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A young German man in a crowd, with blue tape over his mouth that says 'ZENSUR' (censorship).

Michael L. Smith (St. Mary's University School of Law) has posted Constitutional Interpretation and Zombie Provisions (Georgia State University Law Review, Vol. 40, (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The United States Constitution and state constitutions contain numerous zombie...

Graham Greenleaf (University of New South Wales, Faculty of Law) has posted Global Data Privacy Laws 2023: International Standards Stall, but UK Disrupts ((2023) 183 Privacy Laws & Business International Report 8-15) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Since 2020...

Joseph William Singer (Harvard Law School) has posted Conflict of Abortion Laws (Northeastern University Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 2 (2024, Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: When a resident of an anti-abortion state goes to a prochoice state...

Matthias Lehmann (University of Vienna) has posted New Challenges of Extraterritoriality: Superposing Laws on SSRN. Here is the abstract: While extraterritoriality is often bemoaned, this contribution makes the point that it is actually indispensable. If the state wants to maintain...

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends When Laws Seem Fair: The Example of Family Law by Ira Ellman & Sanford Braver. Here is a description: Family law rules decide whether former intimate partners have continuing financial obligations to one another, how...

We've mentioned this before around here: Google has temporarily blocked links from local news outlets in California from appearing in search results in response to the advancement of a bill that would require tech companies to pay publications for links that articles share. The change applies only to some people using Google in California, though it is not clear how many.The California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) would require large online platforms to pay a "journalism usage fee" for linking to news sites based in the Golden state. The bill cleared the California assembly in 2023. To become law, it would need to pass in the Senate before being signed by the governor, Gavin Newsom.As has happened in Spain, Australia, Canada and so on when such laws have been proposed. Of course, the Californian insistence is that this time will be different. There's a dual contention here. Firstly, Google (and Facebook etc) profit from, perhaps even steal, the work of journalists and newspapers by presenting them in search and social media. This reduces the revenue to the newspapers and woes is us.Secondly, the traffic generated by being in search results and social media is a vital source of income for journalism and newspapers. Which is what leads to the conclusion that Google (and Facebook etc) must pay for the news being stolen, but must also continue to run the news they're stealing. Only politics could possibly advance such absurd logic. Which is one reason for - a very good example of -why we continually insist that politics really isn't a good way to run the world.

Or Brook (University of Leeds) has posted Do EU and U.K. Antitrust 'Bite'?: A Hard Look at 'Soft' Enforcement and Negotiated Penalty Settlements on SSRN. Here is the abstract: EU and U.K. antitrust are contingent upon rigorous enforcement and the...

The SAFER Banking Act is trying to address dual legality of cannabis laws between the federal government and the 38 states that have some form of legal cannabis.

Mritunjay Kumar (Himachal Pradesh National Law University; University of Delhi; University of Delhi - Faculty of Law), Chanchal Kumar Singh (Himachal Pradesh National Law University), & Aastha Naresh Kohli (Himachal Pradesh National Law University) has posted Breaking Down the Code...

Re'em Segev (Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Faculty of Law) has posted Actions, Agents, and Consequences (Criminal Justice Ethics, Vol. 42. No. 2, 2023) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: According to an appealing and common view, the moral status...

Fact-checking claims about legal marijuana use in NY.

Jeffrey Miron


This article appeared on Substack on June 22, 2023
The New York Times reports that multiple states are responding to the opioid overdose crisis by passing harsh new laws aimed at fentanyl:
In the 2023 legislative session alone, hundreds of fentanyl crime bills were introduced in at least 46 states, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. Virginia lawmakers codified fentanyl as "a weapon of terrorism." An Iowa law makes the sale or manufacture of less than five grams of fentanyl — roughly the weight of five paper clips — punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Arkansas and Texas recently joined some 30 states, including Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wyoming, that have a drug‐​induced homicide statute on the books, allowing murder prosecutions even of people who share drugs socially that contain lethal fentanyl doses.

This approach is deeply misguided. Rather than further criminalizing fentanyl, federal and state governments should legalize it, along with all other opioids (and all other illegal drugs).
Most overdoses from illicit drugs result from accidental consumption of excessively potent or adulterated versions, since quality control is difficult in an underground market. That reflects the Iron Law of Prohibition.
In a legal market, fentanyl would be widely available, but in clearly marked dosages, allowing users to consume without risk of overdose. That is what occurs now for other legal but potentially dangerous products, such as alcohol or over‐​the‐​counter medications like acetaminophen (Tylenol). Overdoes occur for legal "drugs," but they are rare and reflect deliberate excessive consumption.
Governments almost always try to fix society's problems with more government. When the original problem resulted from too much government, that approach is especially unfortunate.

Animals, both livestock and others (including pets) have long needed state-enacted legal protections for their welfare. In the next post in this series, Aye Mar Win looks at the corpus of laws and legal provisions that are aimed to protect them in Myanmar, and what more can be done for their welfare.   _______________________________________________ Natural resources … Continued

Last year saw significant changes in data protections laws across Europe, the UK and the USA. Daniel Spichtinger outlines how these changes have created a more complex but GDPR aligned regulatory environment for researchers. The management of research data has become an important part of ethical and legal compliance. Data protection laws pose challenges to researchers … Continued