Adam Serwer

Michele Bachmann signed a really tone-deaf pledge from a conservative religious organization in Iowa that declares that: Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born […]

I discuss the Jewish vote, race-bending, and Michele Bachmann with Dave Weigel: A couple of things: I do think that some Jews are put off by some religious Republicans’ devotion to Israel, but I think it probably has less to do with superficial cultural differences than I suggested and more to do with a sense […]

Rick Hasen notes that a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act that was recently dismissed for lack of standing has been reinstated by the D.C. Circuit, meaning that we could see another challenge to the VRA at the Supreme Court very soon. The challenge involves an attempt by officials in Kingston, North […]

Topher Sanders writes about a new study that confirms that skin tone can affect how harshly black women are punished for a crime: Villanova researchers studied more than 12,000 cases of African-American women imprisoned in North Carolina and found that women with lighter skin tones received more-lenient sentences and served less time than women with […]

In the midst of the bankruptcy reform debate, Senator Dick Durbin flatly stated that when it comes to Capitol Hill, the banks “frankly own the place.” They might as well have said the same thing about federal prosecutors and regulators with responsibility over the financial sector. Starting in 2005, The New York Times reports, the […]

I spoke to national security law expert Robert Chesney yesterday, who had some thoughts about the Geneva Conventions prohibiting the detention of prisoners of war at sea with relation to the Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame case. The aspect of the Geneva Conventions that does apply here is Common Article 3, no more and no less. It […]

My post at Greg‘s today argues that even as support for marriage equality is growing, those opposed are less willing to prioritize the issue: Support for same-sex marriage in New York varies depending on religion, with white Catholics being evenly divided at 48 percent opposed and 48 percent supporting. But white Catholic voters in New […]

Marc Thiessen accuses the Obama administration of having a “catch and release” policy based on Vice Admiral William McRaven‘s testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding detention at sea: The United States’ top special operations commander told Congress that because the United States has no place to hold captured terrorists we have simply been […]

Ronald Bailey responds to the evidence that calorie labeling doesn’t really affect people’s eating choices and mocks “food nannyism,” writing, “Nannies always know best and they never give up.” Reason really hates food labeling, for reasons I don’t entirely understand. It’s one thing to point out that food labeling isn’t effective, but as The Washington […]

I’m frustrated by the way Republican successes at the state level in 2010 have allowed them to pursue their long-term policy goal of making it harder for Democratic-leaning constituencies to vote, but I really think the comparisons to Jim Crow are an example of hyperbole that distracts from the issue rather than adds to it. […]