the weaker party

From Politico comes a report that some of the Senate Finance Committee aides that are helping piece together health care legislation have c...

From the Center for Responsive Politics: - Insurers On Alert Have Given $4 Million to Committees Grilling Them . This puts an interesting s...

As we explore the influence of interest groups on government, we should look at the glacial pace the reforms aimed at Wall Street have take...

Though we may have thought it impossible that it could, and the development may not bode well for our ability to govern ourselves effectivel...

After we discussed the central role rationality played in the development of the concept of natural rights comes questions about just how ra...

This week in 2302 we will dig into the internal workings of Congress. A good way to begin is to compare how different laws bills have been p...

John Marshall or Earl Warren? Will he be conciliatory and seek consensus or will he be willing to overturn precedence for the sake of his id...

Here's something worth discussing in 2301 as we investigate political conflict. The dispute over health care reform has revealed a growi...

As I'm putting together notes for a discussion of the legislative branch, I'm faced with a quandary. While commentators dating back ...

This may become the most important case argued before the Supreme Court this year. The case is Citizens United v the Federal Election Commis...

One of the advantages that presidents are said to have over Congress is the ability to effectively take a message to the public and frame th...

Here's a depressing read . The authors argues that the increased amount of money on politics has made both political parties responsive ...

As we preview the weeks ahead in both 2301 and 2302, one of the themes I try to hit is how the Constitution resists efforts to suddenly and ...

I've been taking a break from the blog recently to concentrate on other class related issues but will kick things back up soon. If you...

Here's some back and forth about the best and brightest in American politics . Does a natural aristocracy rule America?

From the Dallas Morning News , a story about the unique situation small local legislative bodies have when it come to meeting to conduct bus...

This might have legs . I wouldn't be surprised to see a test case to come out of this. The Gates arrest might have the unintended conseq...

Two stories from Grits for Breakfast raise questions about 4 th and 5 th Amendment issues. The first concerns neuroscience's increas...

Here's a depressing read . The author argues that the nature of unemployment in this recession differs from those of previous depression...

This video builds off a point I made below regarding generational shifts in attitudes. Have recent events -- the Great Recession especially...

Recent legislation designed to make it easier for homeowners at risk of defaulting on mortgages to stay in their homes has failed to make an...

For well over a generation, probably dating back to the late 1960s, attitudes about government and its ability to do anything right have dec...

Just after we discussed the right to counsel in 2301 comes this story from the Chronicle : Texas, which executes more convicts than any oth...

From the Chronicle : A new Texas law allowing police to draw blood from DWI suspects without a judge's OK is riling defense attorneys, p...

Ten proposals will be on the ballot this November including one limiting eminent domain , whcih we discussed in class Tuesday: One of the ...

The recent arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home for disorderly conduct raises two issues central to the 2301 topics this week. The fi...

From the NYT : President Obama ’s top antitrust official and some senior Democratic lawmakers are preparing to rein in a host of major indus...

From USA Today : The conservative House Democrats known as the Blue Dog Coalition have seen their political clout grow dramatically as they...

The term "going public" refers to efforts of a president to go around Congress and rally support for a program in the general publ...

An interesting federalism case. Can the federal government mandate that concealed weapons permits issued in one state be respected by anoth...

A good graphic from the NYT . In 2301 today we discussed the election of 1912. The graphic tells us that TR ran on a platform promising nati...

From the Economist, more fallout from the financial crisis: - What Went Wrong With Economics ? - The Other Wordly Philosophers . - Efficienc...

As we wade into party competition we should discuss the ideological divisions over perhaps the most controversial component of current healt...

Foreign Policy Magazine lists the countries with governments that are either collapsing or at risk of collapse. Here's an interesting ...

There's a good read in Slate about how a country's health care system tends to reflect that country's values: Health care syste...

A recent speech by Hillary Clinton may have been an attempt to stay relevant . Diplomatic responsibilities are split between various players...

From the Cato Institute .

Michael Lind thinks Congress should not enact comprehensive reforms of anything, including health care. The piecemeal approach works better....

From the Washington Post: Instead of saving the federal government from fiscal catastrophe, the health reform measures being drafted by cong...

Fundraising disclosures for the Texas Senate race show that Bill White is a top recipient from the Oil and Gas sector. From the Dallas Morni...

on a party line vote . Click here for an overview of the subject .

Live from the Senate Judiciary Committee . - Coverage from the NYT .

There are increased concerns that, despite the need for spending to help get the economy out of the recession, little attention is being pai...

As my 2301's begin to discuss elections, we will ponder the pros and cons of direct v. indirect democracy. We covered this already when ...

The former apparently . More and more behavioral economists seem to believe that our monetary decisions are driven by illusion, not rational...

Foreign Policy predicts the death of macho : The great shift of power from males to females is likely to be dramatically accelerated by the...

From Foreign Policy .

From the Economist: How to think about a jobless recovery

From the chron : 2 female firefighters worried for safety Is there a reason for minority and women firefighters to be worried about discri...

maybe not ...

not so good apparently .

Its worse than anticipated , which had led some to call for a second stimulus. - From the CBO : The State of the Economy - Bruce Bartlett sa...

Glenn Grenwald , and a host of other civil libertarians are upset with Obama's maintenance of Bush's detainee policies. Obama even...

The story comes from the Chron .

From The Monkey Cage comes an analysis of a newly published political science article arguing that high levels of national identity correla...

I'm ripping the post below off from Andrew Sullivan's website. My 11 week 2301 class will begin discussing federalism, which include...

The NYT story here .

From the WaPo : The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and...

The LAT reports on efforts to regulate: ... the world of "storm chasers," traveling contractors and insurance adjusters who desce...

The Ricci case is unlikely to have an impact on Houston's Fire Department : As with many U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the one issued las...

The second round of Tea Parties were held around the country on July 4. The Christian Science Monitor has a concise overview of the movemen...

From the NYT , some observations about the consequences of Dems having 60 senators: With 60 votes (including those of two independents ) ...

Here's more commentary on recent shifts in the Supreme Court and what impact it might have on civil rights policy: There's a striki...

As housing prices decrease, tax assessments decrease as well. More property owners are challenging their tax assessments and succeeding gi...

Something for my 2302 5-week students to think about as we focus on public policy this coming week. The NYT reports on the consequences of S...

Al Giodarno explains what coups do. They remove what he calls the five basic liberties : 1. The right to protest. 2. Freedom in one's ho...

Here's some background on the special session underway now in Austin. Here's more: - Toll-road bill faces tough fight in Legislatur...

The NYT provides essentially the same analysis of the Supreme Court that the WaPo did below. The provide statistics (which they credit to ...

A consequence of constitutional design. From WaPo : For the Supreme Court, it was the year of living on the verge. On the verge of declaring...

From the NYT : The Supreme Court ruled on Monday, in a case with enormous implications for workplaces across the country, that white firefi...

Another Supreme Court decision. From the NYT : Crime laboratory reports may not be used against criminal defendants at trial unless the anal...