On the novelty of today’s far right

An expert on the gyrations of conservatism, Corey Robin appears on “Factually! with Adam Conover” for a fascinating hour in which he discusses the history of the American far right, its partial origins in the French Revolution, how Donald Trump is and isn’t its product, and how Clarence Thomas became the most influential SCOTUS justice

July 2023 reading

The Supreme Court, according to Stephen Vladeck, is a sty, and this conclusion he reaches before he — we — learned how billionaires pimped out Clarence Thomas.

The terror of gay demands for civil engagement

Life in these United States: Please recall that no same-sex couple has ever sought to engage Lorie Smith's business to create a wedding for their website; this case is built entirely on hypotheticals; there are essentially no facts. The decision's scope is ambiguous and uncertain. https://t.co/WHxNEbGbHk — Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 30, 2023 My

‘History and tradition can be respected, but they must only be partial guides’

I’ve never read an editorial at The Lancet this furious:

‘One of the scariest things to hear a Supreme Court justice say

Here’s the thing: the man after whom the landmark Supreme Court decision striking down state laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman is named is not indulging in hyperbole:

The coming of Christianist nationalism

Supreme Court decisions, like essays written for an English class, reflect the will, prejudices, and desires of their writers. Justices have reactions to cases, then ask their clerks to find the precedents.

I am more frightened than in November 2016

Cruelty and caprice are bedfellows, hence the ravenous appetite for random targets. Reluctant to attack gay and lesbian relatives until Obergefell becomes the Sinister Six’s next disemboweling, conservatives have turned to trans men and women.

The expanding attack on queer Americans

The situation in Florida (the state with the prettiest name!) continues to wither if citizens don’t belong to a governing majority that despises public education but would support shipping their teething child to Siberia at six months if men could get pregnant. HB 1557, which wants to ensure elementary schools ignore the pleas of gay,

What white minority rule looks like

I love reading biographical horrors like this about Ginni Thomas because I couldn’t make up the density of detail on my own without readers accusing me of luridness:

The ‘nihilism’ and ‘armchair epidemiology’ of the Supreme Court majority

I’m not a lawyer, but I play one on HTV. It’s my understanding that federal agencies have broad enough mandates to anticipate public health crises and situations requiring swift action because Congress, rightly, cannot predict their occurrences. Seeing an opportunity to undue an administrative state with roots in the Great Society and New Deal, Chief

Life in these United States: on critical gun theory

I don’t deny “education” excited Virginians last Tuesday evening because for many Americans “education” is synonymous with “employment office,” which is to say, a diploma signifies the ability to land meaningful employment. A “good school” is a place where parents can boast about their ability to send or pay for the school or to use

‘We hate all women’

Two quotes from people with a stake in how the Supreme Court abrogated its judicial responsibilities last night by siding with Texas in the abortion case: