That's the name of this article by Si Lazarus and Doug Kendall of the Constitutional Accountability Center. "Broken circuit" is Lazarus and Kendall's characterization of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. They point to "[a] new breed of activism on the .. the D.C. Circuit — for environmental cases second in importance […]
Author Archives: Brian Wolfman
Read this post by Paul Bland, which contains a example of how the Supreme Court's decision in AT&T v. Concepcion is keeping consumers out of court and without any remedy. Here's Paul's synopsis: In Betts v. McKenzie Check Cashing, after a two-day evidentiary hearing that was essentially a trial of the payday lender’s arbitration clause, […]
by Brian Wolfman As you may have read, the FDA is beginning to look into possible regulation of caffeine when used as an additive to foods and drinks, including foods and drinks marketed to kids. How about some caffeine with your marshmellows or nuts? Yes, indeed, these foods sometimes have caffeine thrown in. Read this interview […]
Many of our readers are interested in using and benefitting from federal and state freedom of information laws. With that in mind, you may want to read the Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Coleman v. DEA, which has a buch of good things to say about two federal FOIA topics: exhaustion of administrative remedies and […]
Law professor Howard Erichson says no in his new article "The Problem of Settlement Class Actions." Here is the abstract: This article argues that class actions should never be certified solely for purposes of settlement. Contrary to the widespread “settlement class action” practice that has emerged in recent decades, contrary to current case law permitting […]
We posted yesterday on the Supreme Court's decision upholding Virginia's FOIA provision that allows Virginia government agencies to withhold from non-Virginians the same public records it provides to Virginians. The press is weighing in on the decision, including this piece by Cyrus Farivar that argues that "[t]he unanimous decision is a significant setback to journalists […]
This morning the Supreme Court decided McBurney v. Young, which presented the question whether under the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV and the dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution a state may limit the right of access to the state's public records to its own citizens. The Court held unanimously that […]
The CL&P Blog has covered electric cars frequently, asking the questions whether they are cost-effective and otherwise beneficial to consumers and the environment. Go, for instance, here, here, here, here, and here. For a new and generally optimistic account of the future of the electric car from both an economic and environmental perspective, see "Five myths about […]
That's the name of this article by law professor Howard Erichson. Here's the abstract: This article argues that class actions should never be certified solely for purposes of settlement. Contrary to the widespread “settlement class action” practice that has emerged in recent decades, contrary to current case law permitting settlement class certification, and contrary to […]
This article by Michael Fletcher explains that "[w]ealth inequality widened dramatically during the first two years of the economic recovery, as the upper 7 percent of American households saw their average net worth increase 28 percent, while the wealth of the other 93 percent declined." That finding bears repeating. In its first two years, the […]