Scribbling, scribbling, scribbling on the Internet.
In reacting to President Obama's recent speech on immigration, I find myself in the same position as Ilya Shapiro; I commend the president on a truly excellent, much-needed policy change, while deploring the way in which the change is being implemented. Like Shapiro, I cannot get past the fact that previously, the president swore up …
Continue reading "Our Very Wise and Poorly Implemented New Immigration Policy"
Ilya Shapiro reports, and points out why the Supreme Court's decision to deny certiorari to petitioners in same-sex marriage cases was so important: . . . Although it’s unusual for the Court to deny review in those rare cases where all parties urge it, there’s no current “circuit split” – all appellate courts have struck down …
Read all of Emma Green's article, and note especially the following: . . . as John J. Dilulio Jr., the first director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, writes over at Brookings, "Love it or loathe it, the Hobby Lobby decision is limited in scope." It's about how the Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to this …
Continue reading "Some Sensible Commentary on the Hobby Lobby Decision"
Two blog posts on the Supreme Court's McCutcheon decision deserve mention and praise for the way in which they highlight disquieting themes in Justice Breyer's dissenting opinion. The first is this one by legendary First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who has spent a laudable lifetime working to leave the state of First Amendment jurisprudence better than …
Continue reading "More on McCutcheon: Justice Breyer’s Dangerous Ideas on Free Speech"
The Supreme Court has come down with its ruling in McCutcheon v. FEC, eliminating all limits on campaign contributions on the theory that such limits constitute an unjustifiable infringement on First Amendment-protected speech. Predictably, there is a great deal of Sturm und Drang about the Court's decision, but as a First Amendment-absolutist, I am quite …
It is found here, and the background to the case can be found here. I am glad to see that P.J. O'Rourke is finally writing amicus briefs; what took him so long to getting around to doing so? In all seriousness, as Ilya Shapiro's blog post suggests, there is an exceedingly important principle at stake …
Continue reading "The Best Supreme Court Brief in the History of Ever"
I support the policy outcomes in both of the same-sex marriage cases before the Supreme Court. I believe that the Defense of Marriage Act was bad law that treated people differently for no good reason whatsoever, and I am glad to have seen it overturned in the Court's decision in Windsor. As law professor Randy …
Probably the most sane analysis of the Supreme Court's holding that I have seen: In striking down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has restored a measure of constitutional order. Based on 40-year-old voting data that doesn’t reflect current political conditions, this provision subjected a seemingly random assortment of states and …
Continue reading "Shelby County v. Holder: Ilya Shapiro’s Take"
Pejman Yousefzadeh 