The Supreme Court’s announcement today that it will review the constitutionality of ObamaCare ensures that the health care law will be one of the biggest issues in next year’s presidential and Congressional elections. Federalism – including the Tenth Amendment and Congress’ enumerated powers – will also be a prominent election issue because the Court’s decision will have even larger implications than the fate of ObamaCare. | Read More »
In light of last night’s Politico story about allegations against Herman Cain, it is important to clarify the legal meaning of the term “sexual harassment.” Specifically, Politico reports allegations that Herman Cain made an “an unwanted sexual advance” and engaged in “innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature.” Politico suggests that this amounts to sexual harassment, using the term at least six times. | Read More »
In Politico’s Arena, I tell the following story about Barack Obama. My goal is to get people thinking about whether moral outrage over Rick Perry’s tenuous connection to the “N*****head” rock is politically motivated rather than sincere. [A] couple of basketball courts down the block from my cousin’s house in Chicago … have gained some local notoriety because people remember that, for many years, Obama | Read More »
On last night’s PBS NewsHour, I discussed the politics of confirming President Obama’s judicial nominees with Caroline Fredrickson, executive director of the liberal American Constitution Society. A transcript of the interview and streaming video are available on the NewsHour web site. Here are some excerpts: CURT LEVEY: Caroline accurately pointed out that there are 20 pending [nominees] who have gotten out of committee. But that’s | Read More »
Because a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) is the only type of budget reform capable of binding future Congresses, it is disappointing that the pending debt ceiling bill does not contain the Boehner bill’s requirement that a BBA be approved by Congress and sent to the states. However, there is some good news for BBA supporters in the bill (the Budget Control Act of 2011 or | Read More »
In one of the most outrageous examples of judicial activism ever seen, a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has struck down the voter-approved Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), which bans racial and gender preferences in Michigan’s public employment, education and contracting. In today’s 2-1 decision, two Clinton appointees came to the startling conclusion that MCRI violates the U.S. | Read More »
From the diaries by Erick “Unless there’s a surprise Supreme Court vacancy this year, this is the big fight of the year,” said Curt Levey, executive director of the conservative Committee for Justice. Levey and many other conservatives argue that Liu is an extraordinary circumstance. – David Ingram, Legal Times (5/17/11) This excerpt summarizes the showdown that will occur tomorrow when Senate Democrats force a | Read More »
From the diaries by Erick A number of people have asked me whether today’s rejection of Virginia’s request for expedited Supreme Court review of its ObamaCare challenge tells us anything about how the Court will ultimately rule on the statute’s constitutionality. The answer is no. It is folly to draw any conclusions because it’s extremely unusual for the Supreme Court to grant certiorari – that | Read More »
From the diaries by Erick. The charge: Republicans are willing to shut down the government over the issue of Planned Parenthood funding. Democrats and the media are making the charge and Republicans are denying it – arguing that, instead, the disagreement centers on the total amount of budget cuts. But the GOP’s denial only feeds into the assumption that everyone seems to be buying into, | Read More »
Compare the news out of France and the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday, both involving the limits on offensive speech. In Snyder v. Phelps, the High Court ruled 8-1 that the First Amendment protects the Westboro Baptist Church from being sued for picketing the funerals of U.S. troops with signs such as “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” The Topeka church’s message is that God hates the | Read More »
President Obama’s decision today to abandon the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is both outrageous—as a matter of Justice Department policy and constitutional law—and a miscalculation that will decreases the chances of ObamaCare being implemented, while potentially increasing calls for Supreme Court Justice Kagan to recuse herself from certain gay rights cases. The President’s refusal to defend DOMA, a federal statute enacted by overwhelming margins | Read More »
From the diaries by Erick The biggest news in today’s ruling that the ObamaCare individual mandate is unconstitutional is the court’s decision to strike down the entire ObamaCare statute because the unconstitutional mandate cannot be severed – that is, separated – from the rest of the statute’s provisions. Today’s decision signals, not only that the individual mandate is unlikely to survive its now-inevitable review by | Read More »
