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

At least as of yesterday morning, the Democratic establishment still didn’t get it. Then again, as of late yesterday, neither did the Republican establishment. And neither did Donald Trump. [UPDATED]

CHUCK SCHUMER’S TOUGH BALANCING ACT: CNN reports on an interesting dynamic to keep an eye on: “For Schumer, the challenges will be formidable. He’ll have to listen to the vocal and outspoken progressive wing of his caucus, led by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have legions of supporters. But he also has […]

Linda Greenhouse On the Intense Aggressiveness of Conservative Legal Movement Justices and Judges

Former longtime NYT Supreme Court correspond, current biweekly Times columnist, and habitual woman-after-my-own-heart Linda Greenhouse, has a column today titled “Let’s Legislate From the Supreme Court Bench” about how very fond movement conservatives became a while ago of legislation from the bench. She makes the point that legislation from the bench is an absolutely essential […]

The Fab Four (f.k.a. the Fab Five) Supreme Court Justices’ Last Grasp and Last Gasp

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear appeals from former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI Director Robert Mueller and other former federal officials seeking to shut down lawsuits filed by Muslim and Arab men who were detained in the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks. The justices said they will review […]

Dealing the Woman’s Card—Clinton’s. And Mine. And Dealing the Man’s Card—Bernie Sanders’s. And Donald Trump’s.

There are limits to the analogy between Clinton’s 2008 primary contest with Obama and Sanders’s primary contest now with her.  Clinton doesn’t get that.  But she needs to figure it out because the differences matter. — There are limits to the analogy between Clinton’s 2008 primary contest with Obama and Sanders’s primary contest now with […]

How I answered a survey from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee about the Merrick Garland nomination

I received an email this morning from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, boldprogressives.org, asking that I complete a survey on the Garland nomination.  The email began with this question: What do you think about Merrick Garland and the Supreme Court vacancy now?  It continued: The president nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy on the […]

Conservative Legal Movement Week at the Supreme Court

This is Conservative Legal Movement Week at the Supreme Court.  (Okay, even more so than most weeks.)  Things really get going tomorrow, when the court will hear argument in two legislative-redistricting cases at the behest of (surprise!) Conservative Legal Movement voters represented by Conservative Legal Movement lawyers whose names on a petition for review (a […]

Enumerating the Silliness of the Wingers’ ‘Enumerated Powers’ Schtik

Reader Tony Wikrent posted the following comment this morning to my Sept. 20 post titled “Freedom!  Liberty!  And Being For the Little Guy.  As Brought to You By the Conservative Movement.”: Actually, it turns out that if you are against big government, you ARE against all government. I’m surprised that conservatives who spout the “enumerated […]

Conservative-Legal-Movement Law Is Really Just a Kaleidoscope

After taking a nearly-month-long hiatus from blogging here about legal issues, and blogging only very lightly about other things, I posted this controversial post last Friday and participated in a lengthy comments thread.  The final comment of mine, in reference to some of the preceding comments of others and of mine, reads: A final point on this […]