tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52921232011-04-21T17:12:32.087-07:00All the theory that does not fit--in the regular Legal Theory Blog.Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1163774221908863302006-11-17T06:36:00.000-08:002006-11-17T06:37:01.916-08:00

New Location for Legal Theory BlogThe new location for Legal Theory Blog is:http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1089126701835319662004-07-13T11:23:00.000-07:002004-07-21T02:18:02.986-07:00

Supporting Information re New Faculty at Major American Law Schools I've received some supplemental information since this was originally posted. I will update this post as new information comes in, but I will wait at least a few days before updating the charts at Hiring Trends at 18 "Top" American Law Schools on Legal Theory Blog.Columbia Michael Doyle No JD Institution PhD Political Science

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1088796434977200762004-07-02T12:24:00.000-07:002004-07-02T12:40:04.030-07:00

Samberg-Champion Reacts Sasha Samberg-Champion writes:I read your interesting post on Legal Theory Blog today, in which you advocate that Supreme Court Justices both (1) adhere more closely to formalism and (2) compromise with each other more in order to forge stable majorities. But I wonder how compatible these two ideas are? Right now, it could be argued that the problem is that we have _too

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1084731219884424312004-05-16T11:13:00.000-07:002004-05-16T11:14:05.636-07:00

* = acceptability curve for left judicial selector. # = acceptability curve for right judicial selector ___________________Acceptability Frontiers for President & Senate __Realist1| ________13|_____*______________________________________________________________________# ________14| ________15| ________16|_______*__________________________________________________________________# ________17| _____

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1082743048014787802004-04-23T10:57:00.000-07:002004-04-23T11:02:58.840-07:00

A Legal Scholars Journal: Index to the Posts This is the index to the A Legal Scholars Journal posts on Legal Theory Blog:Part One: A Project Begins

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1073593590309230292004-01-08T12:26:00.000-08:002004-01-08T12:29:52.356-08:00

C.E. Petit Responds to Buck C.E. Petit (of the very fine Scrivener's Error) responds to Stuart Buck's post commenting on my Getting to Formalism:I have a problem with Mr. Buck's analysis. It seems to conflate "denial of certiorari" with "affirmance of circuit court." The intermediate case reflects the reality of what is happening, or at least that I see happening from my cynical vantage point. I

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1067737146754734602003-11-01T17:39:00.000-08:002003-11-01T17:39:05.246-08:00

Eden on The Socratic Method John Eden emails these remarks responding to Brian Leiter on the Socratic Method:What Would Socrates Say? In a recent blog Brian Leiter claims that it is high time we put the Socratic Method (SM) to rest. Or, more accurately, that the version of SM that is currently in vogue in many American law schools should be replaced by something that more effectively conveys

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1065071748918423322003-10-01T22:15:00.000-07:002003-10-01T22:15:48.853-07:00

Mazzone on Copynorms Jason Mazzone (Brooklyn) has the following reaction regarding this post on copynorms:A further reason, I suspect, the RIAA lawsuits might increase illegal copying is that they publicize the extent to which people are already violating copyright. People tend to follow laws to the extent they perceive others are law-abiding. By spreading information about illegal activity,

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1064009527158553542003-09-19T15:12:00.000-07:002003-09-19T15:12:07.150-07:00

More on Intellectual Property Theory and Water Wells My post on intellectual property theory, prompted a thoughtful email from David Ballantyne, who writes Volokh hypothesises a water well which, while excludable, has such capacity that a collection of farmers will make nonrivalrous use of the well. In making this hypothesis, it is necessary to apprehend two types of capacity: the total

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1060185433096392692003-08-06T08:57:00.000-07:002003-08-06T09:06:19.150-07:00

Cooperation with Evil & the Morality of Judging in Abortion Cases In response to my post entitled Catholic Doctrine and the Obligations of Judges in Abortion Cases: A Comment on the Pryor Nomination, I received the following comments from an anonymous reader, who (modestly) warns that they are "off the cuff,":For what it's worth, I think that an appellate judge who, say, votes to uphold the

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1059661466396547452003-07-31T07:24:00.000-07:002003-07-31T12:15:41.650-07:00

Eden on Arneson About a week ago, I posted a link to a new paper by Richard Arneson, entitled Democracy is Not Intrinsically Just. John Eden writes with some interesting comments:The basic idea that democratic arrangements are not self-justifying is quite powerful. For far too long democratic theorists have assumed, rather than argued for, one of the most important ideas underlying the

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1059498989062113372003-07-29T10:16:00.000-07:002003-07-30T08:40:33.500-07:00

Lynn on Dawkins & Functionalist Explanation T.J. Lynn writes in response to my trio of posts ( Natural Goodness: From Facts to Values, Metaethical Prejudice: More Remarks on Ethical Naturalism & Naturalistic Ethics):I think you're wrong--at least in part-- about Matt Evan's post on Dawkins. First, you say "Naturalists, like Dawkins, believe that the sex drive does have a purpose, and that

