CHENEY IS BUSH. As part of a good recent article about the many atrocities of Dick Cheney, Hendrik Hetrzberg tells an amusing anecdote: Cheney, Gellman and Becker report, drew up and vetted a list of five appellate judges from which Bush drew his Supreme Court appointments. After naming John Roberts to the Court and then […]
Scott Lemieux
Scott Lemieux is a political science professor at the University of Washington. He writes for the blog Lawyers, Guns & Money. Follow @lemieuxlgm
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THE GREEN LANTERN THEORY OF DOMESTIC POLITICS.
THE GREEN LANTERN THEORY OF DOMESTIC POLITICS. To follow up on Ezra‘s point about Megan McArdle‘s claim that impeachment proceedings would mean “not having any achievements to show the electorate next year,” it’s always striking to me the extent to which even many smart, politically aware people don’t fully absorb the implications of the Madisonian […]
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THE UNCONNECTED.
THE UNCONNECTED. With respect to the disgraceful Libby commutation, Laura of 11D provides some interesting data about how likely a petitioner not connected with the Bush administration is to get a pardon or commutation by historical standards. On an individual level, a recent Supreme Court case provides another example. In Rita v. U.S., the Supreme […]
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ON PARDONS.
ON PARDONS. Thers makes a comparison. As I’ve mentioned before, I actually think that the narrow issue of not granting a pardon to Karla Faye Tucker (as opposed to his conduct afterward and his general attitude towards the death penalty) constitutes one of the few times that Bush has acted with any integrity. The pro-death […]
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EARL WARREN IS DEAD.
EARL WARREN IS DEAD. Responding to the disastrous first full term of the Roberts Court, Edward Lazarus (not to be confused with our own Simon Lazarus) makes a very good point: The Warren Court was a historical anomaly. In American history, courts have generally tended to be conservative, and have often not been effective protectors […]
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“FAUX RESTRAINT.”
“FAUX RESTRAINT.” Since I have an article critical of Antonin Scalia‘s flagrantly unprincipled affirmative action jurisprudence today, I should note that Scalia deserves credit for taking Roberts to task for his disingenuous “I’m not overturning the precedent, I’m just refusing to ever apply it” hair-splitting. (As a friend noted in email, with Alito it seems […]
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THE ALITO COURT.
THE ALITO COURT. Emily Bazelon has an amusing article asking liberal and moderate legal scholars who claimed that Roberts would not preside over a rightward shift on the Court on the basis of… well, frankly I have no idea, if they have second thoughts. (Of course he said he valued stability and precedent at his […]
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LIBERTARIANS: STILL A TINY CONSTITUENCY.
LIBERTARIANS: STILL A TINY CONSTITUENCY. There are a couple implications for the data showing that “small government” conservatives are a small and shrinking minority while social conservatives remain the real core. First, if for some reason you still thought Giuliani was a serious candidate for the Republican nomination, this should disabuse you. Second, this should […]
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Scalia and Thomas: Originalist Sinners
How Thursday’s ruling on school integration gives the lie to the two justices’ supposedly devout “originalism.”
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INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE SCHOOL INTEGRATION CASES:
INITIAL THOUGHTS ON THE SCHOOL INTEGRATION CASES: Some initial observations based on a first reading of the Court’s opinion striking down voluntary school integration programs in Louisville and Seattle: Nothing in the text of the Constitution compels these programs to be struck down. Essentially, Roberts‘s plurality opinion rests on the assertion that racial classifications intended […]
