The NYT has an op-ed by Prof Michael McConnell that is filled with errors and that critiques straw-man arguments for violating the debt ceiling. nytimes.com/2023/05/14/opi…1) Prof McConnell begins by calling Speaker McCarthy's demand for spending cuts as the price of raising the debt ceiling "the ordinary stuff of politics." That's wrong. Raising the debt ceiling to pay for past appropriations has no logical connection to future spending.
Nov 7, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
[THREAD:] Justice Alito just issued an order to county boards of elections in Pennsylvania to segregate civilian mail-in ballots that arrived by the PA Supreme Ct deadline (today) from those that arrived by election day. Bad for Biden? No! Why not? Read the rest of this thread.
Below is a link to the order. The instructions given to the county elections boards are to follow an earlier directive from the Secretary of the Commonwealth to segregate the ballots. supremecourt.gov/orders/courtor…
Feb 13, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Olivia Warren testified today about sexual harassment she experienced as a law clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt during the last year of his life. docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU…
Because I was a Reinhardt clerk and have written in praise of his work and character, I feel some obligation to comment. I am surprised and saddened to learn of what Ms. Warren endured, but I have no reason whatsoever to doubt her account.
Jan 3, 2020 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
At least one of the prominent justifications offered by the Trump Admin (via Secretary of State Pompeo) for the strike that killed Suleimani is highly dubious. Pompeo said that the strike aimed to prevent an imminent attack by Iranians on US and other targets. 1/
That's highly dubious because Suleimani was not going to participate personally in any acts of terrorism or other aggression. If Iranian attacks planned by Suleimani were already in the works, killing him makes them MORE rather than less likely to be carried out imminently. 2/
Oct 25, 2019 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Reading the reaction to Pete Buttigieg’s supposed praise for Justice Kennedy’s independence, I find myself despairing of the possibility of contextualizing anything. 1/
Buttigieg did not say -- as most of the resulting criticism appears to assume -- that he would appoint justices like Kennedy. What he said was that he's interested in exploring various alternative appointment schemes. 2/
Jun 17, 2019 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
In today’s 5-4 SCOTUS ruling that a private company administering a public access channel in NYC is not a state actor subject to the First Amendment, Justice Kavanaugh writes for the majority: “It is sometimes said that the bigger the government, the smaller the individual.” 1/
It is? Said by whom? I never heard anyone say this, and the opinion provides no citation, so I Googled it and found the Twitter feed of the Ayn Randian Atlas Society. But what is the origin of this saying? 2/
