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The true back-story of the Blakely-Booker jurisprudential mess?

Though it makes no mention of sentencing jurisprudence, this new piece up on SSRN develops a theory that may help explain how and why the Apprendi-Blakely-Booker line of cases has produced such a doctrinal mess. The piece by Ben Barton is titled “Judges, Lawyers, and a Predictive Theory of Legal Complexity,” and here is the abstract:

This Article uses public choice theory and the “new institutionalism” to discuss the incentives, proclivities, and shared backgrounds of lawyers and judges. In America every law-making judge has a single unifying characteristic, each is a former lawyer. This shared background has powerful and unexplored effects on the shape and structure of American law. This Article argues that the shared characteristics, thought-processes, training, and incentives of Judges and lawyers lead inexorably to greater complexity in judge-made law. These same factors lead to the following prediction: judge-created law will be most complex in areas where a) elite lawyers regularly practice; b) judges may have a personal preference in the case that can be written-around by way of legal complexity; and c) the subject area interests the judge, or is generally considered prestigious. The Article uses the law of standing as a case study.

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U.S. won’t confirm report of Chinese hacking

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Government officials are not confirming a report that Chinese officials may have secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a December visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

The Associated Press said an investigation into the suspected incident also involved whether China used the information to try to hack into Commerce computers.

The AP cited officials and industry experts as sources for the story, which said the surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop belonging to someone in the U.S. trade delegation was left unattended.

When asked whether the Commerce Department is looking into the matter, spokesman Richard Mills said, We take security seriously, and as we learn of concerns about security, we look into them.

The AP account says that when it asked the Commerce secretary about this alleged breach, he said, because there is an investigation going on, I would rather not comment on that. To the extent that there is an investigation going on, those are the things being looked at; those are the questions being asked. I don’t think I should provide any speculative answers.

The Commerce spokesman said this comment was taken out of context but would not elaborate.

The FBI does not confirm or deny investigations, but a government official said the agency is not conducting one.

found here.

Comic actor Harvey Korman dies at 81

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Harvey Korman, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to The Carol Burnett Show and played a conniving politician to hilarious effect in Blazing Saddles, died Thursday. He was 81.

Korman died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said. He had undergone several major operations.

He was a brilliant comedian and a brilliant father, daughter Kate Korman said. He had a very good sense of humor in real life.

A natural second banana, Korman gained attention on The Danny Kaye Show, appearing in skits with the star. He joined the show in its second season in 1964 and continued until it was canceled in 1967. That same year he became a cast member in the first season of The Carol Burnett Show.

His most memorable film role was as the outlandish Hedley Lamarr (who was endlessly exasperated when people called him Hedy) in Mel Brooks’ 1974 Western satire, Blazing Saddles.

A world without Harvey Korman — it’s a more serious world, Brooks said Thursday. It was very dangerous for me to work with him because if our eyes met we’d crash to the floor in comic ecstasy. It was comedy heaven to make Harvey Korman laugh.

On television, Burnett and Korman developed into the perfect pair with their burlesques of classic movies such as Gone With the Wind and soap operas like As the World Turns (their version was called As the Stomach Turns).

found here.

Ex-EADS chief charged in probe

PARIS, France (AP) — French judges filed preliminary insider trading charges Friday against Noel Forgeard, a former co-chief executive of Airbus parent EADS, his lawyer said.

The investigating judges ordered Forgeard freed after two days in the custody of financial police pending the investigation, lawyer Jean-Alain Michel said.

Investigators are looking into the sale of EADS shares by top executives and shareholders before a June 2006 announcement of delays for the A380 superjumbo that made EADS shares crash 26 percent in one day.

Forgeard has denied wrongdoing.

Forgeard told judges Xaviere Simeoni and Cecile Pendaries during questioning that he had not committed insider trading and that to his knowledge neither had any other EADS executives, his lawyer said.

Preliminary charges under French law mean the investigating judges have strong reason to suspect involvement in a crime, giving them more time to investigate. Judges decide later whether or not there is enough evidence for a trial.

These charges do not mean an element of guilt, Michel said.

found here.

Ex-EADS chief charged in probe

PARIS, France (AP) — French judges filed preliminary insider trading charges Friday against Noel Forgeard, a former co-chief executive of Airbus parent EADS, his lawyer said.

The investigating judges ordered Forgeard freed after two days in the custody of financial police pending the investigation, lawyer Jean-Alain Michel said.

Investigators are looking into the sale of EADS shares by top executives and shareholders before a June 2006 announcement of delays for the A380 superjumbo that made EADS shares crash 26 percent in one day.

Forgeard has denied wrongdoing.

Forgeard told judges Xaviere Simeoni and Cecile Pendaries during questioning that he had not committed insider trading and that to his knowledge neither had any other EADS executives, his lawyer said.

Preliminary charges under French law mean the investigating judges have strong reason to suspect involvement in a crime, giving them more time to investigate. Judges decide later whether or not there is enough evidence for a trial.

These charges do not mean an element of guilt, Michel said.

found here.