Firmin DeBrabander— It is no surprise that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sought the endorsement of the National Rifle Association last week, though he is only a recent fan of the gun lobby’s uncompromising positions. Not long ago, Trump voiced approval for many gun safety measures. Trump is nothing
James Q. Whitman— Over the past few years there has been a growing sense of crisis in American criminal justice–a sense on both the right and the left that our punishment practices have spun out of control. The Koch brothers have been collaborating with the Obama administration in the effort
Guido Calabresi— A century and a half ago John Stuart Mill said of English philosopher and political radical Jeremy Bentham, in effect, that he approached the world as a stranger. And, if the world did not fit his theory, utilitarianism, he dismissed what the world did as nonsense. Mill then said
Anne-Marie Cusac— Reentering society is difficult for many prisoners. But twenty-year-old Jazmine Smith has gained something during her prison sentence that many inmates don’t have—a high school education at a charter school. The Georgia prison system’s first high school class of fifteen graduated in July. Smith acknowledged the challenge that
Happy Constitution Day! In Why the Constitution Matters, Harvard Law professor Mark Tushnet poses a seemingly simple question and provides us with a thoroughly unexpected answer, forcing us to question our understanding of the Constitution. He broadens our understanding of the Constitution and shows us how this document structures our
It is commonly believed that the first corporations were English and Dutch trading corporations from the 1600s. But Germain Sicard, in an overlooked 1952 thesis, argued that the first corporations arose much earlier, in mills from the 1300s in Toulouse, France. His landmark research brings these mills to life and
Joseph William Singer— Should we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour? Those who say yes seek wages sufficient to sustain workers; those who say no argue that this will increase business costs, leading to layoffs of the very people we are trying to help. Would an increase help
Joshua Reid— This last March, the National Marine Fisheries Service invited public input on a recently released draft environmental impact statement that evaluates the Makah Nation’s request to resume hunting gray whales off the coast of Washington State. Most of the feedback on the government website that is collecting this
Stephen Eric Bronner— An old friend once told me that being a decent person means having a guilty conscience. And there was enough to feel guilty about as 2015 unfolded. Ethical uncertainty over how a liberal society should deal with the intolerant has become strikingly evident following the murders of four French
Michael Coogan— In 2001, Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, installed a massive monument featuring the Ten Commandments in the courthouse rotunda. When ordered by a federal judge to have it taken away because it violated the establishment clause of the U. S. Constitution, Moore refused, and