Politics & Law

Michael Dear Building connections (not more walls) along the U.S.-Mexico border

As the immigration debate heats up in Washington, D.C., and around the country, various interest groups are lining up to make sure they get what they want from reform, whether it’s more fences, protections for American workers, visas for qualified high-tech workers, or increased immigration quotas for specific nations.

One important … More >

Robert Reich The triumph of progressivism: Graduation 2013 and 1968

Many of you soon-to-be college graduates are determined to make the world a better place. Some of you are choosing careers in public service or joining nonprofits or volunteering in your communities.

But many of you are cynical about politics. You see the system as inherently corrupt. You doubt real progress … More >

Jonathan Simon Lessons from the ‘sordid decades’: Miscarriages of justice in NY’s ‘War on Crime’ in the ’80s and ’90s

Any reader of the paper of record will be impressed with the series of impressive features dealing with various aspects of county level justice in the five boroughs that make up New York City.  While not all of them have cast their gaze backwards (for instance the superb recent series on delay … More >

Dan Farber The Roberts Court’s corporate romance

Forty years ago, before going on the Supreme Court, Lewis Powell wrote a call to arms for business interests, calling on them to counter “enemies of the free enterprise system” like Ralph Nader.  Among other things, he recommended a concerted campaign to influence the courts.  The campaign seems to have … More >

Jonathan Simon Living it up at the Hotel California: For Jerry Brown and California’s political leadership, it’s always 1977

Watching California politics these days I can’t help feeling that I’m lost in the late 1970s, when I first moved to the Golden State (in August of ’77 with the Eagle’s hit released that March still riding high on the charts).

It’s not just that Jerry Brown is still governor. It’s … More >

Jonathan Simon ‘Mass incarceration now, tomorrow, forever’: Gov. Jerry Brown and the politics of court bashing

Just about two years ago, in May 2011, the US Supreme Court in Brown v. Plata 131 S.Ct. 1910 (2011) upheld what Justice Scalia called the “most radical court injunction in our nation’s history.”  The injunction imposed by a special 3-Judge federal court in August 2009, required California to reduce its prison … More >

Claude Fischer Immigration and political clout

Two hot-button social issues seem to be moving to some sort of political resolution rather quickly. Their stories tell us something about the nature of attitudes Americans hold on such topics and also about the nature of American politics.

One issue is gay marriage. It appears that, whether de jure or … More >

Gérard Roland Resume the six-party talks on Korea

The six-party talks need to resume immediately and without conditions.

The escalating tension in the Korean peninsula has raised the fear of war in North East Asia.

The bellicose rhetoric on the North Korean side, Kim Jong Un’s “authorization” to the North Korean army of a preemptive nuclear strike on U.S. territory … More >

Michael Dear U.S. Senators visit U.S.-Mexico border: Guess what they saw

Four U.S. Senators came to visit the Arizona border. Hosted by John McCain, Republican of Arizona, they were members of the so-called ‘Gang of 8’ — a bipartisan group currently drafting proposals for comprehensive immigration reform.

During their visit, the senators reportedly witnessed a migrant trying to scale the border wall … More >

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