In a narrow 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court found today unconstitutional Chicago, Illinois', 28-year-old strict ban on handgun ownership.
In his dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that he believes that this will change gun control laws in many states. I suspect Maryland may be on this list. You can expect a lot of Maryland gun control laws to come under attack in the future.
The New York Times has an interesting piece about grade inflation. Apparently, some schools are going back and increasing the GPA of all of its students in an effort to make them more competitive.
As an anonymous commenter alludes to on Overlawyered, this is not an awful idea at top tier schools. But at law schools that are not in the top tier, students do need to separate themselves by doing particularly well or potential employers have no reason to take a chance students cannot be distinguished by GPA.
Grade inflation in and of itself is of no consequence. These days, half of the graduating class of a high school has a GPA better than 4.0. The key is class rank. As long as lines are cut well enough to allow law firms to figure out who the top tier students are at average law schools, grade inflation is not really a big deal.
IKEA has issued a recall of 3 million more window blinds after a child was nearly strangled to death. IKEA has previously issued a recall for approximately 1 million blinds. This recall includes all Roman and roll-up blinds sold at IKEA from 1998 through June 2009.
The problem with window blinds is that children are choking on the blinds themselves when they are in reach. Certainly, it is quite hard to imagine how kids do this - it takes a series of "if then" actions on the part of the child. But there are a lot of kids in this country and a lot of window blinds which mathematically leads to outcomes that were unexpected.
The ultimate solution to this problem - automatic window blinds - are cost prohibitive for the average consumer.
The Washington Post has a interesting portrait of Elena Kagan.
It is an interesting angle on her story. But on some of these in depth biographies, you can't help but wonder if the interesting angle is one that was uncovered or whether it is a conclusion that was met with facts. Anyway, if you suspend disbelief and accept it at face value, it is a very interesting look at the woman who I think is a virtual lock to be our next Supreme Court justice.
According to Washingtonian, the average medical malpractice award in Maryland is $319,977, which is approximately $35,000 more than the national average. The average medical liability premium for specialists is $100,625, compared with the national average of $65,489. Not noted: just how much the average specialist makes in a year. (Hint: it is a lot.)
The article does not define award. I assume it means the settlement or verdict.
