When Wisconsin progressive Ed Garvey succumbed to a long illness February 22 at age 76, Senator Bernie Sanders hailed him as “one of the smartest, funniest, and most decent people I have ever known.” It was a fitting tribute to the humanity of Garvey, whose passion for economic democracy and social justice had made him […]
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Posted inLaw and Justice
Supreme Court: Defendant’s Race Cannot Inform Sentencing
In October, we covered Buck v. Davis, a death penalty case that was being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. On Wednesday, February 22, the Court ruled in favor of convicted murderer and condemned prisoner Duane Buck and sent his case back to the appeals court. Procedurally, the case was a complicated mess, but it […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Another First for Trump: A Policy Arm Operating Totally in Secret
Donald Trump isn’t the first president to enjoy the support of nonprofit groups that promote his policy agenda, but he may be the first whose outside backers operate entirely in secret. When Trump allies announced last week the formation of America First Policies, a 501(c)(4) issue group that will be the president’s main outside advocacy […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
GOP Pushes to Repeal Regulations on Prepaid-Card Companies
Republican legislators have moved to repeal a rule constraining prepaid–debit card companies before the rule can take effect, marking the latest effort in their recent campaign of widespread deregulation. Seven GOP senators-led by David Perdue of Georgia-and four representatives-led by Tom Graves, also of Georgia-filed identical resolutions in the Senate and House of Representatives last […]
Posted inLaw and Justice
A Price Confirmation Would Continue Obstruction of Gun Violence Research
The prospects for reinvigorating gun violence research could become even more remote. Federal funding for studies into gun violence and gun-related deaths has effectively been frozen for the last two decades, a worrying trend that looks to continue under a Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, especially if the Senate confirms Representative Tom Price, President […]
Posted inEducation in America
DeVos Finally Gets Hearing — Before the Same Senators She Helped Elect
Campaign-finance questions will loom large over the Senate’s Tuesday confirmation hearing for billionaire and education lobbyist Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary. Having initially postponed the hearing, senators now face a mounting list of questions about DeVos. The latest is why she failed to disclose a $125,000 political donation, something the Trump transition […]
Posted inLaw and Justice
House Democrats Have a Plan to Go After Trump’s Conflicts
On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump held a long-awaited press conference to address how he will deal with the potential conflicts of interest posed by his massive business empire. For weeks, ethics watchdogs have called on the president-elect to fully divest from his business operations and place them in a blind trust. Trump ignored those demands, […]
Posted inEducation in America
New Jersey Public School Employees Sue Over Alleged Political Retalitation
It’s no secret that school board politics can create bitter enemies, but rarely do such battles end in actual employee firings. But nine New Jersey public school employees are claiming that a school board feud cost them their jobs, and they’ve recently filed a provocative federal lawsuit, each seeking $100,000 in damages. The former employees […]
Posted inLaw and Justice
Jeff Sessions Is Public Enemy Number One for Voting-Rights Groups
Common Cause, a nonpartisan political advocacy and watchdog group, rarely wades into political nomination battles. In its nearly half-century of existence, the group has come out in staunch opposition to just a handful of nominees it found extraordinarily hostile to its core mission. Now it will oppose the confirmation of Trump’s expected nominee for attorney […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
An Alternative to Puzder
Fast-food CEO Andy Puzder, Donald Trump’s pick for labor secretary, is a big fan of robots-and not so much of humans. In an interview with Business Insider last March, Puzder had this to say about our robotic little friends: “They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, […]
