February 7, 2006,
and
Advocating the Elimination of Gender-Based Discrimination:
The 1970s New Look at the Equality Principle, given at the
University of Cape Town, South Africa, February 10, 2006

The Secret to Being as Radical as We Want to Be is to Finance the Revolution Ourselves

Michael Shuman and Merrian Fuller in AdBusters

While we reject the libertarian argument that every human problem has an economic solution, many social-change issues clearly have economic dimensions that are susceptible to creative business plans.

The obligation of unwanted fatherhood

Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe

A 25-year-old computer programmer in Michigan, [Matt] Dubay wants to know why it is only women who have "reproductive rights." He is upset about having to pay child support for a baby he never wanted. Not only did his former girlfriend know he didn't want children, says Dubay, she had told him she was infertile. When she got pregnant nonetheless, he asked her to get an abortion or place the baby for adoption. She decided instead to keep her child and secured a court order requiring him to pay $500 a month in support.

Not fair, Dubay complains. ... Roe v. Wade gives her and all women the right -- the constitutional right! -- to avoid parenthood and its responsibilities. Dubay argues that he should have the same right, and has filed a federal lawsuit that his supporters are calling "Roe v. Wade for men." Drafted by the National Center for Men, it contends that as a matter of equal rights, men who don't want a child should be permitted, early in pregnancy, to get "a financial abortion" releasing them from any future responsibility to the baby.

Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution

Gordon R. Shea in Wisconsin Lawyer reviews this book by United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer.

This critique is convincing enough for those inclined to be open to it, but Breyer fails to show why "active liberty" should trump most other Constitutional approaches. Why is active liberty any more valid than, say, a natural law approach to the Constitution? Indeed, is active liberty a unique conception at all, or is it merely an uncredited twist on John Hart Ely-like principles that emphasize the Constitution's democratic functions?

UN Staff Union Votes 'No Confidence' in Annan

Thalif Deen in the Albion Monitor

Last November, the staff union voted on a "no confidence" motion against senior management but spared [Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi] Annan. "We not only have confidence in him (Annan), we support him fully," Staff Union President Rosemary Waters was quoted as saying in November. ...

But since then, there has been a dramatic change, with an overwhelming majority of staffers lined up against Annan and his reform proposals.

Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon

Stephen Biddle in Foreign Affairs

Most discussions of U.S. policy in Iraq assume that it should be informed by the lessons of Vietnam. But the conflict in Iraq today is a communal civil war, not a Maoist "people's war," and so those lessons are not valid. "Iraqization," in particular, is likely to make matters worse, not better.

Appellate Decisions Released March 22, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, including the following, which was recommended for publication:

Krahenbuhl v. Wisconsin Dentistry Examining Board, finding no due process violation when the Board decided not to apply the Gilbert/Gimenez five-pronged test used for diagnosing unprofessional conduct when the conduct alleged sounds in fraud, not in a failure to meet minimum standards of professional care.

Another U.N. Official Demanding Speech Restrictions, and Faulting Denmark for Protecting Free Speech Too Much

Eugene Volokh

It also reminds me of the danger posed by the recent movement supporting the use of international law to influence U.S. constitutional norms. As Prof. Peter Spiro, a supporter of the movement (and one of the leading U.S. international law scholars) has written, treaties can, in the long run, "insinuat[e] international law" that would create "a partial displacement of [U.S.] constitutional hegemony" -- for instance, with "an international norm against hate speech ... supply[ing] a basis for prohibiting [hate speech], the First Amendment notwithstanding." "In the short term," he argued, international norms would and should be "relevan[t] ... in domestic constitutional interpretation." And "[i]n the long run, [this tendency] may point to the Constitution's more complete subordination."

Mental illness

Patrick McIlheran at Right On regarding a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel series on care for the mentally ill.

The massive change in how mentally ill people are treated may have had its roots in the advent of new drugs and the thinking of mental health professionals, but it was shaped in a courtroom, by judges who altered the legal status of those with crippling brain diseases.

More to the point, while the series quotes many people lamenting that society has failed the mentally ill, the fact is that society was never consulted in the matter. Mental hospitals weren’t closed as a result of an outcry from the populati