https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/31/us-child-labor-laws-state-bills/
Sunday, March 31, 2024
From the NYT: From Pizzagate to the 2020 Election: Forcing Liars to Pay or Apologize
Can misinformation be dealt with through the courts?
- Click here for the article.
Michael J. Gottlieb can never remember the exact amount — it’s $148,169,000— that a jury ordered Rudolph W. Giuliani to pay the Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. But Ms. Freeman’s words after the December 2023 victory are indelible to him.
“We are more than conquerors.”
Less than a decade ago, the two women would have struggled to find a lawyer. But Mr. Gottlieb, a partner at the firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher and a former associate counsel in the Obama White House, represented them for free. Convinced that viral lies threaten public discourse and democracy, he is at the forefront of a small but growing cadre of lawyers deploying defamation, one of the oldest areas of the law, as a weapon against a tide of political disinformation.
Mr. Gottlieb has also represented the owner of the Washington pizzeria targeted by “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorists as well as the brother of Seth Rich, a young Democratic National Committee staff member whose 2016 murder ignited bogus theories implicating his family. In the Giuliani case, Mr. Gottlieb, his law partner Meryl Governski and other members of his team worked with Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan group that pushes for laws and policies to counter what it sees as authoritarian threats.
The Washington Post: Half of senior staffers in Congress are so fed up that they may quit
Not great news. Staffers know how things work. This may help explain dysfunction in he institution.
- Click here for the article.
When it comes to job satisfaction, members of Congress aren’t the only ones considering calling it quits.
Given those assessments by the people who live and breathe these issues, this particularly glum finding should not come as a surprise: Almost half of senior congressional aides are considering leaving the Hill because of “heated rhetoric from the other party.”
These are just some of the findings from an investigation by the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to improve both lawmaker effectiveness and constituent engagement. Situated seven blocks away from the Capitol in Eastern Market, the foundation conducts seminars for staff and offers research to outside groups trying to figure out the byzantine ways of the House and Senate.
Over the past seven years, the foundation has conducted three very deep dives into the lives of senior staff in Congress, understanding that these unelected officials wield tremendous clout and that their positive outlook — or lack thereof — can deeply affect the health of the institution.
The introduction to the latest “State of the Congress” report begins with a bleak three-word summation of things:
“Congress is broken.”
- Click here for the report.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
From the Texas Tribune: In El Paso, apathy, alienation and discontent with candidates drives low voter turnout
For our look at low voter turnout in Texas.
- Click here for the article.
On the sunny morning of Texas’ March primaries, Jorge Trujillo, 73, a retired packing factory salesperson, stood outside a senior center here canvassing for Homer Reza, a Democratic candidate for the Texas House.
“I think people have given up on politics,” Trujillo said, standing in the parking lot with his wife, Sylvia. “Seeing all this division, they simply don’t care anymore.”
The situation was stark, but not particularly surprising. This West Texas border town — with more than 677,000 residents, most of them Mexican American — is in a low voter-turnout county in a low voter-turnout state.
The county had 502,700 registered voters in the 2024 primaries, but only about 11% cast a ballot. That’s more than 7% lower than the last presidential primaries in 2020, and good for the second worst turnout rate in the state. In 2022 general midterm elections, 34% of El Paso’s registered voters cast a ballot, about 10% less than in the 2018 general midterms.
Statewide voter turnout for the 2024 primaries was 18%, lower than it was for the 2020 primaries. That’s typically low; Texas consistently ranks among the bottom 10 states in turnout.
While some political observers once again say the future of democracy is on the line in the 2024 presidential election, there appears to be voter fatigue — or apathy — in El Paso and elsewhere around the state.
On primary election day, The Texas Tribune spoke to voters and non-voters across various demographics and backgrounds in El Paso about why they were voting — or why they weren’t.
Among the reasons people gave: a general lack of knowledge about how to register, dissatisfaction with the two leading candidates for president and a lack of excitement for local candidates. Others said that state officials and presidential candidates are too focused on immigration, an issue they said that doesn’t directly affect them, even though they live on the border.
Some also expressed a feeling that has persisted for years in this border town nearly 600 miles from the state capital: El Paso is an afterthought for state officials in Austin.
Friday, March 29, 2024
What is a Strong Mayor?
Houston has one, but few other cities do.
- Wikipedia: Mayor–council government.
