Mark Rubin

The Wednesday Curator – 6/3/15

June 2, 2015
Mark Rubin

Joseph R. Biden III (Beau) died on Saturday. Mr. Biden was the former Attorney General of Delaware and an Iraq War vet. He was also the eldest son of Vice President Joe Biden. Here’s the New York Times obituary and Beau Biden’s Life of Service by Matt Ford for The Atlantic. RIP!

Eric Segall wrote How an Inaccurate Soundbite Might Take Down Obamacare for The Atlantic on May 29. It’s a detailed and thorough analysis of King v. Burwell, the Obamacare challenge which will be decided this month.

Longform.org packaged three essays about FIFA/soccer, under the title The Longform Guide to Soccer Corruption. So what? The essays were written in April 2015, June 2014, and August 2011. So,

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The U.S. Constitution: Meeting Our Needs?

May 23, 2015
Mark Rubin

In the United States of America we venerate our Constitution. Most people know little about what it says or means. Slam it, however, and you’re a traitor or worse!

Few people, relative to all of us, take an oath to support or defend the Constitution of the United States. (The few include attorneys, government employees and office holders, and naturalized citizens; 300,000,000+ others need not say or do anything.) For reasons I can’t quite explain, having taken an oath to support the Constitution, I think I have right to questions its relevancy and validity some 225+ years after it was ratified.

There’s something downright nervy and arrogant about a suggestion that a document written so long ago serves our

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The Wednesday Curator – 5/20/15

May 20, 2015
Mark Rubin

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World out there! David Letterman offered his own take on that space for more than 33 years, and will wrap up his run tonight. David Letterman, Prickly Late-Night Innovator, Counts Down to His Exit by John Koblin for the New York Times on May 19 recounts the final days. Bye, bye, Dave!

From the politics desk, here’s Jeb Bush’s Many Problems by David Frum—he who created the term “axis of evil”—for The Atlantic on May 20. Also from The Atlantic, and missed when it came out, there’s The Paranoid Style of Ted Cruz by David Ludwig. And from Slate, here’s Zack Kopplin’s May 19 piece, A Creationist Campaign, subtitled Louisiana students are suffering

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Gone to Look for America (Soon)

May 8, 2015
Mark Rubin

As I’ve mentioned on a few occasions in the past couple of weeks, I’m driving to my daughter’s college graduation. I’m a solo going, and with her and her stuff—more on that below—on the return.

“Why don’t you fly?” I hear that question often, and I have a ready response, albeit one which stays within the confines of my thoughts: Have you flown lately? (Read Air Travel, Like Other Facets of American Life, Is Not What It Used to Be, by Andres Giridharadas for the New York Times on August, 23, 2013 for an overview; check Joe Sharkey at the New York Times for details.)

In my case flying means paying a premium to fly from

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Same-Sex Marriage Oral Argument Report*

April 29, 2015
Mark Rubin

Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14-556 is now at issue, which means the Court has before it all of the written and oral arguments it will read and see. There’s a lots of post-argument writing out there. Here’s some of what I read which resonated.

Amy Howe blogs In Plain English for SCOTUSblog. Her piece, No Clear Answers on Same Sex Marriage, written within hours of the oral argument, lays out the issues and alignments very well. Also from SCOTUSblog is A view from the Courtroom, Same-Sex Marriage Edition by Mark Walsh. Mr. Walsh writes in the present tense, from soon before the oral argument until Chief Justice Roberts states: “The case is submitted.” Not a ton of

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Same-Sex Marriage, Re-revisited

April 27, 2015
Mark Rubin

Oral argument in Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14-556 (and related cases) happens on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Obergefell is one of the parties in the Sixth Circuit cases which created the circuit split on same-sex marriage, providing the Supreme Court with a reason to take up the subject. (I wrote about this subject on November 17—Same Sex Marriage in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee: An Analysis of DeBoer v. Snyder—and again in DeBoer v. Snyder: An Update on January 19, 2015.)*

The Court will consider whether: (1) the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex; and (2) the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between

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Yates v. U.S. Update; Spiderman, Too!

March 30, 2015
Mark Rubin

The Fish Case aka Grouper-Gate aka Yates v. U.S., No. 13-7451, appeared here on December 1, 2014. The case posed for the Supreme Court this question: Whether Mr. Yates was deprived of fair notice that the destruction of fish violated provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which makes criminal “knowingly alter[ing], destroy[ing], mutilat[ing], conceal[ing], cover[ing] up, falsif[ying], or mak[ing] a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object,” intending to impede or obstruct an investigation.

The case involved claims by the government that commercial fisherman John Yates destroyed under-sized fish to avoid prosecution. (I’m not going to dwell on the facts, as I heard from fisherwife after the first post, and it was clear after reading her

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Indiana’s Mess

March 29, 2015
Mark Rubin

Republican Governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on March 26. The law allows religious beliefs to trump individual rights; if it matters at all—more below—it will likely impact the LBGT community most greatly.

Why was this law passed? Was there a problem? Somebody’s religious rights being trampled? You decide, based on a brief Q and A between Governor Pence and conservative talk show host Greg Garrison:

Garrison: Just real quickly – Is the answer to my question about whether or not religious freedom has been threatened in Indiana yes or is it no?

Governor Pence: I’m not aware of cases and controversies. I mean as I travel around the state one thing I know for sure —Hoosier

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The Wednesday Curator – 3/25/15

March 24, 2015
Mark Rubin

Wednesday again! Out of the box, there was a tempest in Maine a few days ago. Governor Paul LePage—a Republican and the only major elected politician in the nation who makes Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) seem like a nice fellow—claimed Stephen King—yes, that one—and others supported tax increases and, then, left that state. FaithGardner for DailyKos has Stephen King calls BS on Maine Gov. LePage, tells him to ‘man up and apologize’. Very funny!

Here from Talking Points Memo is Geography Fail: Tom Cotton Warns of Iranians’ Control of Tehran. Tom Cotton, the newly elected Senator from Arkansas, needs to learn the important lesson I shared on March 13 in 47 Again – The Letter to Iran:

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Musings on the First Amendment

March 23, 2015
Mark Rubin

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., No. 14-144. The case involves specialty license plates, and a state’s right under the First Amendment to limit the messages. In a nutshell, almost, the Sons of Confederate Veterans want a specialty license plate in Texas. The state said no, the trial court said no, the Fifth Circuit said yes, and the Supreme Court said “let’s take a look.”

Lyle Denniston for SCOTUSblog provides his usual first-rate analysis in Assuming the Answer, Up Front. As it is with so many issues, the premise will often determine the conclusion. Here, as Mr. Denniston notes, the case turns on whose speech appears

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