According to The Hill, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein endorsed the financial regulation reform legislation during his Senate testimony today. “I’m generally supportive,” Blankfein told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Wall Street will benefit from the bill because it will make the market safer, Blankfein said. “The biggest beneficiary of reform is Wall Street […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Is the Arizona Immigration Law Preempted?
There’s no shortage of opinions on the legality of Arizona’s strict new immigration law. Over on the NYT‘s “Room for Debate” blog, Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies argues the law “is designed to mirror federal immigration law” and thereby avoids any preemption problem. The ACLU’s Vivek Malhotra, on the other hand, argues […]
Gov. Pawlenty’s Next Court Pick
Within the next month, President Barack Obama will nominate the next associate justice of the Supreme Court. For many, the selection of federal judges is one of the most important things a President can do, and President Obama’s nomination will set off a debate over not just his nominee, but the role of the Supreme […]
Is the Health Care Mandate a Direct Tax?
Some have argued that it does not matter whether the individual mandate is a constitutional exercise of the power to regulate “commerce . . . among the several states” because the mandate — or, more properly, the penalty for failing to comply with the requirement to obtain health insurance — is within Congress’ power to […]
Sunday Song Lyric
Leonard Cohen has to be among the greatest living lyricists. His music and lyrics have inspired countless musicians and songwriters (and more than one VC post). He also seems a particularly appropriate source of Sunday Song Lyrics as so many of songs, like this week’s selection — “Tower of Song” — are about music. “Tower […]
Would the Public Support “Cap and Refund”?
I’ve never been convinced that “cap and trade” is more politically viable than a rebated carbon tax. I believe a relatively simple, transparent policy of taxing carbon but rebating the revenues to consumers is more appealing than an overly complex regulatory scheme that is difficult to understand, particularly if the latter approach will also increase […]
The SEC Split Over Goldman
The Washington Post has an interesting story on the 3-2 split on the Securities and Exchange Commission over whether to file charges against Goldman Sachs. According to the story, Republican appointees Kathleen Casey (a former Hill aide) and Washington Univeristy law professor Troy Paredes, “were skeptical that the evidence showed that Goldman had misled its […]
The Parked Mustang Test of Environmental Progress
Via Henry Payne comes this fun factoid: “the 1970 Ford Mustang pollutes more parked in a driveway than a 2010 Mustang does traveling down the road.”
The Lesson of the Lorax:
In honor of Earth Day, I thought I’d repost something I wrote in 2005 on the TV version of Dr. Seuss’ story of the Lorax. Dr. Seuss’ story of the Lorax is an environmental classic (as is the television version that I’ve just seen). The conventional interpretation is that it’s a tale of market-driven environmental […]
Schroeder Confirmed
Duke law professor Christopher Schroeder has finally been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Policy in the Department of Justice. Among other things, this position traditionally oversees judicial nominations. The vote was 72-24. Dan Farber comments here.
The Short List
Jan Crawford reports on President Obama’s short list of nine potential nominees to replace Justice John Paul Stevens.
The FDA to Target Salt
From today’s Washington Post: The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to […]
Tushnet on Lithwick’s Lament
At Balkinization, Mark Tushnet makes an important point about the relative lack of liberal icons on the short list to replace Justice Stevens: It’s early in President Obama’s term. Scalia and Bork were nominated well into President Reagan’s second term, and both were in position to be nominated because Reagan had put them both on […]
Sunday Song Lyric
Michael Weintraub and Tyler Cohen wonder what are the best songs about technology. Weintrabu focuses on songs “whose lyrics deal explicitly with technological innovations and their cultural effects,” and suggests Paul Simon’s “Boy in the Bubble.” It’s a good choice. Paul Simon is a great songwriter, and “Boy in Bubble” was a popular song. Here’s […]
More on Lithwick’s Lament
Like David, I was also struck by Dahlia Lithwick’s latest column — and not just for the paragraph David highlights. Frankly, I initially thought it was some sort of parody piece, as it is so divorced from the history of judicial nomination fights — including fights about which she has written. How does one write […]