A mayor–council government is a system of local government in which a mayor who is directly elected by the voters acts as chief executive, while a separately elected city council constitutes the legislative body. It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States, and is the form most frequently adopted in large cities, although the other common form, council–manager government, is the local government form of more municipalities.
- Ballotpedia: Mayor-Council Government.
Mayor-council government is one of the five major types of municipal government found in cities and towns throughout the United States. The other four are council-manager, commission, town meeting, and representative town meeting.
In a mayor-council government, the mayor and city council work together to balance and pass a budget, draft and enforce legislation, and oversee city departments and appoint departmental heads. The dynamics of how the mayor and city council work together depend on the type of mayor-council government that a city uses.
For more:
- New Houston City Council powers are shifting the dynamic of the city's 'strong mayor' system.
- COUNCIL-MANAGER OR “STRONG MAYOR”
- The Houston mayor is a ‘strong mayor’ who will soon face a new limitation.
- How much power does Houston’s mayor have at City Hall? Maybe more than you think.
From Houston Chronicle: All the major leadership changes made by Houston Mayor Whitmire as he shakes up City Hall
For our look at the executive branch on the local level. Strong mayors can select the heads of city departments.
Relevant term: Strong Mayor.
See also: Houston City Departments.
- Click here for the article.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire has begun carrying out a series of leadership changes across city departments in a step toward delivering his campaign pledge to shake up key municipal operations.
Within the first month of his term, Whitmire has appointed new heads for the Finance Department, Department of Planning and Development and the Department of Neighborhoods. The ongoing personnel revamp has led to the departure of several long standing senior officials, some sparking public outcry.
Whitmire's election marked the first time in eight years that the city's top office changed hands. Here are the major personnel announcements made by the mayor or departing city officials.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
From NPR: California judge recommends disbarment of pro-Trump attorney John Eastman
- Click here for the story.
A California judge has formally recommended that attorney John Eastman lose his law license for his role in Donald Trump's legal effort to remain in power after losing the 2020 presidential election.
"Eastman's wrongdoing constitutes exceptionally serious ethical violations warranting severe professional discipline," wrote California State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland in her decision. "Eastman made multiple patently false and misleading statements in court filings, in public remarks heard by countless Americans and to others regarding the conduct of the 2020 presidential election and Vice President Pence's authority to refuse to count or delay counting properly certified slates of electoral votes on January 6, 2021."
LII: Disbarment.
Disbarment is the most severe sanction for attorney misconduct, which involves the removal of an attorney's license to practice law. Since the court has exclusive responsibility to license lawyers, it has sole authority / discretion to remove the license; less severe sanctions like suspension, probation, and reprimand can also be used to sanction misconduct when appropriate.
State Bar of Texas: Punishment for Professional Misconduct.
Disbarment
This is the most severe discipline resulting in a complete loss of a respondent lawyer’s license to practice law. Once disbarred, the lawyer’s name is removed from the membership rolls of the Supreme Court and the lawyer is required to remit his or her law license and bar card.
After five years, a disbarred lawyer may petition a district court to be reinstated to the practice of law. The disbarred lawyer must prove that reinstatement is in the best interest of the public and the profession, as well as the ends of justice. If such an application is granted, the disbarred lawyer is not automatically granted a law license. The disbarred lawyer must still pass the Bar Exam administered by the Texas Board of Law Examiners.
During the 2011-12 Bar year, 8 disbarred lawyers filed petitions for reinstatement. Of those, 1 was dismissed by the respondent attorney, 1 was denied, and 6 remain pending.
The 2025 federal budget
- The federal budget process.
- White House: President’s Budget.
- House Budget Committee: Chairman Arrington Delivers Opening Statement at Hearing on The President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request with OMB Director Shalanda Young.
- Senate Budget Committee: The President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Proposal.
Recent hearings in the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
A list of all the hearings held in 2024 through March.
- Click here for the committee.
By click on the links below we can get an idea about what networks exist surrounding each area of policy.
- Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing - Advancing Scientific Discovery: Assessing the Status of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
- Energy Subcommittee Hearing - Bridging the Valley of Death: ARPA-E's Role in Developing Breakthrough Technologies
- Environment Subcommittee Hearing - Winning in Weather: U.S. Competitiveness in Forecasting and Modeling
- Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee Hearing - Examining the Risk: The Dangers of EV Fires for First Responders
- Full Committee Hearing - Examining Federal Science Agency Actions to Secure the U.S. Science and Technology Enterprise
- Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing - ISS and Beyond: The Present and Future of American Low-Earth Orbit Activities
- Joint Research & Technology and Energy Subcommittees Hearing - Federal Science Agencies and the Promise of AI in Driving Scientific Discoveries
- Research and Technology Subcommittee Hearing - From Risk to Resilience: Reauthorizing the Earthquake and Windstorm Hazards Reduction Programs
- Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing - Returning to the Moon: Keeping Artemis on Track
- Click here for the committee.
