Cupbert Schools the Professor

I don't have much for today - the weekend was way too nice to keep up on the blog. But I will point out that the comments section of the Air Amerikkka post has a back and forth between Professor Vic and Cupbert that is highly entertaining. There ought to be a phrase analagous to "get a room" for people who go back and forth for days in the comments section. I think Cupbert gets the best of him, as Professor Vic had serious points subtracted for trying to compare journalists to mathematicians. Still, I think they should settle their differences like men (assuming Cupbert is a man - apologies if I am wrong there), and meet for a rap-off - I'll be the volunteer DJ.

Or, they could meet in the Idaho portion of Yellowstone, because what happens in the Idaho portion of Yellowstone stays in the Idaho portion of Yellowstone. This is from the "Best of the Web" at Opinion Journal:

Blogger Orin Kerr calls our attention to a law review article by Brian Kalt, who points out that U.S. law provides a way to get away with murder (or any other crime): Do it in the Idaho portion of Yellowstone National Park.

This is possible, according to Kalt, because of an oddity in the federal courts' jurisdiction: Yellowstone is under federal jurisdiction, which means state law does not apply. An 1894 law defines the federal District of Wyoming as including the whole park, including the portions in Idaho and Montana, which means that any crime committed within the park would be tried in federal district court in Wyoming.

But here's the rub: The Sixth Amendment stipulates that a jury in a federal trial must be "of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." That means that if you commit a crime in the Idaho portion of Yellowstone, the jury must consist of people who live in both Idaho and the Wyoming District, which is to say, the Idaho portion of Yellowstone, whose population is zero. Thus if you insist on a jury trial, which is your constitutional right, the government will be unable to try you. (The Montana portion of the park has an adult population of 41, making it at least theoretically possible to assemble a jury for a crime committed there.)