Scott Lemieux

In the course of refusing to exclude evidence obtained through an illegal no-knock search in Hudson v. Michigan, Justice Scalia claimed that the rule was obsolete: Another development over the past half-century that deters civil-rights violations is the increasing professionalism of police forces, including a new emphasis on internal police discipline. The logic of this […]

Adam is correct to note the obvious journalistic malpractice involved when Chozick 1)developed a hackish, transparently ridiculous thesis about Barack Obama‘s alleged electability problem, 2)trolled message boards looking for confirming evidence, 3)came up with almost nothing, and 4)pretended to have evidence anyway. It’s worth adding in addition that the story wouldn’t have been any more […]

Commenter low-tech cyclist notes today that in a classic advice-for-my-mortal-enemies column, Michael Gerson suggests that Obama should give Tim Kaine a pass…because he’s too protective of a woman’s right to choose. Instead, Gerson suggests Colorado governor Bill Ritter: “Picking a genuinely pro-life running mate would be a revolutionary decision by Obama — helping remove the […]

For most of the reasons cited by Dylan, liberals should be unahppy if Obama choses Tim Kaine as his running mate. Still, I can least imagine an argument on his behalf: He could win Virginia for the Dems, a major blow to McCain, and his more conservative positions are unlikely to affect the way Obama […]

To push the persuasive opposition of Matt even further, and to mildly disagree with our colleague Ezra, I have to say that libertarians are right about regulations banning further fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles. First of all, I object to the ends of the legislation, because I don’t think for the most part […]

Emily Bazelon and Hanna Rosin discuss the news value of the National Enquirer story about John Edwards‘ alleged affair. Both score some points. I guess that in a world where Maureen Dowd can win a Pulizter Prize it’s hard to dispute that under existing standards it “is news, absolutely clearly and by any definition I […]

Just in time for Ilan Goldberg’s article explaining why imperialism is not a sound strategy for dealing with Iraq, Matt is correct to note that Charles Krauthammer “wants an imperial relationship with Iraq, Bush wants an imperial relationship with Iraq, and McCain wants an imperial relationship with Iraq, but Iraqis don’t and thus Maliki prefers […]

Some eminently predictable buyer’s remorse: When President Bush tapped Michael B. Mukasey to lead the scandal-plagued Justice Department nine months ago, Senator Charles E. Schumer could not say enough good things about his fellow New Yorker. Mr. Schumer ran out of time in ticking off Mr. Mukasey’s accomplishments at his Senate hearing, and the senator’s […]

The news that John McCain doesn’t understand even basic facts about the strategy around which he’s conducting most of his campaign is obviously extremely important. First, CBS’s judicious editing demonstrates the extent to which the media is still willing to cover for Maverick McStraightTalk. But more importantly, is also reminds us that Wes Clark was […]

Sarah Wildman has an excellent piece on the consequences of Bush‘s domestic and international commitment to abstinence-only ideology. It’s worth remembering that restoring the “Global Gag Rule” was the first major action Bush took as president, underscoring the high priority the modern Republican Party puts on reactionary conceptions of gender and sexuality, with bad consequences […]