I scooped everyone! ____ ADDENDUM: I would note that Ruth Bader Ginsburg will turn 83 on March 15 and that, while clearly still mentally very sharp, does not appear to be in good physical health. There’s been a lot of speculation that if the Dem nominee, very likely now Hillary Clinton, wins the general election, and […]
Alan Collinge of the Student Loan Justice Org sent me an email yesterday. Bad Stuff from Texas . . . Hey Bill! This is a scary story. They are arresting people en masse in Texas over student loan debt. I got on the Thom Hartmann show to talk about it: https://youtu.be/a1OBJGs2PeE There’s no direct tie-in […]
Bernie Sanders hates the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited sums advocating for their preferred candidate. Who doesn’t? Citizens United was a deeply misguided decision that vastly underestimated the state’s compelling interest in preventing the appearance of corruption that massive corporate electioneering inevitably creates. […]
Nicholas Kristof’s and Linda Greenhouse’s. They’re on different subjects but, in my opinion, part and parcel of the same thing. ____ ADDENDUM: Reader Sandi and I exchanged these comments in the Comments thread here this morning: Sandi February 19, 2016 9:03 am One way Kristoff didn’t mention that amasses huge fortunes is our tax laws, […]
Obama’s choice to replace Scalia, it appears from Biden’s comments this morning, will be Jane Kelly, whom Obama appointed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis, in 2013. Josh Lederman of the Associated Press reports: WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is looking to nominate a Supreme Court candidate who has […]
Scalia tried to transform the art of hypocrisy into a science. He failed.
In private practice, prior to his appointment to the appeals court, Srinivasan successfully represented former Enron Corp CEO Jeff Skilling in a Supreme Court case. The Supreme Court narrowed the reach of the so-called honest services fraud law, invalidating one theory used by prosecutors for Skilling’s conspiracy conviction and ordering further appeals court review. Despite […]
Or how about another former Washington corporate mega-law-firm partner? Like John Roberts?! Only moderate. I mean, but what if he or she is an Asian? And would be the first Asian on the Court?! Or a woman? Or, and a woman? Or what if she’s a woman whose husband is a military reservist?! Or is a black former prosecutor, no gender preferred? Or has political experience?! […]
Dan Crawford emailed me shortly after the news broke about Justice Scalia’s death, asking whether I have any random thoughts about it. Here’s what I wrote back: I posted a comment to Bill’s post on the announcement, saying that I think everyone should take a deep breath before saying much of anything. It’s absolutely huge, […]
The significance and impact on the nation and SCOTUS of his passing goes without saying. If President Obama can appoint a more liberal Justice on the Court, the balance could shift and perhaps some of the nonsense of the court’s previous rulings could be overturned. Thinking of United Citizen, etc. Of course this happening with […]