Mark Gergen interviewed by WalletHub, Nov. 1, 2017
“Lowering the corporate income tax rate so it is in line with the corporate income tax rates of our major trading partners basically is tinkering with a busted system. The proposal for a preferential tax rate for pass-through business income would be a disaster, because much pass-through business income is a return to labor.”
John Yoo writes for The New York Times, Oct. 31, 2017
Even if Mr. Trump has the constitutional power to pardon Mr. Manafort and his allies, conservatives should vigorously oppose such pardons on the ground that they would do serious damage to the presidency. In the popular mind, pardons imply the commission of a crime.
Roxanna Altholz quoted by Al Jazeera, Oct. 31, 2017
“The public ministry has seized in raids dozens and dozens of computers, telephone chips, SIM cards, iPads, all kinds of electronic apparatus,” Altholz said. “We are very concerned about what’s going to happen with that evidence,” she added. “What we found is an investigation that falls well short of international standards and seems to be driving towards impunity.”
Erwin Chemerinsky writes for ABA Journal, Oct. 31, 2017
The Supreme Court increasingly has embraced interpreting statutes based entirely on “plain meaning” of the words and eschewing consideration of legislative history. … The problem with this approach is that the cases that come to the Supreme Court involving statutory construction rarely involve laws where the language has a clear, plain meaning. Instead, the court engages in a fiction: It quotes the ambiguous language, declares that there is a “plain meaning,” and then comes to its desired conclusion.
Erwin Chemerinsky writes for The Sacramento Bee, Oct. 31, 2017
Congress can amend or add to federal anti-discrimination law by explicitly authorizing suits against alleged harassers. Also, Congress should prohibit confidentiality agreements in settlement of sexual harassment claims.
John Yoo quoted by Las Vegas Review-Journal, Oct. 30, 2017
“Going after Manafort first means that Mueller is aiming at even bigger game, and that he wants to wrap up the investigation quickly.”
Erwin Chemerinsky writes for Los Angeles Times, Oct. 30, 2017
The Supreme Court now has an opportunity to ensure that everyone who faces the death penalty, no matter where they are in the U.S., will have the chance to uncover the information that might make a difference to a jury. No one should be put to death just because he or she is too poor to conduct an investigation.
Erwin Chemerinsky quoted by The Washington Post, Oct. 29, 2017
“I wish there were a way I could opt out of my taxes going to things I don’t like, but I can’t, because the tax system would collapse if I did,” said Chemerinsky. … “I regard student fees for student groups the same way,” he said. “If students could opt out of paying the student activity fees, the campuses will lose that multiplicity of student groups and diverse views.”
Roxanna Altholz quoted by The New York Times, Oct. 28, 2017
“There was this criminal structure comprised of company executives and employees, state agents and criminal gangs that used violence, threats and intimidation,” said Roxanna Altholz, the associate director of the Human Rights Law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the lawyers’ group.
Ann Ravel quoted by VOA News, Oct. 27, 2017
What happened on the internet companies’ services during the 2016 election “was the undermining of our political process,” said Ann Ravel, a lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley’s law school and a former chair at the Federal Election Commission.