Randy Barnett and Sam Bagenstos are debating Raich and the commerce clause. I blog-- at dubous length-- here.

The Nobel Prize website now says that the literature award will be announced on Thursday, October 13, "1:00 p.m. at the earliest." People had been wondering about the delay in setting a date, with many assuming that it was the result of an uncommonly difficult decision on who the laureate should be; perhaps an argument over a particular candidate. Today Reuters reports,

A member of the Swedish Academy, the body which awards the Nobel literature prize, said on Tuesday he was resigning in protest at last year's selection of Austrian Elfriede Jelinek.

The resignation of Knut Ahnlund, a member of the academy since 1983, comes only days before the announcement of the winner of the 2005 prize, expected some time this week.

Ahnlund said in a signed article in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet that last year's surprise selection of Jelinek for the prize had "caused irreparable harm to the value of the award for the foreseeable future", calling Jelinek's work "parasitic" and without "a trace of artistic structure".

"The 2004 Nobel prize has not only caused irreparable damage to all progressive forces, it has (also) confused the general view of literature as art," Ahnlund said. "After this I cannot even formally remain in the Swedish Academy."

And just because this is Crescat, I note that the L.A. Times picks on UChicago for "having the most expansive method of counting Nobel laureates."

Wayne Booth, Chicago literary troublemaker has died, RIP. A year and some months ago Professor Booth gave a lecture about why he loved Jane Austen. I blogged it here.