EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY IN NEWSOM’S CALIFORNIA: Feb. 25-26 California Bar Exam Is In Shambles: Free July Exams Offered To All 5,600 Registrants If They Bail Or Fail.
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
February 23, 2025
MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Let’s Go Privateering! An old idea gets new enthusiasm.
Plus Grok Image Generator’s delightful idea of what a modern privateer might look like.
February 22, 2025
EVERY DAY IS CHRISTMAS:
BREAKING: Kash Patel will also serve as the Acting Director of ATF.
Holy sh*t
— Jack (@jackunheard) February 23, 2025
PANIC AT THE DISCO:
I mean, if you can’t name five things you accomplished in a 40 hour work week, then you aren’t providing any value. https://t.co/MTbim9757k
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) February 23, 2025
The rational response from someone who actually does work for the federal government: https://t.co/wz2qvJWkBC pic.twitter.com/u2XjGxb54e
— Kyle Seraphin (@KyleSeraphin) February 23, 2025
The state of America: People feeling as if their rights are violated for having to make a list of 5 things they accomplished over a 40 hour period. How many people are going to list “responding to this email” as one?
— Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) February 23, 2025
MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Let’s Go Privateering! An old idea gets new enthusiasm.
Plus Grok Image Generator’s delightful idea of what a modern privateer might look like.
OPEN THREAD: Saturday night’s all right for blogging. Get a little action in.
MICROBIOME NEWS: The Cause of Alzheimer’s Might Be Coming From Inside Your Mouth.
SHOW ME YOU’RE A JEALOUS MIDWIT WITHOUT — WELL, NO, YOU’RE PRETTY MUCH TELLING ME YOU’RE A JEALOUS MIDWIT, TOO: Musk Biographer Claims There Is Zero Evidence Elon Musk Is Smart. “Boeing can’t make a space capsule anymore; the Space Launch System is a boondoggle, and Starlink and SpaceX are indispensable to the world. Musk did that. Tesla and SpaceX did not appear out of thin air, everybody said that their success was impossible and they have never been duplicated, and Blue Origin began with the same advantages as SpaceX–more, really–and has accomplished next to nothing. Everybody goes gaga over Nikola Tesla, rightly so, but he doesn’t hold a candle to Elon Musk. The world’s space industry would be 1/20th the size it is without Musk.”
I’M LOVING THIS.
"What would you say, you do here?" pic.twitter.com/aYrStVSHMk
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 22, 2025
Related:
It works https://t.co/TFkpHlJa7a
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
Also:
Kash talked about doing this before being nominated, and it's great to see it happening. Hunstville has a major FBI field training center at Redstone Arsenal. This seems to indicate he is getting them out of office cubicles and out there to doing forensics and tactical…
— Free To Speak (@FreeToSpeak71) February 22, 2025
Let them fight actual crime outside of DC, rather than commit crimes in DC. And Huntsville is hardly a place of exile; it’s a very nice university town and nowadays the largest city in Alabama, though that perhaps says as much about Birmingham’s urban decay as about Huntsville’s growth.
Also:
I FEEL LIKE THE LUXURY SEDAN MARKET ISN’T AS IMPORTANT AS IT USED TO BE: Mercedes Is Readying a Significant S-Class Update for 2026.
As I said when I looked at the Maybach sedan, it would be nice if I had a driver, but most of the luxury is in the back seat. I do like that you can still get a V8, though a friend of mine is hoarding his V12.
Plus: “Mercedes’ plan to retain gas engines is likely a smart move, as buyers have proven to be fickle when it comes to high-priced EVs, especially with performance models like those made and tuned by AMG.”
At present, EVs are a niche product.
WELL, YES:
This is precisely it: 99% of the criticisms of Trump consists of shock that he is presuming to be president. https://t.co/xtayPSbR8x
— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) February 22, 2025
IT’S NOT EASY TO BE A VIKING: Viking skulls inspected with CT scans reveal severe morbidity.
TRUE.
This stuff is at least as damaging to the rule of law as any action surrounding TROs or whatnot. The first and most central commitment of any civilized legal system is the suppression of depraved violence. https://t.co/N4UOYShUnz
— Adrian Vermeule (@Vermeullarmine) February 22, 2025
JUSTICE: Judge Ho’s Decision To Appoint Paul Clement In United States v. Adams.
From time-to-time, the federal government declines to defend a judgment in a pending Supreme Court case. In such cases, the Court will appoint an amicus to defend the judgment below. In other words, the amicus is not arguing his own personal views on the law, but is instead defending what the lower court did.
This approach makes some sense when there is an actual lower-court opinion. But this approach does not make sense in a trial court. The Court appointed Paul Clement to “present arguments on the Government’s Motion to Dismiss.” What kind of arguments? The order does not say. Maybe Clement will agree with the government. Maybe he won’t. Who knows? In effect, the Court has appointed Paul Clement to give Paul Clement’s opinion on the issue. Clement is a friend of the Court, to be sure. But unlike most amicus, he is being elevated to the status of a party. I think Article III jurisdiction demands adversity, and appointing an amicus to argue his own views does not suffice for adversity. For all we know, Clement will agree with the government, and there still will be no adversity.
In candor, I am a bit befuddled by this decision. I know Judge Sullivan appointed an amicus in the Michael Flynn case. That is certainly a precedent, but not a particularly good one.
There is another element to discuss here. It is pretty obvious the Court appointed Clement to have a well-known conservative (potentially) argue against the Trump Administration. Judge Ho took a page from the Seila Law playbook, in which Circuit Justice Kagan selected Clement. . . .
Will Clement’s appointment here work out for Judge Ho? Well, unlike with Seila Law, Clement is not forced to defend any particular judgment. He will give his own opinion. And I have to think that Judge Ho did not inquire about those views in advance. If he did, that would be extremely problematic.
Judges are acting unjudicial.