Scott Lemieux

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission . The case concerns whether paying to make Hillary: The Movie available through an on-demand cable service — which was ruled illegal by the FEC — should be constitutionally protected. Most initial reports confirm that the only real question is whether […]

This Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a major case — Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission — concerning the ability of legislatures to regulate corporate election spending. Robert Barnes‘s article about the case centers around the question of whether the Court will overrule past precedents. Given the focus on Roberts and […]

This is just a minor example of the remarkable stupidity and incoherence evident throughout Michael Steele‘s disastrous NPR interview about health care, but I was struck by this part of his futile attempt to reconcile his competing positions as Medicare opponent and Medicare supporter: The reality of it is simply this: I’m not saying I […]

There’s a lot of interesting stuff in Jon Chait‘s reply to Will Wilkinson based on a video dialogue about politics and inequality, with one point standing out to me: One liberal complaint about inequality holds that it increases the political influence of the rich, thereby locking in even more inequality. Wilkinson scoffs at this prospect, […]

Ed Kilgore notes a new Gallup poll making clear what was always overwhelmingly likely: The widely trumpeted May Gallup poll showing a significant “pro-life” majority was an outlier. When public opinion has been as stable over the long term as it’s been on abortion, that’s always the safe bet. In addition — since, as Ed […]

To follow up on Adam‘s post, one potentially important aspect of the Sotomayor confirmation vote is that it’s by far the most “no” votes that have been ever been cast in the modern era against a justice who was generally perceived as a relative moderate. (I would see the 17 cast against the Eisenhower appointee […]

I think Matt and Kevin are right that there’s no way to stop lying about the content of a proposed program, and the question is simply how to counteract the lies. The real difficulty of this problem is brought into focus by the fact that it’s Betsy McCaughey doing the lying about Obama’s health care […]

Ezra objects to my post, arguing that it might be better to reject a health bill that sells out too much to the Blue Dogs. He writes: But it’s also worth offering a more general reality check here: The public option is not now, and has not ever, been the core of the argument for […]

In light of reports that Senate Dems may strip the public option and the employer mandate from the health-care bill, Steve M. asks a good question: “Is this even worth it? Is it even worth fighting to pass a compromised, inadequate bill?” I largely agree with his take on the politics. But even if getting […]

In my quasi-defense of the judicial confirmation process yesterday, I noted a frequent argument that I’ve always found especially puzzling: A particularly strange variant of this argument fetishizes the number of “no” votes justices receive, as if it’s unacceptably “political” for Senators to disagree with the views of a formally qualified nominee. Many Republican politicians […]