NA On Monday, California enacted an important new law breaking down a key regulatory barrier to new housing construction. The CalMatters website has a helpful summary: A decade-spanning political battle between housing developers and defenders of California’s preeminent environmental law likely came to an end this afternoon with only a smattering of “no” votes. The […]
In a case of first impression, a split panel of the Eleventh Circuit decided today that a transgender high school teacher’s speech rights were not violated when the state of Florida required her not to refer to herself in class by her preferred feminine pronouns. (See also Eugene’s post about the decision below.) From the majority […]
On Sunday, I wrote, with regard to my new article on freedom of speech and college antisemitism: Coauthor David L. Bernstein and I spend a fair amount of space recounting examples of antisemitic campus activity that did not involve protected speech, such as vandalism, classroom and library disruptions, threats, one-on-one verbal harassment, assault, and more. […]
Excerpts from the 9,400-word Wood v. Fla. Dep’t of Ed., decided today by Eleventh Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom, joined by Judge Andrew Brasher: Katie Wood is a transgender woman who teaches at a public high school in Florida. Two years ago, the state enacted Fla. Stat. § 1000.071(3), which, as applied to Wood, prohibits her […]
AI-generated image. Today, in Refugee and Immigrant Center for Legal and Educational Services v. Noem, US District Court Judge Randolph Moss issued an important decision blocking Donald Trump’s January 20 “invasion” executive proclamation, which sought to foreclose nearly all pathways to legal migration and asylum applications for migrants crossing the southern border. Trump claimed the […]
The decision, by Judge Roy Altman (S.D. Fla.) is Monday’s Block v. Matesic; for more on the plaintiff judge (Judge Frederick Block (E.D.N.Y.)), see this N.Y. Times article, also from Monday. The original libel claim has to do with the plaintiff judge’s battles related to his Florida condominium association board, of all things. A few […]
The University of Pennsylvania agreed to publicly affirm its commitment to barring transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, the Education Department announced Tuesday, in a resolution with the Trump administration that will also require the school to modify a trio of records and apologize to several female competitors. “While Penn’s policies during the 2021-2022 […]
This week, the Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in Trump’s signature nomenclature. As with most modern spending bills, the proposal is a bloated mess, larded up with so many extraneous provisions that it not only funds the government but also adds […]
The House of Representatives is fast-tracking the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed the Senate on Tuesday. While lawmakers have attempted to hide the true cost of the bill with budgeting gimmicks, the bill is expected to add as much as $3.9 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade and $270 billion […]
After months of waiting for federal approval to deputize Florida National Guard Judge Advocate General Corps officers (JAGs) as immigration judges, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump indicated during a visit to the newly opened “Alligator Alcatraz” at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport that the plan will move forward. According to Florida’s […]