On Thursday Donald Trump crossed the Rubicon — the event in 49 B.C. that precipitated the Roman Civil War, which ultimately led to Caesar becoming dictator for life and the rise of the imperial era of Rome — when he gave his incredibly corrupt Attorney General William P. Barr sweeping new authorities to conduct a … Read more
I posited the question the other day, “One has to wonder if this is not the actual goal of authoritarian Republicans — to destroy the rule of law, our constitutional government, and our long-cherished democratic institutions, norms and values — and replace it with a lawless authoritarian kleptocracy, like Russia.” We now know that the … Read more
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post recently made an astute observation about impeachment, Democratic equivocation over impeachment is a moral and political disaster: Democrats have also suggested that an impeachment inquiry should be avoided until Republicans grow convinced that removal is merited, because without that an inquiry would divide the country or isn’t worth doing … Read more
Josh Marshall succinctly frames the Trump lawyers’ argument: I want to point out the common argument the President’s personal lawyers (yesterday) and the White House Counsel’s office (in today’s letter) are now making. They argue that the Congress has no legitimate oversight role with respect to the executive branch at all, a stunning argument that … Read more
The landmark civil rights U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was handed down on May 17, 1954, 65 years ago this week. The Court’s unanimous opinion holding that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and therefore violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment … Read more