Luka Modric is a soccer player for Real Madrid and the Croatian national team. He was the best player in this year’s World Cup, the engine that led Croatia to the final and the winner of the Golden Ball as the tournament’s outstanding player. This is a remarkable ascent for a player who was voted…
Category: Blog
Changing lives, one seat at a time: The case of New York City’s “specialized high schools”
A few weeks ago, Slate’s political gabfest discussed Mayor De Blasio’s proposal for amending entrance requirement to NYC’s “specialized high schools” — namely, Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech. Students gain admission to these elite high schools by how they perform on one test that they take as 8th graders. But the test leads to…
Justice Kennedy Retires, and I feel . . . fine?
The unthinkable has happened: Justice Anthony Kennedy, super median on the US Supreme Court, announced his retirement from the Court. Liberals worried about this moment for years, and it has finally arrived. I am ambivalent, at worst. I don’t think this is the end of the Republic. It is not ideal, to be sure, but…
The Trump presidency in a picture
Nothing else needs to be said.
World Cup refereeing as constitutional interpretation
The World Cup is underway in Russia, and not a game goes by when I am not reminded of our very own US Supreme Court and how it interprets the Constitution. This cartoon from the Guardian neatly captures why: This is constitutional interpretation in a nutshell. (If you don’t believe me, read yesterday’s Gill v. Whitford decision…
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 . ….
More on Cuba, North Korea, and Habana Libre
Yesterday, I asked: Could it also be that the blockade was never about human rights, and everything about the Habana Hilton and the sugar economy? Could it be that the blockade was all about regime change in the name of free markets for US interests? Let me be clearer: Yes. And yes. Making sense of…
Getting from North Korea to Cuba, one market at a time
President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un met in Singapore a few days ago and reached a “historic agreement” towards denuclearization. It is not a peace treaty, nor is it a comprehensive agreement for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal. But it is something, with the details left for another day. For these…
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…
