DISPUTATIONS: Learning From Prop. 8 (Part Three)
In a major setback for gay marriage advocates, California voters passed Proposition 8 last Tuesday. And since then, TNR's managing editor Richard Just and TNR's legal affairs editor Jeffrey Rosen have been debating the appropriate lessons to draw from the defeat. Read Rosen's opening argument here and Just's first reply here. Dear Richard, READ MORE >>
DISPUTATIONS: Learning From Prop. 8
In a major setback for gay marriage advocates, California voters passed Proposition 8 on Tuesday. Over the next couple of days, TNR's managing editor Richard Just and TNR's legal affairs editor Jeffrey Rosen will be debating the appropriate lessons to draw from the defeat. Rosen kicks things off below. (Click here for Richard Just's response.) Dear Richard, READ MORE >>
McJustice
During every presidential campaign for the last two decades, liberals have predicted an apocalypse in the Supreme Court. In their dire visions, as many as four justices are always about to retire, meaning that a Republican victory would turn the court radically to the right and lead to the certain overturning of Roe v. Wade. READ MORE >>
Constitutional Biden
The Obama-Biden slate is historic in many ways, but for law professors it has a special cachet: It's the first time that professors of constitutional law have occupied both slots on a ticket. Barack Obama was a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, and Joe Biden has been an adjunct professor at Widener University School of Law since 1991. More to the point, it's the most civil-libertarian ticket ever fielded by a major U.S. political party. READ MORE >>
The TNR Q&A: Jane Mayer
Microsoft Word - Memo on Senator John McCain 408.doc Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } READ MORE >>
Narrow Minded
In 2006, at the end of his first term on the Supreme Court, John Roberts told me and other journalists that his goal as chief justice would be to promote unanimity and collegiality by encouraging his fellow justices to converge around narrow decisions with few dissents. During his first term, Roberts succeeded impressively: More than half of the Court's opinions were unanimous, and only 13 percent were decided by a 5-4 vote.The polarized Supreme Court term that ended last June, however, READ MORE >>
Narrow Minded
In 2006, at the end of his first term on the Supreme Court, John Roberts told me and other journalists that his goal as chief justice would be to promote unanimity and collegiality by encouraging his fellow justices to converge around narrow decisions with few dissents. During his first term, Roberts succeeded impressively: More than half of the Court's opinions were unanimous, and only 13 percent were decided by a 5-4 vote. READ MORE >>
Narrow Minded
Note: This article was updated on June 26 to take account of the Supreme Court decisions that came down after it was originally published. The original version appears here. READ MORE >>
Justice Delayed
The California Supreme Court's expansive decision last week to legalize gay marriage has presented its opponents with an unfortunate opportunity. If the legal merits of the decision had been clear, the court's boldness could have been justified as a triumph of shining principle over pragmatic politics. Unfortunately, the legal merits are extremely murky, giving ammunition to those who are mobilizing to overturn the decision by initiative this fall. In addition, the California decision may READ MORE >>
