Jeffrey Dubner

Just as a coalition of religious-right activists was finishing its two-day call for the impeachment of dozens of judges last Friday, a court-minded conference of a decidedly different tone was beginning in New Haven, Connecticut. Where one gathering seemed to signal an ending — the culmination of an increasingly provocative conservative attack on the independent […]

Yesterday’s Associated Press headline “Gonzales Promises Non-Torture Policy” was a devastating sign of just how far our country’s integrity has slipped — yet it was also a bit reassuring. In reaction to an attack killing thousands of Americans, and al-Qaeda’s stated desire to kill four million Americans, the government allowed itself a little leeway and […]

When conservatives denounce “activist judges,” they usually have the socially liberal decisions of some lower courts in mind. But the real judicial activists, according to Thomas Keck, a political science professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, are the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. TAP‘s Jeffrey Dubner recently talked […]

“Abysmal.” “Unrealistic.” “Unwise.” Liberals and Democrats who utter these words are derided as “Bush haters.” But when such epithets come from Republicans, including some of the most important conservative figures of the last few decades, a different insult is often appropriate: “hypocrites.” On issue after issue, conservatives have watched this president betray their hopes and, […]

As the Bush-Cheney campaign looks to define John Kerry’s partnership with John Edwards as yet another flip flop, it hopes that a historical echo will go unheard. “When John Kerry’s first choice for a running mate turned him down, he turned to the polls,” today’s Bush-Cheney press release reads. “John Kerry’s selection of John Edwards […]

Among the many shocking details of the Abu Ghraib debacle is the Taguba report’s estimation that more than 60 percent of the detainees were civilians “of no intelligence value,” many of whom were nevertheless denied release. It is not yet known how many of the prisoners subjected to the outrageous abuses and tortures now coming […]

Joseph Califano Jr. was once just “a kid from Brooklyn,” as he puts it. Eventually, though, he came to play such a crucial role in enacting Lyndon Johnson’s social programs that The New York Times Magazine called him “Deputy President for Domestic Affairs.” He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Johnson, and Jimmy Carter. Between […]

Two Christmases ago, the then-10-year-old United Veterans of America (UVA) shelter in Northampton, Massachusetts, was denied nearly $500,000 in funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Had the shelter not exhausted its cash reserves and made cuts to staff and services, it would have had to turn 60 veterans out of their beds by the […]

On March 24, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a subcommittee hearing on the impact of guest-worker proposals on the economy. Among the topics to be discussed is the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2003 (AgJobs), which includes a legalization plan for immigrant farmworkers. Maria Echaveste is at the front lines of […]