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Elephant Habeas: The NhRP’s Colorado Case Is Dismissed
A Colorado judge has dismissed a habeas corpus petition brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project supposedly on behalf of elephants at the Cheyenne Zoo. The decision is a good one. The judge basically agrees with all the things that the NhRP has to say about elephants. They are really smart, they have complex social lives,……
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The Jewish Question at Harvard
I cannot believe what I heard from the leaders of some of our great universities at yesterday’s hearing on campus antisemitism in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The question was maybe the easiest question ever put to a witness at a congressional hearing: Does calling for the genocide of the Jewish people……
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Case of the Day: Doe v. Germany
The case of the day is Doe v. Federal Republic of Germany (S.D.N.Y. 2023). It’s a weird one. A pseudonymous plaintiff, who claimed he was the person who leaked the Panama Papers, sued the German government for breach of contract, alleging that the government had breached a promise to pay him a portion of the……
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In Memoriam Sandra Day O’Connor
Letters Blogatory remembers Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court. She will be remembered for her opinions in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Grutter v. Bollinger, and other important constitutional decisions. Some of these, including the two decisions I mentioned, have not stood the test of time, at least as things……
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Senator Schumer’s Speech
Those of you who are long-time readers have been very patient with me as I have spent most of my blogging time writing about the war and what has followed from it. I’ve never lived through a bigger political earthquake. I have found I don’t have much mental energy for other extracurricular projects these days.……