U.C.-Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu’s nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals was killed a couple years ago by Senate Republicans upon the pretext that Lui had trashed Alito to the Senate Judiciary Committee in testimony during Alito’s confirmation hearing. Lui predicted that Alito as a justice would be exactly what Alito as a […]
Now the shoe is on the other foot, and it is time for the court to strike down a federal statute in order to advance a liberal policy goal rather than a conservative policy goal. Justice Scalia’s paean to the democratic process* in his dissent sounds a little hollow, coming in the wake of his votes to […]
Guest post by Edward Lambert as taken from his Blog Effective Demand Yes, the economy is a concern. There are problems to sort out. The problems run deep. What is the solution? The solution to the problems of the economy will be found through “Social Efficiency” and raising the social standards that have been declining […]
Let me just say, I’m no lawyer and what follows is not legal scholarship. Of all the reading and listening I have done regarding the spying by our government via electronic data collection and storage, I have found nothing that specifically gets at the issue for me as to why it’s not a good thing. […]
OH. WOW. I actually called this exactly right in my post yesterday—this being, well, this. [Inadvertently-omitted link to court opinion inserted. H/T Dan Crawford.] Specifically: Roberts’ 5-4 opinion today in Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder, the Voting Rights Act case that I discussed, and predicted the outcome of, in that post yesterday. Regular AB readers […]
Real wages decline by Kenneth Thomas Speaking of inequality by Kenneth Thomas Wage stickiness coming unglued. And an op ed by David Cay Johnston this last week: Breaking news alert! Wages fell at the fastest rate ever recorded during the first quarter of this year, the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Hourly wages fell 3.8 […]
Maggie Mahar at Health Beat Blog Obamacare – Fear – Mongers Poison Minds; Hatred Blinds” writes about the confusion about, the anger at, and the mischaracterization of the PPACA by every day people, medical workers, and politicians. Having myself presented the facts to rebut assumptions and fallacies, I find her comments interesting and on the […]
A longer-than-planned post on today’s Supreme Court opinion on state-college-admissions affirmative action programs. (I’m up in Michigan’s Thumb region, sans cable and regular web service, and using my phone as a Wi Fi hotspot via the PdaNet app. I can attest that PdaNet is awesome.) Here it is: The headline on Politico reads, “SCOTUS passes […]
Earlier I noted the research of Peter Muennig, Zohn Rosen and Elizabeth Ty Wilde which proves (at all standard confidence intervals) that welfare reform killed people. I was alarmed that almost nobody but the must read Bill Gardner noticed this research. Now Dylan Matthews has a long excellent post on the research and other evidence that anti […]
To add to the fire Jazz and Steve have kindled, YOY inflation is at its lowest level historically according to the BEA and Next New Deal blog. It does not look like we need austerity policies and a little fiscal fire might put people back to work and stir the economy into growth. “Last Friday, […]