Editor-in-chief: David Suissa
December 14, 2021
Last week, Biden’s commission on the Supreme Court demurred from either recommending for or against the controversial idea of adding Justices to the bench, an idea known as “Court Packing.”
Ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937 tried but failed to pack the Supreme Court with justices loyal to his agenda, a consensus that such a move is destructive to the judiciary has discouraged further attempts.
Our constitutional system has produced a playing field that tilts toward the minority… Court expansion may be the only thing that will save our democracy for the next generation.
With calls to change the Court still very much alive, ideas that were once fringe have now moved to the center of Court discourse.
CA Governor Gavin Newsom wants to fight fire with fire. Specifically, he wants to use the same strategies that Texas used to restrict abortion rights in order to pass sweeping gun control legislation.
The proposed bill, according to a press release from Newsom, would allow Californians to sue “anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts” for damages — the same injunction-skirting mechanism Texas has used to ban all abortions after six weeks, which has so far been permitted by the Supreme Court.
If Democrats really wanted to show the Supreme Court the full implications of its ruling on the Texas scheme, they would have to enact a law directly flouting the right to keep a gun in the home (as the Heller case declared) or perhaps enact a complete ban on the sale or carrying of all firearms…
It won’t work. Legally, that is. It will be hugely successful politically, but not without costs to the state and potential litigants… the Texas law was quickly found to be unconstitutional by the district court, as would the California law.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has announced an initiative to promote development in the Golan Heights, prompting a discussion about the status of this piece of land, which Israel conquered from Syria in 1967.
Although it annexed the territory 40 years ago, Israel also conducted negotiations on evacuating the area in return for peace with Syria — both under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s and under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert some 15 years ago.
…there is already broad national consensus that Israel should retain the Golan Heights, but that it should be settled and reinforced. Even the Americans have expressly recognized Israel’s right to sovereignty on the Golan…
An internal consensus that the Golan Heights is an integral part of Israel does not change the fact that it is an occupied territory held in violation of international law and the principle behind UN Security Resolution 242, according to which the acquisition of territory by war is inadmissible.
Are the kids alright? Here are three takes on how Gen Z is, and isn’t, dealing with the stress of the pandemic:
For these cohorts of Gen Zers and “Z-lennials” (those born roughly from 1993 to 1998), they’re once again learning and working in-person; they’re dining, drinking, and dancing indoors; they’re traveling and celebrating birthdays and holidays; and they don’t have plans to stop anytime soon—Omicron variant be damned.
Gen Z is feeling the stresses of the pandemic more than any other age group, according to a U.S. survey released Monday.
Higher proportions of Americans between ages 13 and 24 say the pandemic has made their education, career goals and social lives more difficult, compared with millennials and Gen X.
These shifts, a recent survey found, have impacted 13- to 24-year-old Americans’ ability to date, learn, socialize, and find work effectively—more so than for millennials or Gen X; a full 46% of Gen Z respondents said the pandemic has made pursuing their career or educational goals more difficult.
According to some sources, the pandemic led to a surge in dog adoptions followed by a surge in people abandoning those dogs. What’s the real story of the “pandemic puppies?”
Data on dog ownership since the start of the pandemic is still a little spotty, but as a New Yorker, I have noticed more dogs underfoot and a ramping up of the species’ cute and cuddly influence on the city ecosystem.
Contrary to reports of all those “pandemic puppies,” 2020 wasn’t such a great year for animal shelters. And 2021 is shaping up to be even worse.
Animal surrender rates have risen because of the economic crisis driven by the pandemic. To reduce the rates of animals entering the shelter system, we must help people in need.
Today is the Tenth of Tevet, a lesser known Jewish fast day which commemorates the siege of Jerusalem. Here are three takes on the day’s meaning and significance:
The 10th of Tevet is the reminder that we need to look at history to appreciate the need to look ahead and recognize the dangers before they occur. The 10th of Tevet demands that we wake up.
A fast day is not just a day of mourning but an opportunity for us to bring repair. It is a time to reverse the chain of events of exile with the power of just one positive action.
The public fasts associated with the Temple’s destruction, among them the Tenth of Tevet, are part of recent research known as the “Memory Place.” The term “Memory Place,” attributed to the French historian Pierre Nora, includes not only spatial but temporal places as well, i.e. days of commemoration around the calendar.