Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court infamously ruled in Citizens United v. FEC that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited under the First Amendment to the Constitution. In other words, the Court reaffirmed the idea that money serves as a means by which individuals can express their speech. Specifically, corporations … Read more
In what’s thought to be a move to appease the right wing of his government, Netanyahu has successfully advanced through Knesset a bill that requires new citizens to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Could they have thought of better timing? In the wake of the Mavi Marmara incident and the settlement … Read more
This column originally appeared in the Oct. 14 Harvard Independent. Also see Adam’s post yesterday on this subject. This weekend I saw Davis Guggenheim’s documentary, Waiting for Superman, an arresting look at the American public education system and the lives of five precocious children whom it lets down. Guggenheim, whose previous works include An Inconvenient … Read more
Even if you’re not an education policy wonk, you’ve probably heard about Davis Guggenheim’s new documentary, Waiting for “Superman.” And, like many Americans, you may be planning to watch it. After all, Guggenheim’s last film, An Inconvenient Truth, changed the way many people think about global warming. What’s not to like about the fact that … Read more
The Cambridge School Committee recently decided that, beginning in the 2011-12 school year, schools will close for one Muslim holiday each year. On the heels of two events that paint America as an increasingly Islamophobic nation, those being the controversial Ground Zero “mosque” and the lunatic antics of that pastor in Florida, the School Committee’s … Read more
I have a confession to make. I am in favor of embryonic stem cell research. I know I’m not supposed to be. I know, as a good Republican, I should have grave bioethical concerns about destroying a human embryo to generate a line of stem cells for study. I know I should subscribe to the … Read more
An end to one of the great tragedies of the last decade appears to be on the horizon. The government in the Sudan announced late last week that a referendum on partitioning the nation would be held in January of next year. Torn apart by ethnic and religious hatreds between the north and the south … Read more
Let me begin this by saying that I do not consider myself a member of this self-identified political movement that now claims 28% of the national public. However, I do believe they have unfairly gotten a bad rap from Democrats and even many Republicans, and I think everyone needs to know more of their story. … Read more
The United States government is in the midst of a budget crisis. The federal government has run a deficit—it has spent more than it collected in tax revenues—in all but four fiscal years since 1969, but recent deficits have reached unsustainable levels. In 2009, the government spent $1.4 trillion more than it raised, the largest … Read more
Author of “Active Liberty” and the newly released “Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View,” Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer begins the new term as the second most senior member of the liberal bloc after Justice Ginsburg. President Clinton appointed Breyer to the High Court in 1994. Without any appointments until the death of Chief … Read more