By click on the links below we can get an idea about what networks exist surrounding each area of policy.
- Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing - Advancing Scientific Discovery: Assessing the Status of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
- Energy Subcommittee Hearing - Bridging the Valley of Death: ARPA-E's Role in Developing Breakthrough Technologies
- Environment Subcommittee Hearing - Winning in Weather: U.S. Competitiveness in Forecasting and Modeling
- Investigations & Oversight Subcommittee Hearing - Examining the Risk: The Dangers of EV Fires for First Responders
- Full Committee Hearing - Examining Federal Science Agency Actions to Secure the U.S. Science and Technology Enterprise
- Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing - ISS and Beyond: The Present and Future of American Low-Earth Orbit Activities
- Joint Research & Technology and Energy Subcommittees Hearing - Federal Science Agencies and the Promise of AI in Driving Scientific Discoveries
- Research and Technology Subcommittee Hearing - From Risk to Resilience: Reauthorizing the Earthquake and Windstorm Hazards Reduction Programs
- Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing - Returning to the Moon: Keeping Artemis on Track
From NASA: 20 Breakthroughs from 20 Years of Science aboard the International Space Station
Here is their list:
- Fundamental disease research
- Discovery of steadily burning cool flames
- Drug development using protein crystals
- Methods to combat muscle atrophy and bone loss
- Exploring the fifth state of matter
- Understanding how our bodies change in microgravity
- Testing tissue chips in space
- Stimulating the low-Earth orbit economy
- Growing food in microgravity
- Deployment of CubeSats from station
- Monitoring our planet from a unique perspective
- Collecting data on more than 100 billion cosmic particles
- A better understanding of pulsars and black holes
- Student access to an orbiting laboratory
- Capability to identify unknown microbes in space
- Opening up the field of colloid research
- The evolution of fluid physics research
- 3D printing in microgravity
- Responding to natural disasters
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Argued before the U.S. Supreme Court: Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine
- Click here for ScotusBlog.
Issues:
(1) Whether respondents have Article III standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s 2016 and 2021 actions with respect to mifepristone’s approved conditions of use;
(2) whether the FDA’s 2016 and 2021 actions were arbitrary and capricious; and
(3) whether the district court properly granted preliminary relief.
- Oyez.
- Wikipedia.
- What is the FDA?
- What is the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine?
From the U.S. House of Representatives: Committees No Longer Standing
The following Committees from the 117th Congress are no longer standing. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will provide a website archive for these Committee websites in the Spring of 2023. Until those official archives are public, the links below provide access to the official documents of the committees no longer standing and access to known archival copies of the sites maintained by other House offices.
Visit GovInfo for published documents of Committees no longer standing prior to the 117th Congress.
Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
- View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis website
Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth
View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity website
Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
- View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress website
Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
- View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the January 6th Select Committee website
View the NARA archive of the January 6th Select Committee Report
- Congressman Bennie Thompson, the former Chair of the Select Committee, maintains an archival copy of content from the January 6th Select Committee website as part of his Congressional Member office website.
Visit GovInfo for published documents of Committees no longer standing prior to the 117th Congress.
Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
- View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis website
Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth
View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity website
Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
- View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress website
Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
- View official Committee reports,
- printed hearing records,
- and other publications of the Select Committee at GovInfo.gov
View the NARA archive of the January 6th Select Committee website
View the NARA archive of the January 6th Select Committee Report
- Congressman Bennie Thompson, the former Chair of the Select Committee, maintains an archival copy of content from the January 6th Select Committee website as part of his Congressional Member office website.
From the Washington Post: Baltimore Key Bridge collapses; search ongoing for 6 missing
The bridge is part of the federal interstate highway system, which means that the national government will handle cleanup and repairs.
We've been looking at the executive agencies set in motion after the collapse.
- Click here for the article.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Word of the Day: Statecraft
From Merriam-Webster: the art of conducting state affairs.
Cambridge: the skill of governing a country.
From the State Department: 21st Century Statecraft.
