Legal Theory

Leagues win a restraining order against NJ racetrack that wanted to allow sports gambling

A New Jersey federal district judge dealt a blow to a racetrack’s hopes of providing legal sports betting. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp of Trenton granted a temporary restraining order to several sports leagues, including the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. According to ESPN,…

Oct 27, 2014 3:00 PM CDT

Scalia compares himself to Frodo in originalism battle

Justice Antonin Scalia made two public appearances on Wednesday, calling for balance in interpreting the church-state divide in one, and comparing his support for originalism to the quest of the Lord of the Rings character Frodo Baggins in the other. In a speech at Colorado Christian University, Scalia said the…

Oct 2, 2014 8:44 AM CDT

SCOTUS ‘is an emperor that truly has no clothes,’ Chemerinsky says in new book

Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky criticizes both liberal and conservative justices in his new book, but he’s not worried they will hold a grudge should he appear before the U.S. Supreme Court again. After all, he lost both cases he most recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court—in unanimous decisions. “How…

Sep 30, 2014 5:45 AM CDT

Looking back on Zubulake, 10 years later

When Laura Zubulake first brought her employment discrimination lawsuit to attorney James Batson in 2001, neither of them thought the case would make history. Neither did U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, who presided over the case in the Southern District of New York. In fact, Scheindlin has mentioned many times…

Sep 1, 2014 10:30 AM CDT

Magna Carta should inspire lawyers to rise above partisanship, solve problems, chief justice says

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking to the ABA House of Delegates, delivered some choice humor, an informative lecture on the history of Magna Carta and a call for lawyers to advance the historic document’s ideal for the rule of law and particularly for independent courts. Roberts’ address…

Aug 11, 2014 5:48 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: First impressions of this term’s SCOTUS decisions were misleading

Correction: First impressions can be deceiving and, with the benefit of a month of hindsight after the completion of the Supreme Court term, it is apparent than many of those impressions were misleading. After the term was over, many of the initial commentaries stressed the apparent consensus that emerged on…

Aug 4, 2014 2:15 PM CDT

Center studying law and culture moves to NYU

The Forum on Law, Culture and Society has a new home. This summer the forum—along with its director, Thane Rosenbaum—moved to the New York University School of Law, where it will carry on its tradition of telling the story of the law through movies, novels and other cultural works. “I…

Aug 1, 2014 9:40 AM CDT

An interview with Judge Richard A. Posner

Editor’s Note: Richard Posner is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Chicago and, some would reckon, a force of nature. He’s a prolific author whose seemingly endless curriculum vitae includes books on topics as varied…

Jul 1, 2014 10:20 AM CDT

Federal Circuit gets reined in over patent fees in infringement suits

The U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is divided on many issues, but not when it comes to patents. In that area of the law, the court has spoken largely with one voice in recent years, and it has repeatedly pronounced bad news for both patentees…

Jul 1, 2014 8:50 AM CDT

Preparing for the ‘Internet of things’

In the early 1980s, programmers at Carnegie Mellon University connected a Coke machine to the ARPANET (later the Internet). Users could check the status of the machine and availability of products from their computers before walking to the machine. It’s generally considered the first example of an Internet appliance, and…

Jul 1, 2014 7:40 AM CDT

Do you secretly believe your job isn’t necessary? Academic sees corporate law as one of the BS jobs

British anthropologist David Graeber recalls discovering the remarkable career of a childhood friend. The friend was a poet and then the front man in an indie rock band—a singer Graeber heard on the radio without realizing he was the friend he had known. But after a few unsuccessful albums, the…

May 15, 2014 1:53 PM CDT

Judge Posner sarcastically applauds ‘new form of arbitration’ after Garner’s expert evaluates tiff

Legal writing expert Bryan Garner is taking a new tack in his defense of a book he co-authored with Justice Antonin Scalia. In August 2012, Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals alleged that the authors misrepresented case rationales and showed a “pattern of equivocation”…

May 14, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Visual law services are worth a thousand words—and big money

Daniel Lewis was midway through his second year at Stanford Law School when he became convinced there was a better way to do legal research.

The thought came to him while doing work for a nonprofit in 2011. He was trying to understand where his issue fit within a broad group of cases his research had found. In his mind he pictured a view of his issue triangulated against the most important cases at the center and all the other, less important cases circled around them.

May 1, 2014 10:40 AM CDT

‘Sovereign citizens’ plaster courts with bogus legal filings—and some turn to violence

The Atta family locked up their Temecula, Calif., home and went on vacation in 2012. While they were gone, Victor Cheng moved in. Cheng had owned the home before the Attas, but he lost it in foreclosure. Nonetheless, he filed a fraudulent deed with the county recorder’s office, transferred the…

May 1, 2014 10:20 AM CDT

Patent trolls are getting First Amendment protection for their demand letters

Even in a widely vilified industry, MPHJ Technology Investments stands out. The company is not just a patent troll; it has been called one of the worst of the trolls. Its patent licensing campaign is deceptive, unfair and unlawful, according to many critics. MPHJ is a “bottom feeder” engaged in…

May 1, 2014 9:00 AM CDT