Much of the discussion and speculation about Elena Kagan’s legal philosophy is limited by her very thin record of scholarship, along with an almost complete lack of experience in the courtroom or participation in litigation through amicus briefs prior to her appointment last year as solicitor general. So we must …
Roger Clegg and I recently reported on the lawsuit filed in the first week of April on behalf of residents of Kinston, N.C., contesting the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 5 is the supposedly temporary “emergency” measure first passed in 1965 that requires states like …
Until last Friday, I did not realize that the Obama administration is apparently using Frank Morgan’s performance as the Wizard of Oz as training material for its judicial nominees. What else can one make of Ninth Circuit nominee Goodwin Liu’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee? Liu said, in reference to his …
With the long expected retirement announcement by Justice John Paul Stevens on Friday, President Obama gets a second opportunity to shape the Supreme Court to match his very activist view of the law and the role of judges. That role, according to the President, is not to interpret the Constitution …
On Friday, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck another blow towards restoring every American’s First Amendment right to engage in political speech. In SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission, the court applied the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Citizens United to throw out another pernicious portion of …
There seems to be an almost constant effort by some members of Congress to act unconstitutionally and to push through legislation that is beyond the enumerated powers given to Congress in Article I of the Constitution. On Tuesday, I testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil …
I have been deluged lately with requests asking me whether one has to answer all of the questions on the 2010 Census, particularly those about race and ethnic background. Like Mark Krikorian, I don’t like those questions and don’t think the U.S. government should be collecting that information — its …
When President Obama held his health care summit at the White House, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) pointed out that a key part of containing medical costs was completely missing from the debate: medical malpractice legal reform. The cost of defensive medicine alone (without taking into account the direct costs of …
