Author Archive | Todd Zywicki

From the Washington Times today: A 70 percent majority Seventy percent of Americans would have no objection to posting the Ten Commandments in government buildings, and 85 percent would approve if the Commandments are included as “one document among many historical documents” when displayed in public buildings, according to a survey conducted for the First […]

Great column by Robert Samuelson today captures the continuing debate over Kyoto and greenhouse gas emissions: Almost a decade ago I suggested that global warming would become a “gushing” source of political hypocrisy. So it has. Politicians and scientists constantly warn of the grim outlook, and the subject is on the agenda of the upcoming […]

More generally, both the New York Times and Washington Post editorials are very taken with (one might even say that they “adored“) Breyer’s comment that ordering the removal of the Texas monument could “create the very kind of religiously based divisiveness that the Establishment Clause seeks to avoid,” suggesting that both Editorials believe that the […]

And for those running a mental regression on the New York Times Hypothesis, its not clear how to code this outcome: The Supreme Court reached opposite results yesterday in a pair of cases involving the Ten Commandments, upholding a display of the commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, while striking down displays in […]

From today’s New York Times Editorial: With the religious right clamoring for more religious iconography in public spaces, it is understandable that the court might have shied away from a dramatic ruling that would have heightened what is already a strong antagonism toward the judiciary among some conservative groups. Ceding some ground on Ten Commandments […]

There has been much criticism lately about so-called “exotic mortgages” that are creating a “housing bubble” ((expressed by David, among others). Although often lumped together, the two are distinct. And I’m not sure I see what the problem is here. I want to focus on the supposed harm of exotic mortgages, especially interest-only mortgages (which […]

Fascinating story by James Tooley describing the research he and Pauline Dixon are doing on the growth of private schools for the poorest of the poor in the developing world. The research, and the efforts it describes, are among the most fascinating and important efforts to improve the plight of the poor around the world: […]

For what its worth, some frank predictions I have heard as to why Rehnquist won’t retire: “He has been there long enough to know that when you leave the Court you shrivel up and die. He has seen what happened to Blackmun, Marshall, etc. If he leaves, he’ll be dead in six months. Without the […]

Interesting profile in the NY Times on several new conservative filmmakers, including Evan Coyne Maloney’s expose of campus speech codes in “Brainwashing 101.”

Freeport moves to seize 3 properties: Court’s decision empowers the city to acquire the site for a new marina: FREEPORT – With Thursday’s Supreme Court decision, Freeport officials instructed attorneys to begin preparing legal documents to seize three pieces of waterfront property along the Old Brazos River from two seafood companies for construction of an […]

BBC America has an on-line poll to vote for the greatest episodes of all-time of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Cast your vote here. The winners will be run as “Viewers Choice Weekend” July 2-4. Which reminds me, I once asked a British pal of mine over here whether he would be celebrating the Fourth of […]

Every Friday for the past several years, the Business Section of the Washington Times prints a chart of prevailing consumer banking rates for consumer financial products. During that time, average credit card interest rates have consistently been lower than interest rates on consumer “personal loans” by one or two interest rates (i.e., traditional unsecured consumer […]

The American Bankruptcy Institute has posted video on its website of the “Great Debates” from the Spring Meeting held a few weeks back. I participated in the first debate, “Plain Meaning Must Control Judicial Interpretation,” debating with Reginald W. Jackson, of Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLP, in Columbus, Ohio. I argued the pro-textualist position, […]

Awhile back, around the time of Lawrence and Grutter in particular, the hypothesis was floated–mainly in jest, I assume–that the best predictor of Surpreme Court outcomes in many socially and politically controversial cases was the conventional wisdom of America’s political and legal elite. And that this consensus could be captured in an operative variable as […]

Pittsburgh’s Mayor Tom Murphy comments on Kelo: But [Murphy] said eminent domain was a key tool in convincing the Pittsburgh Wool Co. to make way for an expansion of H.J. Heinz Co. facilities, a move that he said, kept Heinz here and paved the way for Del Monte Foods Co.’s purchase of the facilities. “There […]