Commentary
How Large Retailers Can Be Neighborly
Authored by: Annette Bernhardt and Nik Theodore
– 07/25/06
Wiretapping Unbound
Eighteen years ago , Justice Antonin Scalia assumed the prophet’s cloak and forecast threats to the Constitution’s core balance of powers. A threat, Justice Scalia explained, sometimes comes “in sheep’s clothing: the potential of the asserted principle to effect important change in the equilibrium of power is not immediately evident, and must be discerned by a careful and perceptive analysis. But this wolf comes as a wolf.” Today, another wolf scratches at the door: And it is a beast that has already inflicted heavy damage on the Constitution.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 07/24/06
Hamdan v. Rumsfield: Guidepost or Relic?
When the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, striking down the Bush Administration’s military tribunals, former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger III pronounced it “simply the most important decision on presidential power and the rule of law ever. Ever.”
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 07/14/06
What Geneva Means to Hamdan
The Supreme Court’s ruling last week in Hamdan that military commissions erected at Guantánamo are inconsistent with our military law and the Geneva Conventions has already prompted fierce-and flawed-debate. One key question, especially relevant in next week’s Judiciary Committee hearings on Hamdan, is whether and how the Geneva Conventions apply to military commissions. The many factually and legally incorrect assertions clogging the air make it worth stepping back to understand what Geneva does, and why it matters for our success against the terrorist threat.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 07/07/06
Hamdan: Not Over Yet
The rule of law is a fragile, tenuous thing. It depends on the willingness of judges to stand fast to core principles. It needs legislators to eschew feverish panic and cheap partisan gain, especially in times of crisis. And it demands that officials of the executive branch respect the will of the people, embodied in laws enacted each day on Capitol Hill. We’ve not been doing this so well recently, as the president repeatedly indicates his willingness to cast aside law and Congress stands aside heedlessly. But yesterday, the Supreme Court put the other two branches to shame when it confirmed that “the executive is bound to comply with the rule of law that prevails in this jurisdiction.” Now it’s up to the other two branches to follow its wise lead.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 06/30/06
Re-Redrawing the Lines
This op-ed in surveys the landscape after the Supreme Court’s decision in LULAC v. Perry.
Authored by: Justin Levitt and Lisa Sandoval
– 06/29/06
The Guantanamo Peril
Death is typically a moment of truth. But the occasion of three suicides at the Guantánamo Bay-where almost 500 men and boys have been held without trial for up to four years now-have only proved how poorly the Administration grasps the facts of today’s terrorism challenge. And it only showed how deeply ineffectual and counterproductive U.S. counter-terrorism policy becomes when based on flawed assumptions.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 06/19/06
Missouri Bill Goes a Long Way—in the Wrong Direction
A bill to repeal contribution limits in Missouri would be a step backwards for campaign finance reform.
Authored by: Richard Reuben and Seema Shah
– 06/01/06
Constitution Kerfuffle
Politics makes strange bedfellows. Last week saw an almost unheard of scrambling of allegiances after the FBI searched the congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. While the Constitution’s Separation of Powers figured prominently in news of the executive branch decisions to bypass laws against torture and domestic spying, this seemed a wholly unexpected front for the White House’s push for executive power.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 05/31/06