The Aporia · Open Thread

Eugene Volokh

154 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction

🔮 Body armor may be used more today than Defendants' understanding of its use in 1791.

2026-10-21 · assertive framing · Body Armor Ban Struck Down by N.Y. Federal Court

🔮 Readers might want to know: How often do civilians use guns to help stop shooters who pose ongoing threats to multiple people?

2026-10-19 · assertive framing · Civilians Using Guns to Defend Against Multiple Shootings

🔮 The reality is that our en banc court is often unable or unwilling to fix things at odds with Supreme Court precedent.

2026-10-18 · assertive framing · "The Supreme Court Should Not Have to Keep Trimming the Same Poison Ivy One Tiny Branch at a Time"

🔮 Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent From a press release last month, just posted on Westlaw: N.C. Detective Agency, a Durham-based security company, will pay $65,231 in compensatory damages and back pay, and take other corrective actions to voluntarily resolve a religious discrimination investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

2026-10-17 · assertive framing · $65K Settlements with EEOC Over Failure to Accommodate Muslim and Christian Employees' Religious Days Off

🔮 During a discussion in 2016 concerning whether Sabatini would endorse Knouse's application for an upcoming fellowship at Whitehead, Sabatini expressed concern that Knouse took herself too seriously and asked Knouse whether she ever had "fun," "fuck[ed] around," or had sex.

2026-10-17 · assertive framing · $6M Verdict in #TheyLied Defamation Lawsuit Brought Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

🔮 Some colorful lawyer wisdom (see, e.g., Dunn v. U.S.(5th Cir. 1962)); I found versions of this in newspapers going back to 1931, though it may have been a familiar phrase even then.

2026-10-16 · speculative framing · "If You Throw a Skunk into the Jury Box, You Can't Instruct the Jury Not to Smell It"

🔮 The dictionary definition of "refuse" cited by Nunes includes this meaning: "to show or express an unwillingness to do or comply with."

2026-10-16 · assertive framing · Devin Nunes Loses Libel Suit Based on Rachel Maddow Show Statements

🔮 [Under Pennsylvania precedent,] [A] court may prohibit a parent from advocating religious beliefs, which, if acted upon, would constitute a crime.

2026-10-16 · mixed framing · Anticipated Religious Clashes Can't Justify Current Restriction on Parents' Religious Upbringing of Child

🔮 Even in First Amendment cases, where the facial-challenge bar is lower than it otherwise might be, the plaintiff [in a facial challenge] must show that "a substantial number of [the law's] applications are unconstitutional, judged in relation to the statute's plainly legitimate sweep."

2026-10-15 · assertive framing · Eleventh Circuit Rejects Netchoice's Challenge to Georgia Law Restricting Under-16-Year-Old Social Media Access

🔮 Officers who violate the law may be criminally prosecuted by the State.

2026-10-15 · assertive framing · California Law Generally Requiring Federal Law Enforcement Officers to Display ID Violates Supremacy Clause

Also by Eugene Volokh

Body Armor Ban Struck Down by N.Y. Federal Court

2026-10-21 · Reason