As I listened to celebration of the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address today, I thought about the most famous line of the speech: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” The second half of that line has inspired people across the ideological spectrum to serve America, whether in the armed forces, through | Read More »
The most remarkable thing about Rick Santorum’s comparison of abortion and slavery is the mainstream media’s initial reaction treating it as a gaffe. That reaction reflects the intellectual smugness that has made “mainstream media” a bad word in much of America. The analogy between the slavery debate in the 19th century and the abortion debate in modern times is a solid one because both centered | Read More »
Claiming that Arizona gunman Jared Loughner was motivated to kill by heated political rhetoric is about as sensible as believing the Son of Sam’s assertion that he was motivated to kill by the barking of his neighbor Sam’s dog. Son of Sam and Keith Olbermann see a link – perhaps even Loughner sees a link – but consider the source. The truth is people like | Read More »
Conservative leaders, including yours truly, delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today, urging him “in the strongest possible terms not to use the ‘lame duck’ session to force votes on the confirmation of any nominees for federal office.” The letter emphasizes that many of the nominees that might be confirmed during the lame duck session “are still before the Senate precisely because | Read More »
I’m glad to see that President Obama and the rest of the Democratic leadership don’t get that Tuesday’s massive defeat was a repudiation of Democrat policies. I had thought Democrats would do some honest self-evaluation for at least a few days—as they seemed to do following Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts—before convincing themselves the message was not about them. But this time the denial was | Read More »
When it comes to the most important qualities we look for in a senator—good ideas, leadership ability, intelligence, articulateness, strong principles, a compelling vision for the future, and the like—Christine O’Donnell stood out as the better choice for Delaware voters during last night’s debate. But the MSM seems to be focusing, instead, on a somewhat less important quality where O’Donnell’s opponent, Chris Coons, might have | Read More »
Feminist attorney Gloria Allred continued her attack on California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman this afternoon: Gloria Allred just went after Meg Whitman with a vengeance waiving a letter from the Social Security Administration sent to Meg back in 2003, putting Meg and her husband on notice there was a problem with their housekeeper’s Social Security number – a sign she was here illegally. Allred is | Read More »
The conventional wisdom has been that, while Sarah Palin will be a leading contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination if she wants it, her chances in the general election would be less rosy because she is reportedly viewed unfavorably by most independents. That’s persuasive logic if you don’t think about it too much. But today’s Rasmussen poll makes me realize that the relevant question | Read More »
Criticism of President Obama’s appointment of Elizabeth Warren to oversee the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – the Dodd-Frank Act’s contribution to growing the federal bureaucracy – has focused on Obama’s end-run around the Senate confirmation process. By making Warren the White House czar for the CFPB instead of the agency’s director, Obama allows her to “effectively run the agency” (quoting the | Read More »
In an op-ed in the Daily Caller, I conclude that [B]elievers in the rule of law have several things to cheer in the Kagan confirmation battle. Republican senators mounted their strongest opposition in more than a century, sending strong signals to the White House about future Supreme Court picks, while teeing up important issues for this fall’s Senate races. The confirmation fight also saw the | Read More »
In today’s Washington Post, cartoonist Tom Toles argues that the tea party movement reveals itself to be racist by “want[ing] to go back to the Constitution as it was written,” despite the document’s acquiescence in the continuation of slavery. Toles’s cartoon is a particularly hateful variant of a misleading, but all too common, argument that tries to vilify critics of a “living Constitution” and justify | Read More »
It’s been pointed out that George Steinbrenner’s heirs saved about $500 million in estate taxes because of the timing of his death. Unlike every other year since 1916, there is no federal estate tax in 2010. In 2009, the estate tax rate was 45% and next year, without Congressional action, it will be 55%. The one-year tax-free gap is the result of Congress’s refusal in | Read More »
Yesterday, RedState’s Erick Erickson broke the story that [T]he National Rifle Association’s management team has explicitly and directly told the NRA’s board they are prohibited from testifying about second amendment issues during the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings. … [and] from coming out against Kagan in their individual capacity. Matt Lewis of Politics Daily and I added some details this morning. Matt notes that [I]t appears | Read More »
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