Cambridge: the skill of governing a country.
From the State Department: 21st Century Statecraft.
From the Washington Post: Appeals court again blocks Texas from arresting and deporting migrants
Checks and balances and federalism at work here.
- Click here for the article.
A federal appeals court has again blocked a law that makes it a state crime for migrants to illegally cross the border into Texas, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority allowed the law to take effect while challenges to it continue through the court system.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked enforcement of the law, known as S.B. 4, ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Two justices in the Supreme Court majority had said the high court may again consider intervening after the 5th Circuit weighs the merits of the case. Their statement appeared to have an immediate effect, as the lower court quickly scheduled a hearing and later moved to block the law from implementation.
The law makes it a state crime for migrants to illegally cross the border and allows Texas officials to deport undocumented individuals, though Mexico said Tuesday that it would not accept anyone sent back by the state and condemned the law as “encouraging the separation of families, discrimination and racial profiling that violate the human rights of the migrant community.”
The statute was passed last year amid a record surge in border crossings, as part of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s push to expand the state’s role in immigration enforcement — historically part of the federal government’s control over international borders.
From Reason: Supreme Court Will Hear This Texas Woman's Challenge to a Politically Motivated Arrest
The problem with unrestrained police.
- Click here for the article.
Four years ago, Sylvia Gonzalez, a newly elected member of the Castle Hills, Texas, city council, was charged with concealing a government record, a misdemeanor that would have resulted in her removal from office if she had been convicted. Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales declined to pursue the case, and it is not hard to see why. The charge, which was orchestrated by Gonzalez's political opponents, was based on what she describes as an honest mistake: After a city council meeting, she says, she accidentally picked up a bundle of petitions against City Manager Ryan Rapelye—petitions that she herself had organized—and placed it in her binder along with other papers.
- ScotusBlog: Gonzalez v. Trevino.
- Oyez: Gonzalez v. Trevino.
ScotusBlog: Court hears Texas city council member’s retaliatory arrest claim.
U.S. Supreme Court: Audio Recording.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Looking across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras to Eagle Pass. March 2024
A video I took over the break.
Notable cities and counties with low population
As discussed in class today
- Carbonate, Colorado. - 0
- Monowi, Nebraska. - 1
- Loving County, Texas. - 64
- Carbonate, Colorado. - 0
- Monowi, Nebraska. - 1
- Loving County, Texas. - 64
Mussolini becomes absolute dictator (Il Duce) | The 20th century | World...
For out look at how dictators consolidate power.
Catching up with the Texas Tribune
- They counted primary ballots by hand. Now a Texas county Republican party says they found errors.
The election was a low-profile party primary, but stakes are high. Gillespie County Republicans, led by Campbell, decided months ago to hand-count more than 8,000 ballots. Experts agree and studies show the method is time-consuming, costly, less accurate, and less secure than using machines, but local Republicans, citing unsupported concerns about the accuracy of voting machines, were determined to try and show otherwise. Workers recruited and trained by the party counted until the early hours of the next morning, and declared the effort a success. Proponents of hand-counting are now touting Gillespie as a model.
The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the law from going into effect and federal court challenges remain.
- Gov. Greg Abbott wants the Texas Legislature to rein in investors behind large-scale home purchases.
Gov. Greg Abbott called on state lawmakers Friday to try to limit Wall Street’s presence in the Texas housing market.
As the nation’s housing affordability crisis continues unabated, lawmakers and housing advocates have increasingly concentrated scrutiny on so-called institutional homebuyers, meaning investors big and small as well as corporations who buy single-family homes to rent them out. They accuse corporations and hedge funds of playing an outsized role in the homebuying market and outbidding would-be first-time homebuyers, even though estimates show investors own only a small percentage of the nation’s overall housing stock.
A spike in investor activity in the housing market in the COVID-19 pandemic era has since prompted lawmakers to try to curtail or even ban it as a means to bring down home prices and give first-time homebuyers a leg up in the market.
From ScotusBlog: Supreme Court skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies
This covers both checks and balances and the free speech and/or press.
- Click here for the article.
After nearly two hours of oral argument on Monday, a majority of the justices appeared sympathetic to the Biden administration’s argument that a federal court in New Orleans went too far in an order that would limit the government’s ability to communicate with social media companies about their content moderation policies.
