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Nullification and Obamacare: rejection of the rule of law
The idea of nullification – essentially, states telling the federal government that state law outranks federal law – is both seductive and persistent. As philosophically desirable as this may be, 200 years of settled law says this is a dead constitutional theory.
November 2012 / 6 min.
Facebook’s core problem: customers vs. users
Facebook’s massive growth came because they gave users what they wanted: connect with your friends, see what their doing, conveniently share with them, and so on – and do it for free. But now they’re publicly traded, and satisfying users has become secondary to profit growth.
October 2012 / 3 min.
Do we need God to understand the Constitution?
While it’s the foundation of our political system, many Americans really don’t understand the Constitution. While many of those who try to help do contribute useful understandings, sometimes their approaches neglect the historical and textual complexity of the document – and are potentially misleading.
September 2012 / 4 min.
Warrantless wiretaps and the Fourth Amendment: why would a court allow a violation of the Constitution?
In Appeals Court OKs Warrantless Wiretapping, David Kravets summarizes a recent 9th Circuit decision regarding wiretaps by the federal government. How is this possible?
August 2012 / 3 min.
History and its purpose: the case of the government and the Internet
The purpose of history is to provide a mildly depressing, reality-based narrative that helps guide future decisions.
July 2012 / 6 min.
Abortion and constitutional underdetermination
Abortion is a complex and controversial topic. As such, I won’t try to deal with it fully here (nor will I be arguing for or against the legality abortion). I will, however, point out a few issues regarding the subject in Michael J. Nellet’s “How The Left Redefined The Term ‘Rights.’”
July 2012 / 3 min.
Limits of interpretation: critiquing a lay reading of the 14th Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States remains arguably one of the most controversial, complex, and challenging pieces of Constitutional text.
July 2012 / 3 min.
Critiquing a lay reading of the Constitution’s “freedom of religion” clauses
In this second part of my series on typical problems in lay readings of the Constitution, I will focus on the question of the freedom of religion in Michael J. Nellet’s “How The Left Redefined The Term ‘Rights.’”
July 2012 / 4 min.
Critiquing constitutional readings: introduction and underdetermination
There are many challenges when lay people “read” the U.S. Constitution. To illustrate some of these challenges, I think it’s useful and instructive to critique a specific analysis of the Constitution.
July 2012 / 3 min.
The shifting critics of experts and expert agencies
During the 1960s, left-leaning critics in the United States began to attack expert agencies they had once supported.
July 2012 / 3 min.