Lawless America

Lawless America: What Happened to the Rule of Law, by Bruce P. Frohnen, Humanitas, Volume XXIV, Nos. 1&2, 2011

1 TBG 8

Latest Thought Bubble Gum from The Green Bag

Pronouncing Dictionary of the Supreme Court of the United States

At the Documents Collection Center at Yale University's law library.

"Drawing on textbooks, recordings, accounts by litigants or counsel, pronunciation guides, journalism, and surveys, we identified those Supreme Court cases that are most susceptible of mispronunciation and determined the proper pronunciation."

Constitutional amendment proposed on Transportation Fund distrubution

1000 Friends of Wisconsin, an environmental group, is advocating a Constittutional [sic] Amendment "that requires that one half of all revenues in the state Transportation Fund be distributed to local governments in the state of Wisconsin", according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The group explains further in a Power Point [sic] presentation which includes the text of the proposed Section 11 of Article VIII.

Social equality

"Whether we come from poverty or wealth; whether we are Afro-American or Irish-American; Christian or Jewish, from big cities or small towns, we are all equal in the eyes of God. But as Americans that is not enough; we must be equal in the eyes of each other." --Ronald Reagan, Speech to the Republican National Convention, August 17, 1992

(via KausFiles)

Seth Barrett Tillman: Paul Ryan Could Be a Congressman AND Vice President

Michael Ramsey posts at The Originalism Blog [slightly edited]

Seth Barrett Tillman emails:

It has been reported that [Rep. Paul] Ryan will appear on the ballot for both the VP spot and his current House seat.

You may remember that I argued circa 2008 that the Incompatibility Clause (U.S. Const. art. 1 s. 6 cl. 2) prevents a member of Congress only from holding an appointed or statutory office, not from holding an elected federal position (President or VP). In short, I argued that Senator Obama could -- should he win the 2008 presidential race -- keep his Senate seat.

The same principles would apply to Ryan -- in theory, he could sit in the House and be VP. My position led to two academic exchanges ... see below ...

Seth Barrett Tillman and Steven G. Calabresi, Debate, The Great Divorce: The Current Understanding of Separation of Powers and the Original Meaning of the Incompatibility Clause, 157 U. Pa. L. Rev. PENNumbra 134 (2008)

Seth Barrett Tillman, Why Our Next President May Keep His or Her Senate Seat: A Conjecture on the Constitution's Incompatibility Clause, 4 Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Pol'y 107 (2009)

Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, Response, Why the Incompatibility Clause Applies to the Office of President, 4 Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Pol'y 143 (2009)

Reactions include John J. Miller at The Corner, The Congressman Who Was Veep, and Michael Stern at Point of Order, Can the Chairman of the House Budget Committee Preside Over the Senate?

Bar Watch Bulletin: Final Update from the ABA's Annual Meeting

August 10, 2012: Remarks by James Silkenat, New ABA President-Elect; Morris S. Dees Awarded the ABA Medal; and House of Delegates Action

Which Religious Organizations Count as Religious?

From the upcoming issue of Engage, Which Religious Organizations Count as Religious? The Religious Employer Exemption of the Health Insurance Law's Contraceptives Mandate, by Stanley W. Carlson-Thies

Kalb post-Liberalism

After Liberalism: Notes toward Reconstruction, by James Kalb, Intercollegiate Review, Spring 2012

Barwatch Bulletin for August 2012

Around the ABA Annual Meeting…

More on Sandra Fluke's remarks at ABA Journal.

And the latest issue of ABA Watch is posted. [pdf]

Executive Committee Takes Up Keller at September Meeting

Inside Track reports, "On Sept. 7, the State Bar Executive Committee will perform its annual Keller dues reduction evaluation for Fiscal Year 14 (July 2013 - June 2014). The Executive Committee is announcing the date of the meeting in case members may wish to attend."

He Knew He Was Right

Jacom Heilbrunn reviewed If Not Us, Who? William Rusher, National Review, and the Conservative Movement, by David B. Frisk

(via Claremont Review of Books)

The spoils of war

Lydialyle Gibson on how "Historian James Sparrow traces the roots of 'big government'".