A federal judge in Louisiana agreed with the challengers that federal officials had violated the First Amendment by “coercing” or significantly encouraging” the content moderation decisions of social media platforms. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty issued an order that limited communications between the White House and several other government agencies with social media platforms.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit largely upheld Doughty’s order, although it narrowed its application to a smaller group of officials, including the CDC, FBI, and the White House.
The Biden administration came to the Supreme Court, which agreed last fall to put Doughty’s order on hold and to weigh in on the merits of the case.
. . . Most of Monday’s argument, however, centered on the merits of the dispute – that is, whether the Biden administration’s contacts with social media platforms violated the challengers’ First Amendment rights. A majority of the justices appeared concerned that the challengers’ rule would sweep in too many government efforts to influence social media platforms, potentially prohibiting the government from acting to protect the public.
Fletcher described the government’s efforts to influence social media platforms in this case as a classic example of the “bully pulpit,” in which officials would “speak their mind and call on the public to act.” The court of appeals, he stressed, “mistook persuasion for coercion.” Efforts to persuade social media platforms cross the line only when they convey a threat of adverse government action, he insisted.
But Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguinaga countered that “the government’s levers of pressure are anathema to the First Amendment. Behind closed doors,” he told the justices, the government “badgers the platforms 24/7, it abuses them with profanity, it warns that the highest levels of the White House are concerned.”
. . . Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson outlined a hypothetical TikTok challenge involving teenagers jumping out of progressively higher windows, leading to serious injuries and even death. Could the government, she asked Aguinaga, “call the platforms and say: This information that you are putting up on your platform is creating a serious public health emergency, we are encouraging you to take it down?”
Aguinaga agreed that the government could call the platforms to flag the TikTok challenge as a problem, but he added that “the moment that the government tries to use its ability as the government and its stature as the government to pressure them to take it down, that is when you are interfering with the third party’s speech rights.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett also appeared concerned about the broad implications of the challengers’ position. She asked Aguinaga about a scenario in which he and other Louisiana state government officials were doxed, followed by social media posts “about how people should rally and do something about this.” Could the FBI, she queried, “really encourage” social media platforms to take down the posts?
Aguinaga appeared to suggest that it could not. “If what the FBI is trying to do is trying to persuade a speech intermediary to take down a private third party’s speech,” he reiterated, that would be “an abridgement of speech.”
- ScotusBlog: Murthy v. Missouri.
- Wikipedia: Murthy v. Missouri.
Monday, March 18, 2024
From the Houston Chronicle: Texas State Board of Education faces takeover by GOP challengers backed by influential donors
An example of the influence of money in politics.
- Click here for the article.
For more than 20 years, Fort Worth Republican Pat Hardy has been a reliably conservative voice on the State Board of Education.
But in 2024, Hardy is not conservative enough for Republican voters: She lost her primary election earlier this month against Brandon Hall, a former youth pastor who has pitched himself as a fighter for Christian conservative values.
In addition to Hardy’s outright loss, two other Republicans on the board — Pam Little and Tom Maynard — were forced into runoff elections against opponents pitching themselves as stronger conservatives. All three challengers received heavy financial support from Texans for Educational Freedom, a right-wing advocacy group that cut its teeth trying to sway local school board elections but has turned its attention to overhauling the state board, spending more than $300,000 this year.
Hall and the others are poised to have a big impact right away, as the board is scheduled to revise the state’s social studies curriculum standards next year for the first time in more than a decade. The board’s decisions will influence what children will learn about government, Texas history and American history, among other topics.
Despite getting contributions from three times as many donors, Hardy’s campaign only raised about a third as much as Hall, who brought in $146,623. Of that, $145,758 came from Texans for Educational Freedom — 99.4 percent.
Hall said he was proud to receive TEF’s support, which he said he earned because of his positions on the issues.
Fascism and Mussolini | The 20th century | World history | Khan Academy
Another look at how dictators consolidate power - this is what a system of separated powers is supposed to prevent.
Democracy Without Borders: Democracy declined in 42 countries in 2023, new V-Dem report says
A study by a think tank arguing that democracies are shrinking.
- Click here for the article.
The V-Dem Institute based in Gothenburg in Sweden has presented its annual report on the state of global democracy for the 8th consecutive year, gathering information from 202 countries and measuring over 600 different attributes of democracy. The report has become one of the most prominent sources in the state of democracy around the world.
According to V-Dem, the share of the world’s population living in autocratizing countries since 2009 has exceeded the proportion living in democratizing countries, with 71% of the world’s population or 5.7 billion people currently living in autocracies. This constitutes a 48% increase compared to ten years ago.
