Yesterday, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2013 was awarded to three American economists: Eugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J. Shiller. According to the announcement, they received the award “for their empirical analysis of asset prices”. For more on the significance of their work, see Neil […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
Ezra Klein on the “Obamacare Disaster”
Ezra Klein concludes that the launch of the PPACA’s health insurance exchanges has been a “failure.” Not “troubled.” Not “glitchy.” A failure. But “so far” only encompasses 14 days. The hard question is whether the launch will still be floundering on day 30, and on day 45. . . . We’re now negative 14 days […]
Roberts Court Is Still a “Less Activist” Court
In today’s NYT, Adam Liptak explains why the Roberts Court is far less “activist” than its post-War predecessors, at least as measured by its willingness to strike down federal laws. “If it’s measured in terms of readiness to overturn legislation, this is one of the most activist courts in history,” Justice Ginsburg said in August […]
Interior Re-Opens National Parks with State Support
The Washington Post reports: On Saturday, the barricades at Utah’s Natural Bridges National Monument disappeared, allowing visitors to return to the tourist draw despite the government shutdown. They also came down at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, Arizona’s Grand Canyon and New York’s Statue of Liberty. . . . In an interview Friday, Utah Gov. Gary R. […]
Judge Posner’s About Face on Crawford
In an interview Friday with HuffPostLive, Judge Richard Posner said he now believes the Supreme Court was wrong to uphold Indiana’s voter identification law in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. This is particularly noteworthy because, in Crawford, the Supreme Court upheld a 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit written by […]
Public Opinion on the Court
Gallup reports that new poll results show the public remains “closely divided” about the Supreme Court. According to their most recent survey, 46 percent of Americans approve of the job the Court is doing, while 45 percent disapprove. Chief Justice John Roberts’ approval rating is somewhat higher than that of the Court. At 55 percent, […]
Immigration Reform Rally to Proceed Despite Government Shutdown
Federal agencies, including the National Park Service, have been quite insistent that all access to national parks must be shut off due to the government shutdown. As a consequence, the NPS and other land management agencies have erected barriers to prevent access to various parks, such as the WWII Memorial on the Mall. The NPS […]
ATF Refuses to Allow Agent to Publish Book on “Fast & Furious”
Special Agent John Dodson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) wants to publish a book about the the “Fast & Furious” scandal. ATF, like many federal agencies, has a policy limiting outside employment opportunities. At the very least, this policy means that Dodson needs ATF approval if he wants to get paid […]
Lane’s “Debt-Limit Do-Over”
Charles Lane argues that the nation needs a new debt limit law to reduce the likelihood of brinkmanship. while GOP factionalism and extremism caused the present predicament, they are also symptoms of a wider breakdown in national consensus that must be addressed if we are to reassure the global economy about long-term U.S. creditworthiness. Reforming […]
Selective Closures
The Federal Trade Commission is shut down. Here’s the web notice. Even those FTC functions paid for with dedicated funds (e.g. the “Do Not Call” Registry) are down. Yet the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains open, because (as reported here) it is not dependent upon Congressional appropriations.
SCOTUS Preview
It’s that time of year, so here’s a link to my annual SCOTUS term preview for NRO. Bottom line: There’s no single case that stands out, but this could be an extremely significant term.
Legal Commentary on the Baraawe Raid and the Tripoli Rendition
At Lawfare, Bobby Chesney writes on the legal issues raised by this weekend’s military raid against al-Shabaab in Baraawe, Somalia and the capture-and-rendition of a terrorist suspect in Tripoli, Libya. Meanwhile, over at Just Security, Steve Vladeck and Marty Lederman add their thoughts.
CRS on Debt Limit History
For those interested in the history of the debt limit and votes to increase the limit over the past 35 years, there are two Congressional Research Service reports that provide useful background. The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases Votes on Measures to Adjust the Statutory Debt Limit, 1978 to Present Of note, the second […]
Fast & Furious Document Trial Delayed by Shutdown
Judge Amy Jackson may have refused to dismiss the House Government Operations and Oversight’s suit for documents related to the “Fast and Furious” scandal, but she was willing to delay the case until the federal government reopens. As the WSJ law blog reports, she issued a sharply worded order announcing her decision. “There are no exigent […]
Justice Kennedy on Judicial Intervention
In remarks at the University of Pennsylvania, Justice Anthony Kennedy lamented the state of American democracy, according to this AP report. “Any society that relies on nine unelected judges to resolve the most serious issues of the day is not a functioning democracy,” Kennedy said Thursday at the University of Pennsylvania “I just don’t think […]