Articles Posted in Politics

Cornell University law professor Joseph Margulies laments the discourse currently surrounding the presidential candidates, particularly Donald Trump, and argues that we should be more focused on the candidates’ answers to important questions about inequality, the criminal justice system, climate change, and global insecurity.

Former counsel to the president John W. Dean discusses Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and the authoritarian leader personality type. Dean argues that while Trump may be the early leader in the polls, he will ultimately not win presidency of the United States.

Law professor and dean designate of the University of Illinois College of Law Vikram David Amar offers a few thoughts about how much conservatives lost in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014–15 term.

Former counsel to the president John W. Dean continues his dialogue with attorney and author Jim Robenalt to discuss Robenalt’s new book, January 1973: Watergate, Roe v. Wade, Vietnam, and the Month That Changed America Forever. In this second of a two-part series of columns, Robenalt focuses on new information he discovered relating to the history Roe v. Wade decision.

Former counsel to the president John Dean conducts a question-and-answer session with attorney and author Jim Robenalt to discuss Robenalt’s new book, January 1973: Watergate, Roe v. Wade, Vietnam, and the Month That Changed America Forever.

George Washington law professor and economist Neil Buchanan describes how the paranoid style, first ascribed to politics by Richard J. Hofstadter in 1964, fits the current state of political affairs in the United States.

George Washington law professor and economist Neil Buchanan continues his discussion of the Republican assault on the Internal Revenue Service. Buchanan describes two aspects of a report recently published by the Republican staff of the House Ways & Means Committee that show Republicans are punishing IRS employees who have nothing to do with the supposed problems at the agency. Buchanan then goes on to describe what an honest attempt to reform the IRS would look like.

Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton discusses the position of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with respect to contraception.

George Washington law professor and economist Neil Buchanan evaluates a recent report issued by the majority staff on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Buchanan argues that the report illustrates Republicans’ attempts to claim not only that the IRS’s mistakes are entirely unconnected to its shrinking budget, but also that the IRS is consciously trying to make matters worse.

George Washington law professor Neil Buchanan describes Republicans’ persistent technique of undercutting, then blaming, the IRS for the nation’s tax woes.

Former counsel to the president John W. Dean reflects on the life and achievements of American historian Stanley Kutler. Dean describes Stanley’s role in setting the public record straight with respect to Watergate and laments that the New York Times never seemed to quite understand Watergate, as evidenced by its gratuitously repeating a false charge about Stanley’s book in its obituary on him.

George Washington law professor and economist Neil Buchanan discusses the debt ceiling law and explains why it must be repealed entirely.

George Washington law professor Neil Buchanan contends that Republicans’ use of the debt ceiling against President Obama in an attempt to achieve their policy goals could backfire and lead to an increase in taxes on the rich.

Chapman University law professor Ronald Rotunda discusses the poor success rate of the current solicitor general on recent civil liberties cases that have come before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Former counsel to the president John W. Dean describes the political science research finding (and reiterating) that negative political advertising does not work.

Chapman University law professor Ronald Rotunda comments on the lawsuit brought by the U.S. House of Representatives against the Executive Branch for violating separation of powers in connection with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Former counsel to the president John W. Dean argues that it is high time for a woman—and most likely Hillary Clinton, in particular—to become our country’s next transformational president.

Cornell University visiting law professor Joseph Margulies continues his discussion of torture and its place in American politics. Margulies describes how torture gained popularity only after it became a partisan issue, and only after its supporters assembled an argument making its use seem consistent with American values.

Chapman University law professor Ronald Rotunda comments on the President’s asserted power to waive U.S. immigration laws.

Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton explains how the “religious liberty” supported by conservative Republicans is thinly veiled discrimination against the LGBTQ community and women.