According to the report, autocratization in 2023 was ongoing in 42 countries, home to 35% of the world’s population, while democratization was taking place in 18 countries, hosting only 5% of the world’s population.
Sorted by the regime types identified by V-Dem, in 2023, 32 countries in the world were considered liberal democracies, 59 electoral democracies, 55 electoral autocracies and 33 closed autocracies.
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Friday, March 15, 2024
From the Washington Post: Realtors’ settlement could dramatically change cost of housing sales
The interest group representing the real estate profession was sued by home sellers who argued that real estate commissions were artificially high.
An example of the use of the courts to change policy.
- Click here for the story.
. . . Under the proposed deal, the group representing 1.5 million real estate agents would change rules that plaintiffs and consumer advocates say have helped inflate commissions for home sellers, who for decades have paid Realtors 5 to 6 percent of the sale price. The association also would pay $418 million over four years to settle several cases.
. . . “There’s no doubt in my mind that this is going to bring about tremendous savings to homeowners,” said Michael Ketchmark, a plaintiff attorney representing Missouri home sellers in one of the cases, adding that he was confident that agreement would fundamentally change the real estate market and help lower the cost of housing and home sales.
. . . The association’s century-old commissions structure provides that sellers’ and buyers’ agents split an amount that typically ranges between 5 and 6 percent of the home sale price. Home sellers in Illinois and Missouri alleged in a pair of class-action lawsuits that NAR’s rules inflate commissions by requiring sellers’ agents to make a compensation offer to list on the Multiple Listing Service, a home selling database.
In October, a Kansas City, Mo., jury found that NAR and major brokerages conspired to keep commissions artificially high and awarded a class of Missouri home sellers $1.8 billion in damages. Meanwhile, the case in Illinois had been moving toward a trial, focused on similar allegations. The agreement announced Friday, if approved by a judge, would resolve those cases and end the long-standing commissions structure, Ketchmark said.
From the Washington Post: RNC fires dozens of employees after Trump-backed leadership takes over
This deserves attention.
A purge seems to be underway at the Republican National Convention. Republicans who do not fully support Trump are being removed. Critics worry this may undermine he competitiveness of the party in general elections.
- Click here for the article.
The new leadership team at the Republican National Committee — picked by former president Donald Trump — started firing dozens of employees days after taking over, according to three people familiar with the firings who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
About 60 people were told they were no longer employed, according to a person with direct knowledge of the changes.
One of the people familiar with the firings said data, political and communications staffers were affected, and notifications were made on Monday by Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump adviser who was at the RNC’s Capitol Hill headquarters. LaCivita had complained about the staff of the RNC for several months, people who spoke to him said, and long planned to make changes. The Trump adviser had studied the organization’s payroll and employees for several weeks, the person said.
LaCivita also told some contractors that they would not be renewed, and some of the ousters included employees who worked in the campaign’s state offices. Some staffers were described as shocked by the firings, which took place over the course of the day.
“Gutting a committee just before the election seems insane,” said a former RNC employee.
__________
What is the Republican National Committee?
- From Wikipedia:
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fundraising and election strategy. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Convention. When a Republican is president, the White House controls the committee. According to Boris Heersink, "political scientists have traditionally described the parties' national committees as inconsequential but impartial service providers."
As with the Democratic Party, it also has operations on the state and county levels, in addition to many smaller organizations.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
From Bolts: “Playbook of Fear” Fails to Sway Voters in Austin and Houston DA Races
Here is an analysis of recent conflict within the Texas Democratic Party in races for district attorneys in Harris and Travis Counties.
It highlights the dispute over how aggressive law enforcement - prosecution specifically - should be.
- Click here for the article.
A despondent teddy bear sits below a grainy picture of Travis County District Attorney José Garza, flanked with a warning that says “Garza is filling Austin’s streets with pedophiles and killers.” The alarmist mailer, sent to voters by a dark money group, lit up the final days of Austin’s DA race. Challenger Jeremy Sylestine denied any involvement, calling the mailer “demagogic” and “extreme.” So did other high-profile critics of the first-term DA.
