Happy Saturnalia!; Judge Sykes, possible confirmation hearings, and sexual-orientation discrimination; Lawyers connected to Prenda Law, a ‘porno-trolling collective,’ indicted; Oklahoma requires health-care facilities — and restaurants — to display message about availability of adoption and prenatal care; All the way down the slippery slope at Cal State Northridge; Originalism and the electoral-college conundrum; Is America a republic or a democracy?, part 2: ‘Republic’ can include direct democratic lawmaking; Hell in a handbasket, grammar division;     Happy Saturnalia! Today is Saturnalia, an ancient Roman holiday with a long tradition here at the Volokh Conspiracy. Perhaps it’s only a tradition in so far as I have put up a post about it every December 17 for the last several years. But, by blogosphere standards, that’s a truly ancient tradition indeed. The Encyclopedia Romana has … By Ilya Somin  •  Read more » Judge Sykes, possible confirmation hearings, and sexual-orientation discrimination "Sykes could face questioning about her handling" of a case that asks "whether the ban on sex discrimination in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation." But it's pretty easy questioning to answer, no? By Eugene Volokh  •  Read more »   Lawyers connected to Prenda Law, a ‘porno-trolling collective,’ indicted The indictment alleges: "Between 2011 and 2014, defendants Paul R. Hansmeier and John L. Steele orchestrated an elaborate scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in copyright lawsuit settlements by deceiving state and federal courts throughout the country." By Eugene Volokh  •  Read more » Oklahoma requires health-care facilities — and restaurants — to display message about availability of adoption and prenatal care California requires pregnancy-related clinics to display messages related to contraception and abortion. By Eugene Volokh  •  Read more » ADVERTISEMENT   All the way down the slippery slope at Cal State Northridge Apparently no disciplinary action by the university -- but, unsurprisingly, an activist defends the shouting down of the speaker as mere "protest" against "deplorable," "objectify[ing]" speech that "add[s] hostility to [students'] campus climate." By Eugene Volokh  •  Read more » Originalism and the electoral-college conundrum If you're an originalist, you have to hope that electors will vote their consciences on Monday. By David Post  •  Read more » Is America a republic or a democracy?, part 2: ‘Republic’ can include direct democratic lawmaking Consider the most famous Republic of old, the one that gave us its name -- the Roman Republic, in which legislation was made by a vote of the people, not of their representatives. By Eugene Volokh  •  Read more »   Hell in a handbasket, grammar division "They" is plural -- and it should stay that way. By David Post  •  Read more »   The perils of partisan bias How partisan bias damages our political system. By Ilya Somin  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Fact Checker Count the pinocchios. A weekly review of what's true, false or in-between. Sign Up »         Share The Volokh Conspiracy:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for updates from The Volokh Conspiracy blog. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2016 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071