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Supreme Court's springtime reckoning

National Columnists

The United States Supreme Court has entered its most consequential season. From April through June, the justices release rulings that do more than interpret the law — they shape the direction of the country. Cases argued in the quiet months of winter now emerge into public view, often carrying the full weight of the nation's deepest divisions. Alexander Hamilton once described the court as the "least dangerous" branch, lacking power over "the sword or the purse." History has not been kind to that prediction. Through judicial review and lifetime appointments, the court has ...

Pick best person for Supreme Court job

National Columnists

In 1990, George H.W. Bush, listening to then-White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, nominated David Souter to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sununu, who as governor of New Hampshire had nominated Souter to the Granite State's supreme court in 1983, assured Bush that Souter would be a "home run" for the conservative cause. That's not what happened. Souter quickly lurched leftward, joining the 1992 court majority in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that upheld the core abortion "right" holding of Roe v. Wade. By the time of his retirement in 2009 — a decision that paved the way for ...

Spending, health care are America's problem

National Columnists

America has a spending problem. It also has a health care problem. These are not two separate crises but rather the same crisis wearing different clothes. The Cato Institute's new "Handbook on Affordability" is a great resource to understand the root problem and how to fix it. Start with a recap of the fiscal picture. The federal government runs large deficits so persistently that they've become a structural threat to price stability. As Romina Boccia and Dominik Lett argue in the handbook's second chapter, when debt expands faster than the economy, investors begin pricing in ...

Shadow docket regular feature of court's regimen

National Columnists

In a famous Supreme Court one-liner, reminding the legal community of the finality of the court's rulings, the late Justice William J. Brennan Jr. is reputed to have said that the Constitution means whatever any five of us say it means. This reflects the basic math that five is a majority of nine. It also reflects the theory of realism in constitutional jurisprudence. Realism, in this context, is the view that the Constitution is stagnant and unenforceable of its own existence. Realism teaches that the Constitution is only enforceable when the government voluntarily complies ...

AI can't be stopped

National Columnists

There's a growing impulse in American politics to blame the free market — and the technologies it produces — for every bout of economic indigestion, as if a shadowy cabal of innovators is deliberately dismantling the middle-class way of life. That impulse is no longer abstract. It has become physical. People are now attacking data centers. On the "All-In Podcast," investor David Friedberg offered what may be the clearest explanation yet for why these massive, anonymous buildings have suddenly become targets. The data center, he argued, is the modern "temple of the ...

PNC steps up for Pittsburgh's NFL draft

National Columnists

Despite having moved away for nearly 20 years, when you've called Pittsburgh home for any length of time, two things often happen: You want to come back to raise your children, and you want to be part of something, big or small, that makes it better. Bill Demchak wanted to do both, and as CEO of PNC Financial Services, he had the ability to make a big impact. Since returning in 2002 to the city where he grew up, he has been doing exactly that, quietly and consistently. It was the fall of 2022, and the city was struggling to recover from COVID-19, poor governance, a growing homeless ...