Sylestine claimed that Garza painted a “political bullseye” on police officers, and aired an ad accusing him of being “lenient” on child sexual assault. The local police union similarly accused Garza of “targeting” cops for “political gain,” or giving a “sweetheart deal to a child predator.” The head of the local GOP called for his criminal prosecution and said that Garza has “declared war” on the police. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused him of caring more about “the radical agenda of dangerous Antifa and BLM mobs than justice.” And they all routinely singled out the support he received in 2020 from a PAC associated with George Soros, the billionaire who has supported progressive causes and emerged as a leading foil for the right.
. . . Over in Houston, Harris County DA Kim Ogg has employed a similar playbook during her tenure in office, long accusing proponents of criminal justice reform of filling the streets with violence.
On Tuesday, she lost overwhelmingly in the Democratic primary to challenger Sean Teare, a former prosecutor in her office. She trails 78 to 22 percent as of publication.
While Ogg won her first term in 2016 on promises of reform, she then became one of the leading antagonists of Harris County’s landmark bail reform, which expanded pretrial release for people accused of low-level offenses. “We see judges right now letting dangerous misdemeanor offenders out,” Ogg complained in 2019. After voters elected some progressive county officials in 2018, she frequently battled with them. Ogg painted the frightening picture of a “new battleground for public safety” that pitted her staff against local Democratic judges, whom she blamed for letting violent defendants walk. (The Harris County jail has remained overcrowded and in violation of minimum safety standards.)
“When you have murderers running around on multiple bonds… it’s a scary time,” she said.
Again this year, Ogg went after her challenger, Teare, for being “Soros-funded”—ironically, since her first win in 2016 was fueled by more than half-a-million dollars in spending from a PAC with ties to the billionaire. While benefiting herself from heavy financial support from the bail industry, Ogg claimed that Soros backed Teare because she “did not toe the line on bail and did not agree to open the doors of the jail to violent offenders.”
Teare told Bolts last month that Ogg spread a “culture of fear” in her office. He says the DA has caused line prosecutors to overcharge some cases, be too aggressive in plea offers, and resist pretrial detention, for fear of backlash over a specific case of recidivism. “That’s the way you don’t get in trouble,” he said.
Teare has said he supports the misdemeanor bail reform and he pledged not to take campaign donations from the bail industry. His website features a study that showed the increase in pretrial releases did not increase crime.
Information about the source:
- Click here.
Bolts is a digital magazine that covers the nuts and bolts of power and political change, from the local up. We report on the local elections and obscure institutions that shape public policy but are dangerously overlooked in the U.S., and the grassroots movements that are targeting them.
We focus on two areas where local governments play a key role: criminal justice and voting rights.
When it comes to practices that balloon prisons or weaken democracy, decisions are often made by an opaque ecosystem of institutions and officials. Our journalism shines a spotlight on the levers of power that influence democracy and mass incarceration—think of your local judges, county clerks, or prosecutors—and the political battles around them.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Monday, March 4, 2024
From Axios: The SEC's revolving door exits to crypto
For our look at the revolving door, in this case between the SEC, and the businesses it regulates
The Rgulatory Agency: Securities and Exchange Commission
The Crypto Industry
- Coinbase
- Ripple
- Terraform Labs
- FTX
Law Firms:
- White & Case
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Here is the article.
Lawyers who helped build the regulatory case against crypto are now advising firms on how to navigate it, Crystal writes.
Why it matters: It's an example of the SEC's long-criticized "revolving door" with the companies it regulates and is more notable given the power shift underway in crypto following several high-profile court losses for the agency.
The big picture: The issue raises strong concerns of regulatory capture, a phenomenon where the regulatory scheme and laws governing an industry are influenced in favor of regulated entities.But for crypto, an industry that's been regulated mainly through enforcement, the movement of key agency lawyers is likely to have a more immediate direct impact — in the courtroom.
Between the lines: Ladan Stewart, the lawyer overseeing the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase, recently left the agency for White & Case.She served for over eight years in the agency's enforcement division, and oversaw its crypto litigation program taking on Ripple, Do Kwon's Terraform Labs and multiple FTX execs.
Her experience at the SEC "is a significant asset given the heightened regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry in recent years," Joel Cohen, the head of White & Case's white-collar practice, said in a statement."Ladan is extraordinarily well positioned to counsel crypto industry players and defend them against regulatory or private actions."
Case in point: In the Coinbase lawsuit, the SEC is already facing off against one of their own — Steven Peikin, of Sullivan & Cromwell, who was co-director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement from 2017 to 2020. Axios observed SEC lawyers on the Coinbase case showing deference to Peikin in July as the crypto exchange was defending itself in a New York courtroom.
