The Affordable Care Act (ACA) Cases

by Robert P. George

“In Law’s empire, judges are the princes.” Ronald Dworkin,  Law’s Empire , p. 407 “Place not thy trust in princes.”  Psalm 146 . . . . Continue Reading »

29 Jun 2012 0

First Links — 6.29.12

by Matthew Cantirino

A New Apostolic Movement? Gregory Metzger,  Books & Culture The Wisdom of Holy Fools Joe Simmons S.J.,  The Jesuit Post The St. John Fisher Missale Fr. Tim Finigan,  Hermeneutic of Continuity The Flaw in Jefferson’s Idea of ‘Ward Republics’ Will Hoyt,  . . . . Continue Reading »

29 Jun 2012 0

Please Support Our Work

by R. R. Reno

Dear Readers, First Things is a non-profit. For more than twenty years readers have provided donations that have sustained the journal. Now the electronic age presents new challenges. I’ve written to our subscribers, who have responded with generosity. Now I’m writing to you directly on . . . . Continue Reading »

29 Jun 2012 0

The Power to Tax

by Kate Pitrone

I’ve been reading the “The Roberts decision is not as mad and bad as you think” essays this evening.  I offer you this by Joshua Hawley,  this by Paul Rahe and this by Timothy Dalrymple.  A positive way of looking at today’s SC decision is to say that we never . . . . Continue Reading »

29 Jun 2012 0

British Medical Assoc. Docs Refuse Assisted Suicide Neutrality

by Wesley J. Smith

For a second time, the leaders of the British Medical Association wanted to go neutral on assisted suicide, only to be overturned by the rank and file. From the Independent story:Doctors today rejected calls to take a neutral stance on assisted suicide. Medics at the British Medical . . . . Continue Reading »

29 Jun 2012 0

Obamacare Ruling Will Make Law More Popular

by Wesley J. Smith

Whether one agrees or disagrees with my take on things, I don’t think there can be any dispute about my skill as a prognosticator. I tend to see how things will play out in the future very well.  Here’s another small prediction I posted over at The Corner:I think there is a lot of . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Jun 2012 0

Quick Thoughts at JFK

by John Presnall

1. While sitting at JFK waiting for a plane, I realized that Carl, Peter, and Pete were on to something in their discussion of deferential, minimalist judicial activism. 2. All day I kept thinking of the Art. I provision requiring all bills for the raising of revenue to originate in the House. On . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Jun 2012 0

Sometimes You Ought to Panic When You’re Sliding Down the Slippery Slope

by David Mills

In The Wisdom of a Moral Panic , Ross Douthat responds to one example of the moral innovator’s typical claim that people once rejected with vivid slippery-slope arguments something we all now take for granted, meaning that we shouldn’t worry about falling down such slopes with present . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Jun 2012 0

I’m Still in VA, Visiting…But…

by Peter Lawler

It appears that I’ve been punished for saying that judicial activism through judicial restraint is impossible. I’m okay with Roberts working hard to find a way to uphold the law rather than strike it down 5-4. But in this case his method seems to have been to mangle the plain sense of . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Jun 2012 0

Ginsburg on the Mandate and (or versus) the Free Exercise of Religion

by David Mills

My friend Mark Barrett, a lawyer with an apparently amazing capacity to read and absorb legal decisions, writes with this interesting quote from Justice Ginsburg’s concurring opinion  (page 29): A mandate to purchase a particular product would be unconstitutional if, for example, the . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Jun 2012 0