The Supreme Court Works

In Why is the Supreme Court Supreme? , the historian Thomas Reeves argues that the Supreme Court works pretty well as it is, or as well as it is likely to. Responding to the question “Why should the American people be ruled by nine unelected lawyers?”, for example, he argues that every . . . . Continue Reading »

Rest in Solution

The English tabloid the  Daily Mail reports on Belgium’s Plan to Wash Its Dead Down the Drain , and the paper is not exaggerating. As the subhead puts it: “Bodies would be dissolved in caustic solution . . . and flushed into the sewer.” The process is called . . . . Continue Reading »

The 100 Greatest Children’s Toys

[Note: Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of pop culture. Today’s theme is greatest children’s toys. Have a suggestion for a topic? Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com.] Although the topic for last week was faddish objects from childhood , the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Perils of Clericalism

Mark Shea penned an excellent primer on clericalism yesterday at Catholic Exchange , identifying it as a prominent culprit in the “cover-up” mentality among some members of the episcopacy. While the Church does not operate on the principle of vox populi, vox Dei , Shea argues, neither has . . . . Continue Reading »

The Occupational College

A “mammoth analysis of jobs data being released today by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce” bears on the subject of David Goldman’s Americans Who’ll Never Work Again , though it deals with a different group of people facing long-term . . . . Continue Reading »