Some Republicans have called repealing or rolling back “qualified immunity,” the legal doctrine that shields police officers from liability, a “poison pill” that can’t be included in any criminal justice reform package. But other leaders in Congress disagree—and Sen. Mike Braun is the latest to back qualified immunity reform. The Indiana Republican just introduced the … Continue reading Republican Senator Introduces Bill to Roll Back Police Liability Shield
For more than a year, Europe has pressured the U.S. into a global pact to increase taxes on big tech firms. The U.S. just pulled out of those negotiations. This was the right decision, but made for the wrong reasons. A new proposal, led by European members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, … Continue reading Should International Bureaucrats Control US Tax Policy?
Here’s a question for public policy: If you could cut the COVID-19 death rate in half, would you do it? Policymakers could do that, if they act accordingly by greatly increasing testing of both residents and staff at nursing homes and other extended care facilities, the hottest of hot spots for coronavirus deaths. By now, … Continue reading Focusing Public Policy on Nursing Homes Could Cut COVID-19 Deaths by Half
Ten days can be a long time in constitutional law. On May 29 a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the four more liberal Justices, refused to order California to lift its restrictions, meant to curb transmission of the novel coronavirus, on church services that have more than 100 attendees or fill more than … Continue reading Constitutionally, Religious Gatherings Must Enjoy the Same Rights As Protest Gatherings
In the late 1990s, cosmologists made a prediction about how much ordinary matter there should be in the universe. About 5%, they estimated, should be regular stuff with the rest a mixture of dark matter and dark energy. But when cosmologists counted up everything they could see or measure at the time, they came up … Continue reading Half the matter in the universe was missing – we found it hiding in the cosmos
Placement on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (the “Watchlist”) is never a good thing. For 23 Muslim‐American litigants, among thousands of others listed, it means reduced employment opportunities, potential arrest and detention, and, most notoriously, severe limitations on their freedom to travel by air. The government insists it doesn’t need court approval before placing someone on … Continue reading You Ought to Be Able to Challenge Your Placement on the No‐Fly List
As The Independent reports: Happiness among Americans has fallen to the lowest level in nearly five decades during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll. The Covid Response Tracking Study, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), found that morale was at the lowest point it has ever been since tracking emotional health … Continue reading University of Chicago Study: American Hope and Happiness at Abysmal Lows
In the famous Norman Rockwell painting “Runaway,” seen on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1958, a kindly police officer and a pubescent boy sit at a lunch counter, the boy clearly having packed some belongings in a kerchief and run away. It’s a wholesome encounter and one wholly at odds with our modern image of police. That’s because it’s … Continue reading How the Drug War Broke Policing
The Houston Astros’ use of cameras to steal signs and conceivably cheat to win the World Series has driven many recent conversations about the place and meaning of technology in sports. The Major League Baseball season is on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, but this has only delayed the league addressing the controversy of … Continue reading Robo-umps are coming to Major League Baseball, and the game will never be the same
Connor Friedersdor writes in the Atlantic that police reform is popular, while rioting is not. He’s right. While only 16% of Americans favor cutting funding for police departments, the Cato Criminal Justice National Survey found that Americans across racial and political backgrounds support a variety of policy changes that reformers say would help mend fences between police and the communities they serve. Read the … Continue reading Americans Don’t Want to #Defund Police, Instead They Agree on Reform
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