‘Tis true, Jeff Sessions is a serious downer, a buzz killer for the ages. As long feared, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is revoking an Obama-era directive–the so-called ‘Cole memo’–that restrained enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized it. But things are not going to be so easy for this dastardly ve-haf-ways-to-make-you-stop-smoking Sessions brigade;Continue reading “States To Feds On Weed Policy: Cash Me Outside How Bow Dah?”
Tag Archives: federalism
Mass Incarceration And The ‘Overfederalization’ Of Crime
America’s mass incarceration is the bastard child of many. Among them: racism, the War on Drugs (itself a racist business), the evisceration of the Constitution through ideological interpretive strategies, prosecutorial misconduct, police brutality, and so on. Yet other culprits may be found elsewhere, in other precincts of the legal and political infrastructure of the nation.Continue reading “Mass Incarceration And The ‘Overfederalization’ Of Crime”
Richard Epstein’s Overdetermined Critique of the Roberts Ruling
Richard Epstein offers an interesting critique–based on the alleged inseparability of the power to regulate commerce and the power to tax–of John Roberts’ ruling in the ACA case. If it’s not an activity the government can regulate, then it’s not something the government can tax either. Thus, Justice Roberts should have struck down the individualContinue reading “Richard Epstein’s Overdetermined Critique of the Roberts Ruling”
Justice Roberts is Playing a Long Game
Time now to tabulate the damage done by yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling in National Federation of Independent Business et al. vs Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services et al. While Justice Roberts has made himself look extremely distinguished, statesmanlike, non-partisan, and touchingly concerned about his place in posterity, an appraisal that I’m sure he was soakingContinue reading “Justice Roberts is Playing a Long Game”