May 11, 2024

PROF. STEVEN CALABRESI: udge Aileen Cannon is a Heroine: She is scheduled on June 21st to hear oral argument on whether special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed. “The liberal news media is full of false stories about how Judge Aileen Cannon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida has delayed former President Donald Trump’s trial unnecessarily for allegedly mishandling classified documents. But, in fact, the Biden Administration and its Attorney General, Merrick Garland, are themselves to blame for the current delay. Special Counsel Jack Smith claims to be an inferior officer of the United States, but in fact he holds no such office. Smith is a mere employee of the Department of Justice, and he lacks the power to initiate prosecutions. Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, 585 U.S. __ (2018) holds that only officers of the United States can take actions that affect the life, liberty, and property of citizens. Judge Cannon has asked for oral argument on June 21, 2024 on former President Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment on the ground that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed to his current job because he is not an inferior officer.”

Posted at 6:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

THEY HATE US, THEY REALLY HATE US!

I can’t say it’s at all surprising to see Pelosi channeling Meryl Streep channeling Hillary in the climactic scene from her dystopian 2015 Harvey Weinstein-produced movie The Giver— it’s leftists all the way down:

Posted at 2:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

ANYONE WHO’S READ OR SEEN ‘DUNE’ KNOWS THE LITANY AGAINST FEAR, BUT HAVE YOU HEARD THE LITANY AGAINST CERTAINTY?Take a look at the Eternally Radical Idea Weekend Update for a behind-the-scenes look at my experience delivering USF Health’s commencement address and Angel Eduardo’s original Litany Against Certainty.

Posted at 1:52 pm by Greg Lukianoff

THE GEORGE FLOYD ERA IS OVER: Schools in One Virginia County to Reinstate Confederate Names: The school board voted on Friday to reverse a decision made four years ago, when the killing of George Floyd prompted nationwide demands for a racial reckoning, to rename the schools. “Across the U.S., a host of measures adopted in 2020 and 2021, including new classroom curriculums about the nation’s racial history, have been curtailed or eliminated in the years since. Politicians have railed against ‘critical race theory’ and schools have reinstated mascots that had been condemned as racially offensive.”

The idea that we should have a national “reckoning” because of a single news event was always a bit crazy, and of course, manipulative.

Posted at 1:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE:

Classical reference in tweet:

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

SANE VOICES ON CAMPUS: Put down the Megaphones. Richard Shweder, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago, explains how private schools can support free speech while banning its more disruptive forms. He also quotes some excellent advice given by the president of Columbia University to the incoming freshman class in 1946:

“You who have reached the age of advanced study will, of course, have opinions, maybe even prejudices; but acceptance in an academic community carries with it the obligation to submit those opinions and those prejudices to examination under the bright light of human thought and experience. If, perchance, your views have been crystallized into slogans held aloft on banners, or are subject to control by allegiance to minor or major pressure groups, check your banners and your membership cards at the college gate.”

Of course, this advice to check the banners at the college gate would horrify the students who camped at Columbia this year. Slogans are all they’ve got.

Posted at 12:48 pm by John Tierney

THE ENEMY WITHIN:

Posted at 12:15 pm by Glenn Reynolds