Category Legislative Branch
Taxation Tuesday: What Is Even Happening Here
The current tax reform plan is complicated and earth-shaking in a downstream kind of way. It’s doing a lot from a monetary perspective, but it’s not fundamentally changing the way federal taxes work. It’s a familiar reform story: the entrenched status quo turns out to be made of concrete, so the reformers have to dig […]
Taxation Tuesday: Don’t Try to Pass a Wealth Tax
Good morning; let’s talk about tax policy! One of the ways Senator Bernie Sanders has offered to finance his suggested health care plan is a wealth tax. A wealth tax does what it says on the box: taxes assets, as opposed to our current tax structure, which taxes income. This is far from the first […]
Fine, Build the Wall, If…
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday that the administration will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative begun by its predecessor. DACA provided otherwise law-abiding illegal aliens brought here by their parents some relief from the fear of deportation, along with work permits and sundry other benefits. Much of the controversy so far focused […]
The Proposed “Ad Tax” Would be Unconstitutional Under Central Hudson
[This post originally appeared here on The Hill’s Opinion Blog on August 4, 2017.] Fox News and CNN have something in common: they both rely on advertising to promote their journalistic messages and to help generate revenue needed to carry out their missions. Historically, the expenses associated with such advertising have not been subject to […]
Senator Durbin, I Am a Proud Member of the Federalist Society. Here’s Why.
Here we go, again. Today, Senator Dick Durbin expressed his befuddlement, perhaps with underlying disdain, as to why an overwhelming majority of this administration’s judicial nominations have either currently or previously been members of the Federalist Society. Our Editor-in-Chief, Joel Nolette, previously covered Senator Durbin’s fear of the Federalist Society. Senator Durbin expressed his concern in […]
The Weekly Bipartisan: Objections to DOJ Charging Policy
[Welcome to The Weekly Bipartisan, where we share instances of meaningful bipartisanship, on the Hill and elsewhere. This project seeks to shine a light on efforts to come together to find common ground and advance shared values in a political climate defined by polarization, an increasingly jaded citizenry, and vilification instead of constructive dialogue and debate. […]
The Weekly Bipartisan: Uniting Against Indefinite Detention
[Welcome to The Weekly Bipartisan, where we share instances of meaningful bipartisanship, on the Hill and elsewhere. This project seeks to shine a light on efforts to come together to find common ground and advance shared values in a political climate defined by polarization, an increasingly jaded citizenry, and vilification instead of constructive dialogue and debate. […]
Texas Bill to Protect Religious Child Welfare Service Providers
On Monday, the Texas legislature passed HB 3859, a bill affording private child welfare service providers with religious liberty protections. Like with many religious freedom issues today, supporters and opponents once again fight over the extent to which state government may offer protections for the free exercise of religion (or, as it is commonly called–”play in the […]
Judge Gorsuch on the Ninth Amendment: “I think it means what it says.”
Senator Sasse has never ceases to impress me – his impressive knowledge of law (despite not being a lawyer himself), his deep understanding and love for philosophy and political theory, or his principled resistance to partisanship are among the many reasons I hope this guy continues doing what he does. He’s done it again by […]
The Dangers of Democracy: Human Rights and Majoritarianism
Introduction Last week, on December 15, we celebrated the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. While many Americans find good reason to celebrate the first ten amendments to the Constitution, not as many pause to appreciate that it is the amendments’ anti-democratic character that makes them so effective. Democracy, after all, […]
Least Dangerous Blog 