Ripple claimed victory against the SEC in a different courtroom in the same building that same day.
What they're saying: The Office of Inspector General's annual report on SEC management and performance challenges lists "recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce" as an issue: "Although the SEC has hired an average of over 300 staff members from external sources annually over the past four years, until 2023, most of those gains were offset by staff departures."
Reality check: The revolving door may benefit the industry, but it doesn't necessarily indicate regulatory capture.A securities lawyer Axios spoke to called SEC defection a "time-honored tradition." But the argument — that regulators go easy on the industry to snag those jobs later — is mostly wrong, the lawyer says.
"If Elizabeth Warren decided she wanted to leave government and go work for Big Law or Wall Street, she could name her price and place of employment."
The bottom line: One theory that may have legs came from Bloomberg's Matt Levine in 2014: "Strict regulation makes the revolving door spin faster."
The Rgulatory Agency: Securities and Exchange Commission
The Crypto Industry
- Coinbase
- Ripple
- Terraform Labs
- FTX
Law Firms:
- White & Case
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Here is the article.
Lawyers who helped build the regulatory case against crypto are now advising firms on how to navigate it, Crystal writes.
Why it matters: It's an example of the SEC's long-criticized "revolving door" with the companies it regulates and is more notable given the power shift underway in crypto following several high-profile court losses for the agency.
The big picture: The issue raises strong concerns of regulatory capture, a phenomenon where the regulatory scheme and laws governing an industry are influenced in favor of regulated entities.But for crypto, an industry that's been regulated mainly through enforcement, the movement of key agency lawyers is likely to have a more immediate direct impact — in the courtroom.
Between the lines: Ladan Stewart, the lawyer overseeing the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase, recently left the agency for White & Case.She served for over eight years in the agency's enforcement division, and oversaw its crypto litigation program taking on Ripple, Do Kwon's Terraform Labs and multiple FTX execs.
Her experience at the SEC "is a significant asset given the heightened regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry in recent years," Joel Cohen, the head of White & Case's white-collar practice, said in a statement."Ladan is extraordinarily well positioned to counsel crypto industry players and defend them against regulatory or private actions."
Case in point: In the Coinbase lawsuit, the SEC is already facing off against one of their own — Steven Peikin, of Sullivan & Cromwell, who was co-director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement from 2017 to 2020. Axios observed SEC lawyers on the Coinbase case showing deference to Peikin in July as the crypto exchange was defending itself in a New York courtroom.
Ripple claimed victory against the SEC in a different courtroom in the same building that same day.
What they're saying: The Office of Inspector General's annual report on SEC management and performance challenges lists "recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce" as an issue: "Although the SEC has hired an average of over 300 staff members from external sources annually over the past four years, until 2023, most of those gains were offset by staff departures."
Reality check: The revolving door may benefit the industry, but it doesn't necessarily indicate regulatory capture.A securities lawyer Axios spoke to called SEC defection a "time-honored tradition." But the argument — that regulators go easy on the industry to snag those jobs later — is mostly wrong, the lawyer says.
"If Elizabeth Warren decided she wanted to leave government and go work for Big Law or Wall Street, she could name her price and place of employment."
The bottom line: One theory that may have legs came from Bloomberg's Matt Levine in 2014: "Strict regulation makes the revolving door spin faster."
TRUMP v. ANDERSON
https://www.scotusblog.com/
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-719_19m2.pdf
Sunday, March 3, 2024
From the Texas Tribune: Early voting turnout in 2024 Texas primaries slumps compared to 2020
For our look at:
- voter turnout.- primary elections.
- Click here for the article.
More than 200,000 fewer Texans participated in early voting during the 2024 primary election compared to the 2020 primary – despite an overall uptick in the number of registered voters in the state.
About 10% of registered voters, or 1.8 million people, cast a ballot during early voting, which ran from Feb. 20 to March 1. That marked a significant decline from the last presidential primary election in 2020, where 12.6% of registered voters participated early.
_______
For more:
- MIT Lab: Voter turnout.
- MAP: VOTER TURNOUT PERCENTAGE.
- US Elections Project. National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present.
For our look at political polarization
- The polarization in today’s Congress has roots that go back decades.
- US Congress is on track to be the most polarized ever, data shows.
- Polarization, Democracy, and Political Violence in the United States: What the Research Says.
- The polarization paradox: Elected officials and voters have shifted in opposite directions.
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