In my latest Harvard Independent column, I argue that the legal challenge to Proposition 8 in a California federal court may end up backfiring if it reaches the Supreme Court, because there almost certainly are not five votes for judicially-imposed gay marriage on the current court. Furthermore, I said, an anti-marriage equality ruling would suck the air out of the ... Read More
On December 23rd, 2009, Harvard Law student Hebah M. Ismail’s ’06 landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport with the intention of joining Clinical Instructor and Global Advocacy Fellow Ahmad Amara, as well as another fellow student, for research on land disputes between the Israeli government and Bedouin communities in the Negev desert. At airport security, Ismail was interrogated for ... Read More
I’m glad to see my Crimson column of October 18 is still getting some attention! I had written that discrimination against atheists, both in the legal arena and in the popular mind, is a serious problem — not the biggest problem in the world, but a problem worth noting and criticizing. In his critique of that column, the Harvard Salient’s ... Read More
Check out Jon Yip’s post, “The Asian Ceiling” for a review of a Kara Miller’s Boston Globe editorial about Asian discrimination in the college admission process. Asians are the new Jews, Miller explains: In a country built on individual liberty and promise, that feels deeply unfair. If a teenager spends much time studying, excels at an instrument or sport, and ... Read More
Today's colleges welcome Asians with open arms—they just don't want too many of us
Faith-based initiatives face tough political realities
The Supreme Court’s decisions last term reveal a trend toward color-blindness Two cases decided by the Supreme Court earlier this year demonstrate an ongoing, if cautious, conservative march towards a new constitutional order with regards to race. In the case of Ricci v. Destefano, a divided Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to throw out the results of a promotion ... Read More
How Obama will influence the genre On his posthumously released hit Changes, 2Pac rapped, “Although it seems heaven sent, we ain’t ready to see a black president.” The song addresses problems like police violence, drug use, poverty, and the epidemic of incarceration in the black community. Blasting what he sees as the offenses of a racist government, he called on ... Read More
For an allegedly “grotesque” (but, thankfully, “innocuous”) confusion, Sam Barr’s equation of liberty and equally is pretty well-founded empirically. Think about the history of America. Think about the struggle to integrate non-land-owners, Catholics, Jews, women, blacks and now gays. Surely, as Sam notes, all this expanded both liberty and equality at once. One way to understand the relationship between liberty ... Read More
With all this talk about gay marriage, we eventually have to come to the question: Who decides? Who gets to say whether we will have gay marriage or not? And that question eventually becomes, Is it okay for courts to legalize gay marriage if legislatures won’t? Publius over at Obsidian Wings has some interesting thoughts on the matter. He claims ... Read More
To begin with, the confusion is grotesque, not the inestimable Samuel Barr – I must post if only to stress that. Said grotesquerie is an innocuous, though unfortunate, consequence of progressivism, in the same manner that my ineptitude at mathematics (which could only charitably be called grotesque) is an unfortate consequence of being a social studies major. I think the ... Read More
So apparently McCain’s strategist, Steve Schmidt, is recommending that Republicans drop their rabid opposition to gay marriage. I think the “rabid” part is right; it’s certainly not netting them any votes. Strategically, however, I think it’s wise for them to not just give in entirely; it’s hardly as though there’s a clear majority of Americans in favor of gay marriage, ... Read More
8:33 Debate ends. Wrapup coming 8:29-Republicans–Matt says-one more dichotomy, do you believe that labour and management are at odds. Shouldn’t they come together to create profits (I thought the Republican point was that Harvard shouldn’t make profits). Matt-we have to protect the long term financial health so we can retain our dominance as the top employer in the region? See ... Read More
8:20-Colin Motley, President of the Republican club, asks Democrats “if card check increases wages for workers who have jobs, but decreases the jobs available, is that a good thing.” 8:19–Democrats-People don’t make decisions based on what percentage of the budget goes to stein clubs. 8:17–Republicans-Let’s preserve the endowment (that’s a very Burkian sentiment). Also, preserving jobs makes up a ... Read More
8:08–And now the Republican position: It sucks. The sucks refers to layoffs, oh you of the dirty mind. Also “this university doesn’t exist to give workers jobs. We need to save money so that we can expand to Allston and Brighton.” Is it just me, or do the expansions always make you quote Caesar: “Omnia Allston in tres partes divisa ... Read More
