Last week, several members of the newly formed Youth for Western Civilization invited Tom Tancredo to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to speak against permitting undocumented immigrants to enter state community colleges on the same basis as other North Carolina high school graduates. Former Congressman Tancredo was invited because of his well-known nativist views […]
Daniel H. Pollitt
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It’s time to bring out the 100-ton gun
James Bryce, in his landmark commentary The American Commonwealth, wrote that impeachment “is like a one-hundred ton gun which needs complex machinery to bring it into position, an enormous charge of powder to fire it; and a large mark to aim at.” Like a 100-ton gun, impeachment is seldom used but remains a bedrock of […]
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Veto Alito!
Does the “cruel and unusual” clause of the Eighth Amendment preclude a state from executing a mentally retarded person for premeditated and willful murder? Suppose the culprit was in his teens (under 18) at the time of the murder. Can Congress, under authority to regulate commerce (narcotics), outlaw California’s use of marijuana to ease the […]
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An execution based on withheld evidence and an incompetent lawyer
In the early morning hours of June 3, 1990, Steven Van McHone, then 19 years old, shot and killed his mother, Mildred Adams, with a revolver after a backyard argument. He entered the house and was confronted by his stepfather, Wesley Adams, who wrestled the gun away. McHone then went into a bedroom and returned […]
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Roberts picked after ruling for Bush
Lost in the discussion about John Roberts are the ethical standards governing federal judges. The image we treasure of the law is a blindfolded goddess; unknowing, uncaring of who sits on the opposite ends of her scales of justice. This image is reinforced by the Federal Code (judges must disqualify themselves if they are “related […]
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Roberts’ record is abysmal, and it’s worth the fight to defeat him
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French visitor to America in the 19th century, made many sage observations about what he saw. Pertinent here are his comments comparing the president, the Congress and the Supreme Court. He wrote that: “The President may err without causing great mischief. Congress may decide amiss without destroying the Union. But if […]
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The Senate filibuster, a history
The immediate danger is past–a stand-down on the so-called “nuclear option” began when the gang of 14 (seven members from each party headed by Republican Sen. John McCain) reached an agreement Monday night. The Republicans agreed to keep the Senate filibuster rule intact, and the Democrats agreed not to join the filibuster effort. Their votes […]