Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

Trump says he’s using tariffs to re-shore manufacturing from other countries. Setting aside the fact that it takes years to build and operationalize a manufacturing plant, why would anyone bother when he flip-flops every week? This has nothing to do with jobs in America. This is pure market manipulation for speculators. “Donald Trump has announced […]

Libertarianism on drugs

Libertarianism is the political philosophy of middle school boys and arrested development. This is well-illustrated by the bleat that people should just “do your own research.” Look, I made an entire career out of research and was well-compensated for my judgement. But I certainly wouldn’t trust my judgement on which drugs are safe and effective […]

Born in the United States and Citizenship

Briefly: A person born in the United States cannot be denied citizenship:  Some anti-immigrant political groups have tried to restrict birthright citizenship. For example, in 2016, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that American Samoans are nationals but not citizens at birth.  Birthright Citizenship in the United States The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees […]

Trump owned by Bush judge

U.S. District Judge John Bates, appointed by G.W. Bush, awarded summary judgment to Jenner & Block, finding President Trump’s executive order against it unlawful, null and void: “This case arises from one of a series of executive orders targeting law firms that, in one way or another, did not bow to the current presidential administration’s […]

The Humpty-Dumpty SCOTUS

In Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass,” Humpty-Dumpty says, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” Ever since Marbury v Madison, the Supreme Court has used similar logic with the Constitution. Now the Roberts SCOTUS has used this superpower to discover that the Constitution […]

SCOTUS killed the civil service

In its decision in Trump et al. v Wilcox et al., the six right-wing extremists on the Roberts SCOTUS stripped independent federal agencies of their independence. In principle, the next president could restore independence to these agencies, but from now on, such decisions are tenuous at best: “With unitary executive theory, Congress cannot write robust […]

Department of Justice Indicting a Judge

Attorney Joyce Vance discusses what is interesting about this piece other than being correct. The Department of Justice is attempting to indict a judge. Judge Dugan “is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts. The case cited which protects a judge is Trump v. United States, the case where the Supreme Court gave Trump immunity […]

Does Trump Get To Decide Who Is An American?

– by Joyce Vance @ Civil Discourse The stakes are high, even though the Supreme Court won’t be deciding, at least not yet, whether Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship is constitutional. Tomorrow (written on May 14), the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the Birthright Citizenship Case, Trump v. Casa, Inc. We’re here because Donald […]

“it would grant citizenship to the children of those who “owe [the U.S.] no allegiance”

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the Birthright Citizenship Case, Trump v. Casa, Inc. May 15, 2025. Some history and argument . . . The arguments are not new. The willingness of an Administration to act on them are Jonathan H. Adler During the first Trump Administration, some of the President’s supporters urged him to […]