Legal Commentary

Sunday Open Thread

By Jeralyn

Some things I'm reading:

• Yale Law Prof Jack Balkin on the $700 billion Bush bailout plan.

It is not enough, however, to revel in the irony or the hypocrisy of the Administration's current plans. Two things are central: one is solving the financial crisis, and the other is doing so in a way that preserves constitutional values of oversight, checks and balances, and accountability to the rule of law. The government must have the power to act, but only the powers it actually needs, and not those it would enjoy having for the foreseeable future. It must be able to make decisions, but not without any accountability or oversight. That is what the debate is and should be about, and even though it nominally concerns the passage of an emergency measure, it is ultimately a debate of constitutional proportions.

More...

• 538 reports on Obama's field operation in Durango and Cortez in Southern Colorado. And their electoral map today shows Obama with 306.5 electoral votes to McCain's 231.5.

• Matt Stoller got a really angry e-mail from a Democratic member of Congress on the bailout plan.

• A new Research 2000 poll has Obama with commanding leads in Iowa and Illinois.

Here's an open thread. What have you been reading and thinking about today?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 21, 2008 (boomark / email).