The Fake Filibuster: A Clear and Present Danger to Democracy
Judging by much of the debate over the Senate filibuster rule, you’d think it was some honorable tradition worth keeping — “an elegant weapon of a more civilized age,” as Obi-Wan Kenobi described the lightsaber to Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars. Not so. The filibuster is a dangerous relic with a deeply destructive [...]
The UK government announced Wednesday that it is seeking to reform the Mental Health Act 1983 in order to give patients more control over their treatment. The reforms are based on an independent review carried out in 2017, which looked at the rising number of people being detained under the Mental Health Act as well [...]
US Senate Democrats introduce 'College Athletes Bill of Rights'
A group of US Senate Democrats introduced legislation Thursday that would establish a federal commission to supervise college athletics and to grant student-athletes extensive compensation rights, including profit-sharing. The College Athletes Bill of Rights, spearheaded by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), aims to set up a federal commission consisting of nine members [...]
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), the former astronaut and rising political star, was sworn in December 2, marking the end of an astonishingly long period (two years plus three months) during which the people of Arizona were deprived of their constitutional right to elect one of their two U.S. senators. It is an outrage that it [...]
On November 25, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an emergency opinion in the case of Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, v. Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York (Application No. 20A87) ostensibly to protect the freedom of religion. The 5 to 4 decision appealing denials of a stay from [...]
The United States has just completed a historically divisive election. As I write, the winner of the presidential election is not yet definitively known, though it seems highly likely that Democratic candidate Joe Biden will ultimately prevail when all the votes are counted. Whatever the outcome, many millions of people will be deeply distressed at [...]
Protests on anniversary of Attica uprising demand reform to solitary confinement
Advocates for prison reform commemorated the Sunday, September 13 anniversary of the Attica prison uprising with protests in New York City and Albany, calling for improved treatment of incarcerated people. Forty-nine years ago, inmates at Attica Correctional Facility in New York, who described the conditions of their confinement as little short of torture, led an [...]
That’s not a chip on my shoulder. That’s your foot on my neck. – Malcolm X On May 25, a Minneapolis police officer tortured George Floyd to death in what his brother, Philonise Floyd, called “a modern-day lynching in broad daylight.” Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in all 50 states and [...]
The Supreme Court's DACA Decision Keeps Dreamers Safe...For Now
The Supreme Court today issued a decision that the Trump administration’s rescission of DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was unlawful because it failed to explain adequately why it ended DACA. In an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court determined that the DACA rescission was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure [...]
Improving Community Safety Means Addressing Police Violence as a Public Health Problem
The image of Derek Chauvin’s knee on George Floyd’s neck as the dying man cried, “I can’t breathe,” is now etched in the consciousness of an entire generation. The repugnant violence committed by Chauvin and the other complicit officers – and by too many police before them – breeds severe community distrust of law enforcement [...]
