The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that President Obama will nominate former Ohio Attorney General (and one-time Jeopardy champ) Richard Cordray to heat the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. An official announcement is expected Monday morning. Many had expected Harvard law professor and administration aide Elizabeth Warren would get the job, as she who spearheaded the […]
Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
What About the Budget Act?
The Honorable Michael McConnell, who not only served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit but was also assistant general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget from 1981-83, has an op-ed in the WSJ on the collective failure to comply with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control […]
UC Irvine Term in Review
The UC Irvine School of Law is hosting its first annual Supreme Court Term in Review today at 12 PDT (3 EDT). The event features UCI Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, John Eastman of Chapman University, Laurie Levenson of Loyola Law School, David Savage of the Los Angeles Times, and Slate‘s Dahila Lithwick. The panel will be moderated by Rick Hasen of UCI […]
Raise Revenues, Not Taxes
Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) proposes several ways to raise federal revenues without raising taxes tax rates, including immigration reform, and legalizing and taxing both marijuana and internet gambling. This all sounds good to me.
When One Form of Pork Is Bad for Another
In recent months ethanol subsidies have (finally) begun to seem vulnerable. Is this the result of a broader political shift? Or is this just what happens when you mess with someone’s bacon? (HT: Instapundit.)
Whatever Happened to the New Black Panthers Party Case?
At Election Law Blog, Rick Hasen revisits the New Black Panthers Party scandal that engulfed the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and became the source of largely partisan infighting on the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights. The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluded a report on the controversy back in March that largely […]
Mead on the Failing War on Drugs
Walter Russell Mead has an interesting post on the failure of the drug war, and what might come next. This passage sums up so much of what is wrong with the current approach. The Drug War, with an impact stretching far beyond the inner cities, is one of America’s worst policies. It costs billions we […]
Tribe Responds to Treasury
On Balkinization, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe responds to the Treasury Department’s suggestion that the Treasury Secretary had never suggested the executive branch could unilaterally borrow money to avoid default.
Senator Warren?
Roll Call is stoking speculation that Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, currently serving as the de facto consumer financial protection czar within the Obama Administration, could be recruited to run against Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown in 2012. Law professors don’t run for the U.S. Senate all that often — particularly not those with tenure — […]
Remembering Hoover Right
Megan McArdle reminds us that, contrary to common perceptions, President Herbert Hoover increased federal spending significantly and raised taxes on high earners. Indeed, while running for President himself, Franklin Delano Roosevelt criticized Hoover’s spendthrift ways. UPDATE: Brad Delong offers a contrary view.
Justice Breyer on Recusal
At a recent Aspen Institute conference, Justice Breyer was asked whether Justice Thomas should recuse himself if and when the health care litigation reaches the Supreme Court. The Daily Beast reported on his response: “This is a false issue,” Breyer said in response to an audience member who posed a hypothetical case loosely fitting Thomas’ […]
Gov. Johnson on the “Marriage Vow”
Former New Mexico Governor and Presidential aspirant Gary Johnson has a response to the now-infamous “Marriage Vow” signed by Michelle Bachmann (and Rick Santorum). Here’s a taste: The so-called ‘Marriage Vow” pledge that FAMiLY LEADER is asking Republican candidates for President to sign attacks minority segments of our population and attempts to prevent and eliminate […]
Treasury Responds to Tribe
The U.S. Department of the Treasury General Counsel George Madison has sent the following letter to the NYT in response to Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe’s op-ed on the debt limit. Contrary to Professor Laurence Tribe’s assertion (Op-Ed, July 8), Secretary Geithner has never argued that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows the […]
Divided D.C. Circuit Splits with Second on Alien Tort Statute
This morning a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided John Doe VIII v. Exxon Mobil Corp.. Of note, the court expressly disagreed with a recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on the application of the Alien Tort Statute to corporate conduct. Judge […]
Did Bachmann Pledge to Ban Pornography?
A Think Progress item that’s been making the blogspheric rounds proclaims that Michell Bachmann has signed a conservative religious group’s “pro-marriage” pledge that, among other things, “calls for the banning of ‘all forms’ of pornography.” That would be news (and a sure way to lose the libertarian vote). While culturally conservative politicians routinely oppose gay […]