Archives for March 2018

March 30, 2018|1980s, Ernest Cline, nostalgia, Ready Player One

Ready Player One: The 1980s Wasn’t All Video Games and Gaudy Pastels

Warner Brothers

A bizarre form of 1980s nostalgia has crept into our culture, and Ready Player One is the latest installment.

March 30, 2018|Federalist Society, Jack Balkin, John Bush, Originalism, Raymond Kethledge, Sixth Amendment, Turner v. United States

The Rise of the Culture of Originalism

by John O. McGinnis|3 Comments

John Bush. (Screen Grab via Bingham Greenbaum Doll).

Persuading the courts to accept originalism is a long-term project, and involves changing the culture of the legal profession.

March 29, 2018|Independent Agencies, PCAOB, Securities Exchange Commission, Separation of Powers

The Mistake of Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB

by Mike Rappaport|2 Comments

Title page of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, challenged in Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB (Ellen McKnight/Shutterstock.com)

The Supreme Court should have made members of the SEC subject to presidential removal, and this failure is the central mistake of Free Enterprise Fund.

March 29, 2018|Donald Trump, free trade, globalism, John Bolton, neoliberalism, universalism

Opening Room to Negotiate?

by Hans Eicholz|17 Comments

Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2014. (Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com)

Is it possible that President Trump is intentionally restoring politics to the conduct of American foreign policy? John Bolton may provide a clue.

March 29, 2018|Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, budgeting, Congress

Congressional Budgeting is a Matter of Will, Not Procedure

by James Wallner|7 Comments

Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com

Changing procedure won't fix our budget woes: Congress has to make hard choices.

March 29, 2018|

A New Economics — Against the Economists?

by James R. Rogers|13 Comments

Scene from World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 26, 2018 (Drop of Light/Shutterstock.com)

Although he doesn't intend it, Richard Spady offers renewed economic reasons to reject First Things' turn against free trade.

March 28, 2018|Antonin Scalia, Benisek v. Lamone, Buckley v. Valeo, Gerrymandering, Gill v. Whitford, Partisanship, Vieth v. Jubelirer

A Supreme Court Takeover of Reapportionment?

by Thomas Ascik|7 Comments

Maryland Congressional District Map, 2013 (U.S. Department of the Interior)

We should view Congressional Reapportionment as a political, not a judicial process.

March 28, 2018|Amerasia Spy Case, Chiang Kai-shek, Department of Justice, Donald Trump, FBI, General Michael Flynn, hacking of DNC computers, John Stewart Service, Vladimir Putin

The Russians: Using Us without Signing Us Up

by Lauren Weiner|6 Comments

Democrats and Republicans in Washington drove each other crazy over espionage 70 years ago. It’s deja vu all over again.

March 27, 2018|appointment, Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB, Originalism, removal, securities and exchange commission, Separation of Powers, Supreme Court

The Importance of Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB

by Mike Rappaport|2 Comments

Emblem at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC. (Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock.com)

Eight years on, the Supreme Court's revival of the president's removal power in Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB offers important lessons for originalism.

March 27, 2018|Afghanistan, grand strategy, Iraq, jus post bellum, Just War, Nadia Schadlow, occupation, US army, World War II