President Trump has been impeached again, and this evening, the single article will be delivered to the Senate, where a trial is expected to begin on February 8th. The evidence of what happened is beside the point. President Trump’s speech is on the record, and members themselves donned ventilators, crouched beneath tables, and watched as […]
Archives
-
-
Trump is Still Unfit
30 Oct 2020
In Nov. 2016, I blogged about my “Trumpotheses,” which were my own core beliefs about leadership as applied to Donald Trump’s oncoming presidency. They were: Experience Matters. Leaders with practical experience in their field perform better than those without such experience. Character Matters. Leaders with strong character (defined as truthfulness, integrity, fairness, and consistency) are […]
-
Ginsburg’s Death Eclipses a Remarkable Life
19 Sep 2020
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer. She was 87. As a law student, Ginsburg graduated first in her class at Columbia Law, but found it difficult to land a position. Her mentor told a judge friend he would no longer send students to him as clerks if he did […]
-
The Latest Temptation for Chief Justice Roberts
30 Jun 2020
The Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s law that required physicians who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. The ruling, in June Medical Services v. Russo, fits seamlessly with the Court’s 2016 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which considered a nearly identical Texas law. The story here is not the ruling, or the […]
-
Bostock May Not Be a Bombshell
16 Jun 2020
The United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County* continues a trend of victories for LGBTQ+ advocates. The Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prevents employers from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation or gender status. The decision fits comfortably with recent precedent, but it is surprising given […]
-
President Trump & the Limits of Legal Power
03 Jun 2020
President Trump has pledged to use military force if governors and mayors are unable to pacify cities across the country. As more stores, government buildings, and monuments are burned or razed, troop deployments to Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Los Angeles, or New York are still possible. President Trump has the legal power to use the armed […]
-
American Cities Break and Burn: We Need a Creed
30 May 2020
I live in a village with three stop lights, one of which blinks when school is out of session. I am a white college professor on a mostly white campus within a white religious tradition. The smoke, shattered glass, and pepper spray now etched into too many urban landscapes are alien, but so is having […]
-
Neighbor Love Matters More Than Your Rights
17 Apr 2020
Americans of all stripes and sides assert their rights. Religious Americans are no different. In some ways, this is glorious. We should be jealous of our rights. After all, we believe they are OUR rights. The Declaration claims government exists to secure those rights–not “grant” them or “recognize” them, but to secure them. Advocating for […]
-
President Trump’s impeachment and trial, like everything else with his administration, defies dispassionate analysis. The partisan trenches are deep and the tenets of objectivity bring few rewards. Social media encourages extreme opinions, and more traditional media outlets narrowcast to their ideological adherents. Academia is also a mixed bag of reliability. I can hardly claim to […]
-
Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Three days will determine the fate of the presidency. If the Trump Administration ends in disgrace, and that is a large if, these three days will mark the beginning of the end. If President Trump emerges victorious in 2020 and seizes another term in office, these were the days when the Democrats […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach