Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Spain, Iraq failing their secessionists
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 05/10/2017
» The secession of a region without constitutional authority is a big deal, as referendums in Catalonia and Kurdistan have shown in the last week. To get a sense of the possible consequences, think of the US Civil War, which started because Southern states insisted they could secede while Northern states said such a right was nowhere in the US Constitution.
The fit deserve the right to serve
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 28/07/2017
» A ban on transgender people serving in the US military would probably be unconstitutional under any circumstances. But President Donald Trump has pretty much guaranteed that courts would strike down such a ban by announcing it on Wednesday on Twitter, without any real justification.
Syria's Kurds work all the angles for autonomy
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 17/05/2017
» Outside the headlines, something remarkable is going on in Syria. The Kurds, making a long-term play for an autonomous region, seem to have decided that their best bet is to buy it from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And the US is signaling that it may be on-board -- a startling reflection of its pro-Russian, anti-Turkish policy.
Comey's firing is a crisis of American rule of law
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 11/05/2017
» It's not a constitutional crisis. Technically, President Donald Trump was within his constitutional rights on Tuesday when he fired FBI Director James Comey. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is part of the executive branch, not an independent agency. But the firing did violate a powerful unwritten norm: that the director serves a 10-year, nonrenewable term and is fired only for good cause.
Trump's ignoble attack on judiciary
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 07/02/2017
» It's no surprise that President Donald Trump initiated a Twitter attack Saturday on federal judge James Robart for freezing the executive order on immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. The ultimate fate of the order will depend on proceedings in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied the government's emergency request to reinstate the ban, and possibly even the US Supreme Court. But because judges issue rulings, not press releases, it's also up to civil society and the news media to defend the judge and the rule of law from the president's bluster.
Trump's self-destructive bravado
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 02/02/2017
» The Monday night massacre -- as President Donald Trump's firing of acting Attorney-General Sally Yates was inevitably called -- lacked the grand madness of Richard Nixon's famous firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox on Oct 20, 1973, which prompted the resignations of the attorney-general and the deputy attorney-general.
Supreme Court forces nationalism into movie theatres
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 05/12/2016
» Amid rising Hindu nationalism, the Supreme Court of India has ordered theatres to play the national anthem before films and directed moviegoers to stand at attention -- no excuses. The Indian constitution is a wonder of the world, but this decision undercuts free-speech and individual rights at a moment when the country can ill-afford it. The court, which has the final word in interpreting the constitution, can still reverse itself. And it should, because the court's job is to protect rights, not to impose duties and obligations when the legislature has not done so.
The presidency can bend to fit Trump's personality
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 29/11/2016
» Donald Trump is inheriting a more powerful presidency than any of his predecessors. And if history is any guide, he will seek to expand the power of the office. But how will he do it? One clue lies in noticing how the personalities of the last two presidents were reflected in their techniques of expansion. Barack Obama's administration took a very different route to its expansion of executive authority than did George W Bush's -- and Mr Trump's will probably be different still.
Constitutional crisis a risk in the UK
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 30/06/2016
» The phrase "constitutional crisis" looms large over the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the EU. The possibility of such a crisis has been invoked in connection with what would happen if the Scottish parliament refuses to approve Britain's withdrawal; what might happen if Britain's main parliament should ignore the results of the Brexit referendum; and the possible consequences of taking seriously the popular petition calling for a second vote on the basis of a new "rule" requiring a 60% approval and 75% turnout on EU-related matters.