“Will SCOTUS usher a return to the ‘Lochner era’?”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Help!  The federal government won’t be able to ‘take care‘ of us!

From CBS:

Striking down the individual mandate raises two concerns. The first concern is that it may signal a return to pre-New Deal conceptions of federal power, when the federal government lacked sufficient power to stimulate the national economy and combat economic depression. We will let others address the first concern and instead focus on the second: that striking down the law may signal a return to the “Lochner era.”

Let’s just say that comparing the bakery hour limitations of Lochner to the Affordable Care Act isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples.

Truly we are on a Road to Serfdom  when this kind of blather passes for responsible commentary.

[CBS]

Filed Under: All, General Tagged With: ,

“General Services Administration: Let the Taxpayers Eat Cake”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Tad DeHaven writes at the Cato blog:

The head of the General Services Administration, which is the federal government’s procurement and property manager, has resigned in the wake of a report from the agency’s inspector general that uncovered extravagant spending at a GSA “training conference” in Las Vegas.  [Read more . . . ]

Contrast this with the recent whining about potential budget cuts by federal employee union leaders.

Also, see the original article in the Washington Post, which is nebulously entitled, “GSA chief resigns amid reports of excessive spending.”

[Cato, WaPo]

 

 

Filed Under: All, Public Administration Tagged With:

“Why Isn’t Voter Suppression a Protest Cause?”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

From Alec MacGillis at The New Republic:

This week brought another major report on all the efforts in state capitals, almost all Republican-led, to restrict voting rights via new limits on voter registration, early voting, proof of residency and voter identification, all in the name of countering the phantom menace of voter fraud. In a conference call to announce the report, which was produced by the Center for American Progress [Read more . . . ]

U.S. Constitution .org would like to take a stab at the question posed in the headline: maybe because law-abiding citizens are indifferent to the requirement to show ID to vote.  Maybe they just don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

Meanwhile, the faux controversy around voter ID makes great copy for the left-wing media.

[TNR via ElectionLawBlog]

Filed Under: All, Electoral Process

“Like the South, NH needs federal OK on voting”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

From the Union Leader of New Hampshire:

New Hampshire is trying to get itself removed from provisions of a 1965 federal voting rights law that requires the state to seek “pre-clearance” from the U.S. Department of Justice whenever it changes any voting laws. Officials here say New Hampshire never violated the 1965 law, which largely affects southern states with large black populations.  [Read more . . . ]

U.S. Constitution .org proposes that Voting Rights Act preclearance be extended to all states, or that it be repealed.  Let’s end the discriminatory absurdity that is the Voting Rights Act preclearance process.

[UL]

Filed Under: All, Electoral Process Tagged With: , ,

“Let’s Give the Fed Some Competition”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Why not?  John Stossel writes:

When government monetary policy is too loose, you get hyperinflation, like in Germany in the 1920s. A more recent example is Zimbabwe, where prices rose so fast that the government printed bills with a face value of 100 trillion (Zimbabwean) dollars.  [Read more . . . ]

[RCP]

Filed Under: All, Monetary Provisions

“Handicapping the Veep Stakes”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Eugene Robinson writes at RealClearPolitics:

Playing second fiddle to Mitt Romney won’t be easy, but somebody has to be his running mate. Let’s handicap the field [Read more . . . ]

The real story here, of course, is that the presidential nominee (probably Romney, at this point) will single-handedly choose the VP nominee.  That’s how it has worked since the 1960s, to the detriment of our constitutional checks and balances.

[RCP]

Filed Under: All, Nominating Process

“Redistricting spurs House cash dash”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Robin Bravender reports for Politico:

Veteran House members going head to head with their colleagues are locked in a fundraising arms race.

Thanks to redistricting, incumbent House members are duking it out in as many as 13 races across the country. Some of those members have been able to coast through recent elections without much effort, but taking on a fellow incumbent is a different story.

[Read more . . .]

Filed Under: All, Electoral Process

“Federal judge hits back at Obama”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Jennifer Haberkorn reports for Politico: “Think the federal judiciary is taking kindly to President Barack Obama’s pre-emptive attack on the Supreme Court? Think again.”  [Read more . . .]

And today Tim Mak reports on the blogosphere’s reaction to the court order: “Buoyed by an appeals court that rebuked President Barack Obama’s comment that the Supreme Court’s overturning of his health care reforms would be “unprecedented,” conservative bloggers stepped up their barrage of criticism by cheering on the judicial panel.”  [Read more . . .]

Eric Holder has pledged a  response to the Fifth Circuit judge.

[Politico, SunTimes]

Filed Under: All, Judicial System

UPDATE: “Senate Has an Un-Budget, Parliamentarian Rules”

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Patrick Knudsen writes at the Heritage blog:

Hats off to the Senate parliamentarian, who apparently has rebuffed the Democratic leadership’s latest excuse for failing to bring a budget to the floor—something the Senate hasn’t done for nearly three years.

Since February, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D–NV) and his lieutenants have claimed the Budget Control Act (BCA)—spawn of last year’s debt ceiling agreement—constitutes a budget resolution for fiscal year 2013.  [Read more . . . ]

Also see the story by Scott Wong at Politico: “The Senate’s chief referee has issued a key ruling against Majority Leader Harry Reid, POLITICO has learned — a move expected to bring unwanted election-year pressure on the Nevada Democrat to act on politically dicey budget bills.”  And: “The written opinion gives Republicans more leverage to push for votes on budgets of their choosing.”  [Read more . . . ]

[Foundry, Politico]

Filed Under: All, Legislative Process Tagged With: , , ,

Bill Introduced: H. Res. 604

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This notice is from March 28th.  Better late than never in getting it posted.  From the OpenCongress.org bill update feed:

Bill Introduced, H. Res. 604: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President exercised the recess appointment power despite the fact that neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate have been adjourned for a period in excess of three days during the Second Session of the 112th Congress.

See also U.S. Const., art. 1, sec. 5, cl. 4 and U.S. Const., art. 2, sec. 2, cl. 3.

[opencongress]

Filed Under: Administrative Process, All, Appointment Power, Recess Appointments Tagged With:
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