Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin has a September 17, 2012 article in The Atlantic magazine, titled “The Right Strikes Back: A New Legal Challenge for Obamacare”. It’s an interesting article, but I’m unpersuaded by Balkin’s defense of the legislation. As you may recall, the Constitution requires all revenue bills to originate in the House of Representatives, not the Senate. Specifically, the Origination Clause says: “All | Read More »
Expect lots of chest-thumping at the Democratic Convention about the death of Bin Laden. And Obama does deserve some credit for giving the order. But the bigger picture is that Obama never would have been able to do so if he had had his way about interrogations. Anyone who has not read the following interview with former Attorney General Mukasey needs to do so (hat | Read More »
Beth Myers is heading the VP search for Governor Romney. And she seems to have tweeted the final contenders. They are: @robportman @bobmcdonnell @CondoleezzaRice @johnthune @Gov_Martinez @RickSantorum, @KellyAyotte @timpawlenty @GovChristie @BobbyJindal @marcorubio @RepPaulRyan @NewtGingrich. Well, since my favorite, Mike Huckabee is not to be found on this list, I will have to go with Marco Rubio. Honorable, young, likable, experienced, Floridian, bilingual, smart, good communications | Read More »
Here’s an interesting Youtube video that shows carbon dioxide blocking infrared radiation: It’s a pretty nifty little experiment. Certainly, if we put too much CO2 into the atmosphere, the Earth will get much warmer. This video does not help us figure out how much is too much, but it does kind of compel us to try and answer that question.
Mike Huckabee has great communications skills, he has lots of executive experience as Governor of Arkansas, he’s very popular among the more conservative parts of the GOP, he knows a lot about the rigors of presidential campaigns, he’s smart, congenial, and could bring a lot to the ticket. He could also step in very effectively as president. One of his previous careers was as a | Read More »
Apparently it’s now a felony for a CEO to take a leave of absence while still claiming to be CEO. So says the Obama campaign. I guess Steve Jobs was a felon too, for claiming he was CEO when in fact he stopped overseeing day-to-day operations. Romney stopped running day-to-day operations at Bain Capital in 1999, leaving that job to Bain’s executive committee. That’s similar | Read More »
Having thought about this for a few days, I just want to very briefly say why I disagree with the Supreme Court’s ObamaCare decision. This is not a legal brief, so a summary in plain English will suffice, focussing on the Chief Justice since his views prevailed. Chief Justice Roberts was correct about the Commerce Clause. But I’m having a lot of difficulty accepting that | Read More »
Rupert Murdoch says this about the Romney campaign: “Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he [Romney] drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful….Of course I want him [Romney] to win, save us from socialism, etc.” Murdoch’s observation was apparently confirmed today. A Romney spokesperson said that Romney: agreed with the dissent, which was written by Justice Scalia, | Read More »
I don’t think that the Court’s decision today affects whether or not Democrats could filibuster repeal of ObamaCare. Former Senate parliamentarian Robert Dove has discussed the prospect of repealing ObamaCare through reconciliation (which is immune to filibusters): “Anything that reduces the deficit is okay…and nothing that increases the deficit is okay.” Reconciliation is judged on a provision-by-provision basis, not taking into account the legislation as | Read More »
Charles Krauthammer had a column two days ago in the Washington Post arguing that President Obama’s recent immigration edict is unlawful and a violation of his oath. I agree 100% with Dr. Krauthammer’s conclusion, if not with every one of his supporting arguments. Here I just want to describe briefly some of the specific federal statutes that the administration’s edict violates. Even if you are | Read More »
So far, Governor Romney has not said whether he would cancel Obama’s recent order offering work permits to at least 800,000 illegal aliens. Instead, Romney has said he wants a more comprehensive solution, which is fine as far as it goes. For whatever it’s worth, my advice would be as follows.
We are a nation of immigrants. That is good. But it is also President Obama’s justification for violating his oath to see that the laws are faithfully executed. That is bad.
Dear Senator Simpson: I think the last time I wrote to a sitting or former US Senator was maybe ten years ago. And I have no idea if you’ll actually receive or read this. I have long admired much about you. Your bluntness and common sense are bright spots on a bleak political landscape. Your search for sensible compromise on debt and deficits would put | Read More »
This essay is about several inter-related things: nuclear power, the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, global warming, Earth’s climate, and a carbon tax. It’s a complex subject, and many at Redstate will disagree with my conclusions. Those conclusions are tentative, so please provide comments that could change my mind. I could have chosen a different title for this blog post, like “Uranium is Better than | Read More »
I am outraged. Single people have been discriminated against and shunted aside for too long. We can be good parents. We pay taxes. We are good citizens. So why can’t each of us be married — to ourself? Why does the state coerce us to shack up with another adult? If a single person wishes to have sex only with himself or herself, that natural | Read More »
An article of mine has just been accepted for publication by the Seton Hall Law Review, and I thought it worth mentioning here. The full text is available for free at SSRN, and here is the abstract: The Republican Party’s national platform of 1860 is useful for interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which was written just six years later by a Republican-controlled | Read More »
Columnist George Will recently said: “If Jeb Bush is to be Romney’s running mate, it would mean that in seven of nine presidential elections there would be a Bush on the Republican ticket…. And it gets hard to argue that we’re not a tribal society at that point.” I don’t know who Romney ought to pick, but it seems messed up to rule out someone | Read More »
Wikipedia has the top search results for an incredible number of topics. Its goal is not to make money, but it has something close to (or analogous to) a monopoly on the valuable service that it provides. So it’s interesting to consider how that organization is governed. And make no mistake, Wikipedia is not some “just the facts ma’am” encyclopedia. Rather, for many controversial subjects, | Read More »
Here’s my prediction for where the Iran situation is going. Israel has a more limited ability to strike, and so the United States can wait longer. On this basis, the U.S. will persuade Israel to wait, and the U.S. will then be the only force that could stop Iran from getting the bomb. The U.S. will say that all options are on the table, and | Read More »
In the recent GOP primary campaign in South Carolina, Sarah Palin urged people to vote for Newt Gingrich in that particular primary, in order to keep the overall primary battle competitive. I now offer my not-much-sought-after endorsement to Romney for the Florida primary, for the same reason. If Romney loses Florida, his campaign would collapse. If he wins, it’s still competitive. I am not 100% | Read More »
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