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Case of the Day: Igartúa v. Obama
The case of the day is Igartúa v. Obama (1st Cir. 2016). Long-time readers know I have been writing about the First Circuit’s (and the Supreme Court’s) Puerto Rico status cases for a while. In the latest case, Gregoria Igartúa, a US citizen residing in Puerto Rico, and the litigant who has been raising issues……
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There Is No Salvation In The Electoral College
In my post on the electoral college a few weeks ago, I gave a little bit of the historical background, including a reference to Federalist 68, in which Alexander Hamilton described the college as, more or less, a group of wise men who could be relied on to exercise sound judgment and ensure that no……
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Case of the Day: Schubarth v. Germany
The case of the day is Schubarth v. Federal Republic of Germany (D.D.C. 2016). The plaintiff, Mady Marieluise Schubarth, inherited 500 acres of land in Thuringia, Germany. She alleged that the land was expropriated by the East German government in 1945. After reunification, she applied to the Thuringia government for restitution, but she was dissatisfied……
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Case of the Day: Microsoft v. Weidmann Electrical Technology
The case of the day is Microsoft Corp. v. Weidmann Electrical Technology, Inc. (D. Vt. 2016). Weidmann was a Vermont corporation with offices in St. Johnsbury. Its corporate parent was WICOR Holding AG, a Swiss company that, with its subsidiaries, is a multi-national manufacturer of medical equipment. Weidmann had a licensing agreement with Microsoft that……
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Remember the Melians
Remember the Melians? Melos was a city-state on an Aegean island that was besieged by Athens in the Peloponnesian War. During the siege, the Athenians and the Melians held a parley, which Thucydides dramatized in his History. Thucydides’ dialogue is one of the urtexts of realism in international relations. The Athenians gave the Melians an……