The Latest Breaking News from Eugene Volokh

My eponymous co-blogger Eugene Volokh has called attention to a case that involves the question whether a bumble bee is a "fish" for purposes of a California statute. This kind of problem of surprising statutory scope comes up often (mischief rule to the rescue!). This particular case brought to mind…

Should an appellate court provisionally seal a brief until the case is heard on the merits? Or should it try to make a redacted version promptly available?

As I mentioned last week, ten years ago I wrote a descriptive and analytical law review article called Private Employees' Speech and Political Activity: Statutory Protection Against Employer Retaliation, which aimed to catalog these often-little-known statutes. This year, I'm returning to the subject, trying to analyze the strongest arguments for…

Gov. Ron DeSantis says a plate featuring the Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag sends a "clear message to out-of-state cars." Others say the flag symbolizes a dangerous far-right extremist ideology.

That statute disqualifies a person from "holding any office under the United States."

Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is facing a hefty price tag for his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — $49.3 million in damages and counting — for claiming the nation’s deadliest school shooting was a hoax

Do First Amendment claims about racial preferences hold water?

As I mentioned yesterday, ten years ago I wrote a descriptive and analytical law review article called Private Employees' Speech and Political Activity: Statutory Protection Against Employer Retaliation, which aimed to catalog these often-little-known statutes. This year, I'm returning to the subject, trying to analyze the strongest arguments for and…

The Constitution limits the government's—including government employers'—power to discriminate based on race, sex, or religion. A federal statute and statutes in nearly all states applies these norms to private employers as well. Many libertarians disapprove of any such restrictions on private employers; but for nearly 60 years, American law has…

[I'm working on a draft article called When Are Lies Constitutionally Protected?, and I thought I'd serialize it here, since I still have plenty of time to improve it; I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! (You can also read the whole article here; all the posts about it…

LOS ANGELES — For years, the relationship between Miranda and Richard Wallingford and their Huntington Beach neighbor Jessica Nguyen has been unhappy — if not outright hostile.