Showing 1 - 7 of 7
The US shutdown's domino effect
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 08/01/2019
» President Donald Trump, in a meeting with congressional Democrats on Friday said he was prepared for the partial government shutdown to continue for months -- or even years -- if he doesn't get the money he wants for a wall along the Mexican border. It's not hard to see how that prediction comes true. Both sides have framed the issue such that a victory for one side on funding a border wall entails defeat for the other. Neither side has much incentive to compromise.
'Resistance' does not equate to crisis
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 07/09/2018
» On the surface, it sounds a bit like a coup d'état. An anonymous senior official in Donald Trump's administration has written an op-ed article for The New York Times saying the official is part of the "resistance" to the president from within. But don't get taken in by the hype. What the writer describes is a lot like what happens in many, probably most administrations: Officials who share some but not all the president's goals use bureaucratic tools to avoid or delay implementing presidential initiatives they don't like.
The pros and cons of Trump's random foreign policy
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 20/03/2018
» Suppose President Donald Trump's foreign policy is random. I mean really random: Like random luck, designed only in so far as to fluctuate wildly between different, opposing strategic views.
Manafort indictment kicks off a complicated story
News, Noah Feldman, Published on 01/11/2017
» So now we know how this game of Clue starts: Paul Manafort with a wire transfer in the parlour. But Democrats who are getting revved up for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation to follow the money from Russia to Donald Trump's campaign shouldn't get too excited, at least not yet.
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.
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.