National politics are highly polarized, as evidenced by the Democrats’ nomination of progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th congressional district, and of far-left Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum in Florida’s governor’s race, as well as the histrionics displayed by Democratic members of…
This is the fourth — and final — installment in a series of articles dissecting the prosecution of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (the first three parts are here, here, and here). Among the many parallels between the abuses of…
This is the third in a series of articles (the first two installments are here and here) dissecting the prosecution of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. On November 4, 2014, when the 51-year-old Ken Paxton was triumphantly elected Attorney General…
This is the second in a series of articles dissecting the prosecution of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. In Les Misérables, Jean Valjean’s fictional antagonist was Inspector Javert, whose obsession with punishing Valjean bordered on demonic. Paxton’s inquisitors, Kent Schaffer…
In the annals of “lawfare” — the weaponized use of the legal system to punish a political enemy — one must distinguish between a random “drive-by” motivated by spite or revenge, versus carefully orchestrated schemes calculated to achieve regime change:…
I recently attended a panel discussion at my alma mater, the University of Texas in Austin. The topic was “Free Speech on College Campuses: Where to Draw the Line?” The event, held during Free Speech Week, was co-sponsored by UT’s…
We now take racial equality for granted, but during the long-gone era of state-sanctioned segregation in Texas and throughout the South, one commonly encountered signs proclaiming “No Colored Allowed” and “Whites Only.” The days of Bull Connor, George Wallace, and…
For all I know, the political climate at the University of Texas at Austin is no better or no worse than at any other major university, but since I am a UT alumnus and live in Austin, I pay closer…
Judges usually manage to stay out of the news, but two of them in California have been getting lots of national attention lately: U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego, and Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky….