Scott Lemieux

Good article about Iraq from McClatchy: A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.Simultaneously, in the strategic southern port city of Basra, where […]

The first question about the D.C. gun case is, how will they rule? Reporters who observed the oral argument yesterday seem nearly certain that 1) a majority of the Court will find some individual right to gun ownership in the Second Amendment, and 2) the D.C. gun ban will be struck down. All observers also […]

Yesterday’s Times article about the inequities of civil unions is indeed important reading. In many contexts, obtaining civil unions is an improvement on the status quo, but it’s also important that civil unions haven’t produced marriage-in-all-but-name but in practice seem to fall short of equality. For state courts considering the question, such inequities seem relevant […]

I have to admit that the fact that Charles Murray thinks that Obama‘s speech was brilliant makes me wonder if I’m missing something. But like Kate, I think he’s right on the merits. –Scott Lemieux

Jeffrey Rosen‘s article about the pro-business court — the Chamber of Commerce’s “litigation center filed briefs in 15 cases and its side won in 13 of them” — is very much worth reading. It’s worth being reminded, again, that although court watchers tend to divide the Court into symmetrical groups of “liberals” and “conservatives” there’s […]

I have no idea if the public babe-in-the-woods routine of Jim McGreevy’s wife was, in fact, false. But the story Dana links to below does remind me that I’m always a little puzzled by confident assertions (I don’t mean to single out that particular post, just using it as an illustration) about how families will […]

Matt links to without fully endorsing Kerry Howley‘s feminist-libertarian argument for legalizing prostitution. I’m inclined to agree with her bottom line, but I do find the argument in this form a little problematic. The key is this line: “Even decriminalization, which treats Johns as outlaws and sex workers as victims, assumes that all sex workers […]

I can certainly understand the temptation some Democrats might feel to argue that Spitzer‘s hiring of prostitutes being a personal issue. I would make two points: If I were in charge of writing laws, I do not believe that anyone belongs in jail for procuring or (certainly) selling sex for money, or that any criminal […]

Like Dana, I don’t really agree with Yglesias and Marshall that the resignation of Samantha Power was a political mistake. Of course, on the merits the idea that what Power said should be a firing offense is silly, but when it comes to the politics that’s beside the point. Not distancing himself from Power’s comments […]

Just in time to remind us that the Washington Post isn’t the only major newspaper to proudly feature brain-dead sexism on an ongoing basis, Marueen Dowd asserts today that “[s]ome women in their 30s, 40s and early-50s who favor Barack Obama have a phrase to describe what they don’t like about Hillary Clinton: Shoulder-pad feminism.” […]