I wish I had the moxie to title one of my articles “An-arrgh-chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization.” The Pirate Code: More like a set of democratic institutions with checks and balances predating their American and British emergence by a good 70 years than a system of actual rules….

Al Gore supported the first Gulf War. He opposed the second Gulf War. He was right both times. Why is this considered a negative in some circles?

Arguing against the vote of no confidence for Alberto Gonzalez, Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott asked “Are we going to bring the president in here and have a question period like the prime minister has in Great Britain?” Putting aside all the other issues, would that really be that bad of an idea? It actually sounds rather appealing to me.

The controversial Norman Finkelstein has been denied tenure by DePaul University.

A judge in Georgia has granted Genarlow Wilson’s habeas plea, holding that his sentence was a violation of cruel and unusual punishment. For those of you who don’t know, Wilson was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex as a 17-year old with a 15-year old girl. He had no criminal record, good grades, and, lets face it, teenagers two years apart in age having oral sex should not be a crime at all (much less a 10 year felony). His case, quite justifiably, stirred...

Professor Richard Rorty, one of America’s most prominent philosophers and leader of the pragmatist school of thought, has died. His book, Contingency, Irony, Solidarity is an all-time classic, and has a strong claim on any list of all-time greatest American political thinkers. Upon his death, he was a Professor of Comparative Literature emeritus at Stanford University, he previously taught at the University of Virginia, Princeton University, Wellesley College, and, most importantly, was the...

Cried the defenders of Scooter Libby as he faces 30 months of jail time…. So long as possession of crack cocaine carries a mandatory minimum sentence double that of Libby’s, my sympathy remains elusive. If Libby’s defenders wish to go to work on that injustice as well, though, perhaps I’ll hear them out.

Bad move by the Clintonites: Alcee Hastings should not be in a prominent position in any serious campaign.

A dozen top legal lights filed a motion to submit an amicus brief in the Scooter Libby case. The presiding judge had a bit of fun in the process of granting it.

Today is the birthday of Lt. William Calley, perpetrator of the My Lai massacre. Convicted of pre-meditated murder in a slaughter that claimed over 500 lives, Calley served 3 years of his life sentence, less than 5 months of which was in prison, before being paroled.

The epidemiology of criminal sanction. “The attitudes we normals have toward a person with a stigma, and the actions we take in regard to him, are well known…[W]e believe the person with a stigma is not quite human…We construct a stigma-theory, an ideology to explain his inferiority and account for the danger he represents…imput[ing] a wide range of imperfections on the basis of the original one…” -Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on a Spoiled Identity

Dealing a crushing blow to efforts to find its right-flank, the Family Research Council today characterized efforts against the confirmation of judicial nominee Leslie “‘good ole nigger’ is not a racial slur” Southwich as a “witch hunt”.

I have no qualms about saying that now-indicted Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) should be expelled (he should have left Congress a long time ago, and the time for “voluntary” resignation is long past). But can Congress use this opportuinity to get rid of some of the other swamp-creatures still dwelling in the House? I say yes–and that it will be politically savvy to try.

I’ve never read anything quite as revealing about the Christian Right’s atttitude towards women than this passage that treats increased risk of internal bleeding from a perforated uterus as a good thing. Wow. Wow.

It’s a very strange thing, in a great many ways.

A forthcoming Biology final makes for excellent incentive to collect good links.

Congress apparently is going to consider rewriting Title VII to close the loophole opened by the Supreme Court’s recent Ledbetter decision. I wrote a letter to my Congressman supporting the move–and urging him to close some other loopholes as well. Join me?

Another case of employment discrimination (in this case, pay disparity), not being taken seriously by the Supreme Court. Talk about a bogus interpretation of a filing deadline. How is a paycheck disparity resulting from gender discrimination not a unique instance of harm? But since this is a statutory case, I don’t need to hear lectures on whether the decision was legally sound or not. If the Court is right about the statutory mandate, it’s obviously an atrocious policy, and Congress...

Alabama finds terrorists in the strangest places.

I’m normally loathe to call races over a year in advance, but with incumbent (and indicted) Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) starting the race down a staggering 28 points to the Democratic nominee, Steve Beshear (34/62), I think we can fairly say he’s toast. Good lord, are those bad numbers for an incumbent.