Does it really take 61 pages to answer such a simple question? The legal question in the recent Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC was not explicitly over the constitutional status of Puerto Rico, of course. The question was over the constitutionality of the PROMESA Board, a body established…
Category: American democracy
What do North Carolina Judges Know that Supreme Court Justices Do Not?
Last week, a three-judge court in North Carolina did the unthinkable: it struck down a state redistricting plan on partisan gerrymandering grounds. This plucky little court held, in light of the overwhelming factual record chock-full of crass and extreme examples of partisan behavior, that the plan violated the law. Doing the heavy lifting was a…
“School Begins” in Puerto Rico. A Hundred years later, nothing changes
As mass protests swirled in Puerto Rico over vulgar tweets and governmental corruption, I could not stop thinking about a famous cartoon published over a century ago in Puck Magazine. The cartoon, entitled “School Begins,” depicts an angry- looking Uncle Sam as schoolmarm, admonishing students sitting in the front row as others go about their…
Initial thoughts on Gill v. Whitford, the Wisconsin Gerrymandering Case
The US Supreme published its long-awaited decision in the Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Gill v. Whitford. Gill could have been a landmark decision about American Democracy. But the Court declined the invitation and sent the case back to the lower court to give plaintiffs the chance “to prove concrete and particularized injuries using evidence . ….
What is Puerto Rico?
On Tuesday, a protest march in Puerto Rico’s financial district turned violent. The island appears to be in chaos and record numbers of residents are moving to the United States. The island’s financial health is dire, yet Puerto Rico is unable to declare bankruptcy under applicable federal laws. In response, the federally appointed PROMESA…