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1059498193472825992003-07-29T10:03:00.000-07:002003-07-29T10:08:52.090-07:00

Technical Work on Functionalist Explanation and Naturalism in Ethics In response to my posts on Metaethical Prejudice: More Remarks on Ethical Naturalism & Naturalistic Ethics, the author of the Technical Work blog writes:I have to rise to a point you made today about naturalism in ethics. You said: "Naturalists, like Dawkins, believe that the sex drive does have a purpose, and that purpose or

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1059493754292563622003-07-29T08:49:00.000-07:002003-07-29T08:53:29.116-07:00

Bass on Naturalistic Ethics In response to my posts on Metaethical Prejudice: More Remarks on Ethical Naturalism & Naturalistic Ethics, Matthew Bass writes that my post made himthink about a Discovery Channel program on the mating habits of sea lions that I saw last month. In a sentence of two, sea lion mating is rough stuff. First, the males fight, and the winners win the opportunity to rape

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1059058739100490282003-07-24T07:58:00.000-07:002003-07-24T07:58:59.196-07:00

Eden on DeLong on Nozick John Eden writes:DeLong’s blog on Nozick Here are a few brief thoughts on DeLong’s piece. First, I think that he is right to emphasize that Nozick does a terrible job of honestly articulating the key part of his central argument against end-result theories of distributive justice. I would put the point more directly in the following way: Nozick fails to adequately

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1058555917739568472003-07-18T12:18:00.000-07:002003-07-18T12:18:37.770-07:00

Vermillion on Copyfights Richard Vermillion writes re my copyfights post:I wanted to comment on your recent debate with C. E. Petit about copyrights. Like many discussions about copyrights, yours quickly turned to a discussion of the "property" question. Encouraged by the "intellectual property" label, advocates on both sides start listing their reasons that IP is a special kind of property,

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1058554731984453372003-07-18T11:58:00.000-07:002003-07-18T11:58:51.840-07:00

Enslow on Copyfights Reader Eric Enslow comments on my post here:The actual nature of the good that is copyright (e.g. whether more than one consumer can consume it without depleteing the good for others) is an empirical issue. Accordingly, it is not determined by the a priori concepts or catergorizations of economics. Rather, we must look to law (and perhaps sociology, psychology or ethics) to

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1057852345086054532003-07-10T08:52:00.000-07:002003-07-10T08:52:24.953-07:00

Brett Belmore on Die Constitution Die Brett Belmore writes:I believe you've misunderstood Jonah's point. It doesn't really matter whether a jurist attempts in good faith to understand the "contemporary meaning" of the Constitution. Such a jurist could have good faith coming out of their ears, could be oozing excellence out of every pore, and wouldn't matter, because the Constitution doesn't HAVE

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1057849647051961492003-07-10T08:07:00.000-07:002003-07-10T08:07:27.086-07:00

Alan Kusinitz on Legitimate State Interests I recieved the following, very smart, comment from Alan Kusinitz on my Legitimate State Interests post:"Legitimate" comes from the Latin word meaning "law." Thus, a legitimate state interest is one conforming to the law. However, there are many meanings of law. What law? As we know, laws must conform to the fundamental Law of the land which is the

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1057674855776968502003-07-08T07:34:00.000-07:002003-07-08T07:34:15.710-07:00

CAROLENE PRODUCTS FOOTNOTE (1938) Footnote 4.There may be narrower scope for operation of the presumption of constitutionality when legislation appears on its face to be within a specific prohibition of the Constitution, such as those of the first ten Amendments, which are deemed equally specific when held to be embraced within the 14th. [Case citations deleted] It is unnecessary to consider now

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1057358589214608712003-07-04T15:43:00.000-07:002003-07-04T15:43:09.116-07:00

Welcome to the Blogosphere I've just come across another student blawg. Law, Politics, & Press has a thoughtful post on Lawrence

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1056480448430970762003-06-24T11:47:00.000-07:002003-06-24T11:47:28.356-07:00

Eden on Grutter Here are some reactions to Grutter from John Eden:The recent rulings in the Michigan cases represent a clear victory for advocates of affirmative action, but I think that victory came at an unreasonably high price. Even though the practical outcome of Grutter v. Bollinger is one that I would countenance as fair and just, the rationale offered by Justice O’Connor leaves much to be

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1056309979872253872003-06-22T12:26:00.000-07:002003-06-25T14:10:24.270-07:00

Blogging from Montreal: Guide to the Posts Here is a quick guide to my posts from the ICANN meetings in Montreal:Part 1 (Sunday, June 22, 2003): Introduction. Part 2 (Sunday, June 22, 2003): The GAC Open Meeting. Part 3 (Monday, June 23): The Non Commerical Users Constituency Meeting. Part 4 (Tuesday, June 24): The GNSO Council. Part 5 (Tuesday, June 24): The Request for Proposals for new sTLDs.

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-1055866254125369542003-06-16T01:17:00.000-07:002003-06-17T09:10:54.213-07:00

The Downward Spiral of Politicization: A Guide to My Posts on Judicial Selection Over the past few months, Legal Theory Blog has covered judicial selection wars. It all started with my post on Adam Cohen's New York Times editorial, making an unfair attack on the record of Deborah Cook, which, unfortunately was eaten by the BIG POST auto delete feature of Blogger! Here is a brief guide to the

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2004120652003-06-11T07:25:00.000-07:002003-06-11T07:26:35.000-07:00

Boyden on Law and History Bruce Boyden has good comments on my short law and history post:As a former historian-in-training, now a lawyer dabbling in legal history, I have sympathy for both sides here. First of all, it's clearly a two-way street. If many historians miss the significance of legal arguments, many lawyers miss the significance of history. Justice Rehnquist once dismissed Justice

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2003893502003-06-05T09:09:00.000-07:002003-06-05T09:09:58.120-07:00

Text of Frist/Miller Bill 108th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 138 To amend rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate relating to the consideration of nominations requiring the advice and consent of the Senate. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 9, 2003 Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. MILLER, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. STEVENS, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. KYL, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. LOTT, Mr. HATCH

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2001953372003-05-24T01:17:00.000-07:002003-05-25T11:00:30.000-07:00

The Downward Spiral of Politicization: A Guide to My Posts on Judicial Selection Over the past few months, Legal Theory Blog has covered judicial selection wars. It all started with my post on Adam Cohen's New York Times editorial, making an unfair attack on the record of Deborah Cook, which, unfortunately was eaten by the BIG POST auto delete feature of Blogger! Here is a brief guide to the

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2003006762003-05-16T08:20:00.000-07:002003-05-16T08:40:01.000-07:00

Mapping the Space of Judicial Attitudes Department In several posts on Legal Theory Blog, I've proposed a two dimensional mapping of judicial attitudes. The first dimension is judicial philosophy (formalism versus realism) and the second dimension is political ideology (left versus right). Matthew Thomas writes with an interesting suggestion:I wonder if you've considered that since your graph

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2002852602003-05-13T10:46:00.000-07:002003-05-13T10:49:50.000-07:00

Brett Bellmore on Models of Judicial Selection Brett writes:I think I see a problem with your model. (Or at least an alternative theory.) The shape of the curves you've selected basically assume that both parties positively value formalist judicial philosophy. So that a judge who was a 100% formalist, and known to be such, would be a shoe in, barring horse trading or retaliation. So, if one

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2002346772003-05-02T13:04:00.000-07:002003-05-02T21:24:46.000-07:00

Brett Bellmore Suggests a Fifth Scenario Brett Bellmore wrote regarding recess appointments:It strikes me that there's a fifth scenario, which you strangely omitted: Realizing that the problem is actually with a minority refusing to permit floor votes, not a majority, it is agreed that the President, of whatever party, will be entitled to an up/down floor vote on all his nominees within some

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2002346692003-05-02T13:02:00.000-07:002003-05-02T13:02:42.773-07:00

Dylan Ramsey on Judicial Independence and Recess Appointments I recieved this thoughtful emial from Dylan Ramsey, a law student at Virginia:I wonder whether there is a possible distinction to be made between the terms independent and apolitical as applied to the judiciary. Obviously, an independent judiciary that can carry out its work free from the influence of the political branches is a

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2002075282003-04-27T16:27:00.000-07:002003-04-27T22:29:24.000-07:00

Schwartz and Scott's Asymmetrical Information Argument This post is really a foonote to the Legal Theory Blog post on Schwartz and Scott. Here is a quote that explains the argument in Legal Theory Blog:the state cannot help when asymmetric information prevents parties from writing the efficient contract. Parties thus would reject default standards that permitted the seller to obtain “a

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2001711232003-04-19T15:29:00.000-07:002003-04-20T04:26:53.000-07:00

Conditions of Rational Discourse This post is really a footnote to the Rational Discourse and Internet Governance posted on Legal Theory Blog. The question is what are the conditions of a rational discourse. If you have jumped here from the main post, you just read a condensed version of those conditions. Froomkin's article seems to me to assume that Habermas's more recent work abandons his

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5292123.post-2001613062003-04-17T07:40:00.000-07:002003-04-17T07:49:07.000-07:00

John Eden on Rawls and Cohen Here are some additional thoughts from John Eden on Rawls, Cohen, and the Difference Principle:In what follows I will offer some reflections on some of the issues raised by Bertram, Runnacles, and Fox in connection with Rawls & Cohen debate. Before putting any substantive claims on the table, I’d like to make a few methodological remarks about negotiating the muddy

Lawrence Solumnoreply@blogger.com