Author: Matthew Clemente

Shields and Brooks on Filibuster Reform

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Shields and Brooks on Filibuster Reform

Last night’s episode the PBS News Hour featured Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks who discussed Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid’s filibuster reforms, the so-called “nuclear option.”

Here is a description of the segment: 

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss their takes on Senate Democrats’ move to invoke the “nuclear option” and how that rule change will affect partisanship. They also look back at how President John F. Kennedy shaped public service in America.

Stop-and-Frisk, Judge Scheindlin, and the First Amendment

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Stop-and-Frisk, Judge Scheindlin, and the First Amendment

On the most recent edition of the Lawyer2Lawyer podcast, host J. Craig Williams discusses the Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel that not only stayed Judge Shira Scheindlin’s order in the NYPD stop-and-frisk case but also removed her from the case.  Williams spoke with University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Kermit Roosevelt about the potential First Amendment implications of the Second Circuit’s decision to remove Judge Scheindlin due to her speech that preceded her decision.  

Here is a description of the podcast: 

“It’s impossible to figure out exactly what the judge did wrong,” University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Kermit Roosevelt says, discussing Federal District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin’s removal from Floyd, et al. v. The City of New York, known as the “stop-and-frisk” case. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Judge “ran afoul” of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges given her participation in media interviews and by making public statements about the “stop and frisk” case. The 2nd Circuit’s ruling did not provide further detail or examples. In this edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, your host J. Craig Williams invites Roosevelt to discuss Scheindlin’s removal, whether this action is a question of judge’s first amendment rights, and the possible outcomes of her appeal.

Roosevelt is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Working in a diverse range of fields, he focuses in constitutional law and conflict law. Professor Roosevelt was recently a part of a New York Times Room for Debate, discussing Scheindlin’s removal and what restrictions should be placed on judges. He has also served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Associate Justice David H. Souter and D.C. Circuit Court Judge Stephen F. Williams.

 

Enforcing the ADA Through Lawsuits

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Enforcing the ADA Through Lawsuits

Recently, I was reminded of a segment on This American Life about how California enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  In California, you can sue businesses that do not comply with the ADA requirement of minimum levels of accessibility in public places. 

Here is a description of the segment, titled “The Squeaky Wheelchair Gets the Grease”: 

In California, a kind of crybaby cottage industry has popped up around, of all things, the Americans with Disabilities Act—the federal law that requires all public places to meet a minimum level of accessibility. Some people make a living by suing business owners for not being up to code. Alex MacInnis hung out with one of them. (16 minutes)

The Cheneys and Changing Attitudes Towards Same-Sex Marriage

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The Cheneys and Changing Attitudes Towards Same-Sex Marriage

If you are interested in the same-sex marriage debate as it relates to the actual policy issues underpinning the debate–as opposed to the rhetoric and politics of the debate–I wholeheartedly urge you to listen today’s episode of The Diane Rehm Show.  Not only does the show contain a great panel of guests (see below), it also has some fantastic, passionate callers and emails.

Here is a description of the show:

Polls show that about half of Americans approve of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. But among Republicans, that percentage drops sharply. This week a public rift in the family of former Vice President Dick Cheney thrust the issue onto the front page again. One of Cheney’s daughters is married to a woman. The other, Liz Cheney, is running for office on the Republican ticket in Wyoming. On national TV over the over the weekend, Liz Cheney said she believes in the traditional definition of marriage. That puts her in line with most other Republicans –- but not most other Americans. Diane and her guests discuss changing perspectives on same-sex marriage.

Guests

Jonathan Rauch: senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; author of “Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul” and “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.”

Michael Dimock: director, Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Maggie Gallagher: American Principles Project and co-author of “Debating Same-Sex Marriage.”

Special thanks to Matt McKeon, a regular contributor to the SLACE Blog, for bringing this podcast to my attention.  Matt writes about LGBTQ issues. His blog posts can be found here. 

Fareed Zakaria on Obstacles to Iranian Nuclear Negotiations

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Fareed Zakaria on Obstacles to Iranian Nuclear Negotiations

This past Sunday, Fareed Zakaria began his show by giving his “take” the Iranian nuclear negotiations.

Here is a description of the video: 

Saudi Arabia is not going to accept any deal on Iran’s nuclear program, no matter what is in it. Saudi objections to the Islamic Republic of Iran are existential. The Saudis regard Tehran as a heretical, Shiite, Persian enemy that must be opposed. Its antipathy predates Iran’s nuclear program and will persist whatever the resolution of it.

And then the Republicans in the U.S., some of whom have serious objections and others who see this as an easy avenue to outflank President Obama on the right, placing him in the familiar spot of a liberal Democrat who is soft on America’s foes.

Many of us have assumed that the greatest obstacle to a deal would come from Tehran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards remain deeply anti-American, and they may well oppose the concessions that President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif would have to make to get a deal. But it’s now clear that greater obstacles might lie in the path of the negotiators on the other side. The minute any deal is announced, Saudi Arabia and Israel will denounce it, and many Republicans will join in. Given that Congress would have to pass laws to lift any of the major sanctions against Iran, this could prove to be an obstacle that cannot be overcome.

So Obama faces two major challenges. First he has to get a deal that the hard-liners in Tehran can live with. Then he has to get one that the hard-liners in Washington and Jerusalem and Riyadh can abide. If he can do both, maybe he will deserve his Nobel Peace Prize after all.

Watch the video for the full Take or read the TIME column