themarketswork

a common sense approach to a liberal world

Trump’s Judicial Vacancies – A Hope for Our Courts

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One of the most powerful and influential duties of any President is the appointment of Judges. Supreme Court appointments always take precedent – a little legal humor – but in their sheer number, appointments to the lower, lesser courts can be almost equally as important – and highly influential on our nation’s direction.

“There are 13 appellate courts that sit below the U.S. Supreme Court, and they are called the U.S. Courts of Appeals. The 94 federal judicial districts are organized into 12 regional circuits, each of which has a court of appeals. In addition, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has nationwide jurisdiction to hear appeals in specialized cases.”

A total of 13 Appeal Courts sitting just below the Supreme Court.

A primary reason for the legal – and social & cultural – influence of our lesser courts is that the Supreme Court hears so few cases – perhaps 80 per year are chosen to be argued before the court plus another 50 in which they hear no arguments. Judicial activism – and judicial errors – at the lower court levels are simply too numerous to be addressed at the highest legal level of the Supreme Court.Continue Reading

Judge Bork’s Olympians & the Danger of Judicial Activism

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“Liberals attempt through Judicial Activism what they cannot win at the ballot box” – Rush Limbaugh

“A Constitution is not meant to facilitate change. It is meant to impede change, to make it difficult to change.” – Justice Antonin Scalia

“The role assigned to judges in our system was to interpret the Constitution and lesser laws, not to make them. It was to protect the integrity of the Constitution, not to add to it or subtract from it – certainly not to rewrite it.” – Ronald Reagan

What is Judicial Activism?

Elizabeth Slattery of the Heritage Foundation offers the following from her article, How to Spot Judicial Activism:

“A simple working definition is that judicial activism occurs when judges fail to apply the Constitution or laws impartially according to their original public meaning, regardless of the outcome, or do not follow binding precedent of a higher court and instead decide the case based on personal preference.Continue Reading

Reversing the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

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“Unless judges are bound by the text of the Constitution, we will, in fact, no longer have a government of laws, but of men and women who are judges.” – President Ronald Reagan

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is not actually the most overturned court at present. That award currently goes to the 6th Circuit Court which serves Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, with an 87% rate. The 9th Circuit Court comes in at third place with a 79% overturn rate. This is according to an examination of data from 2010-2015.

The Ninth Circuit’s overturn rate is somewhat overblown – but not by much. It’s true the Supreme Court actually reviews very few cases and the ones it selects are likely to be contentious. But that does not change the fact that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals consistently ranks near the top for overturn rates. During the period of 1999-2008, a study by the ABA found the 9th Circuit ranked 2nd at 80.0% – placing behind the Federal Circuit Court which came in at 83.3%. The long-run average rate of reversal was 68% by comparison.

And the 9th Circuit is often reversed by a unanimous Supreme Court vote.Continue Reading

Judge Orrick’s Judicial Activism

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“The role assigned to judges in our system was to interpret the Constitution and lesser laws, not to make them.” – President Ronald Reagan

Federal Judge William Orrick recently issued an injunction against President Trump’s proposed termination of certain types of federal funding for Sanctuary Cities through Executive Order 13768:

“The Counties’ motions for a nationwide preliminary injunction, enjoining enforcement of Section 9(a), are GRANTED. The defendants (other than the President) are enjoined from enforcing Section 9(a) of the Executive Order against jurisdictions they deem as sanctuary jurisdictions. This injunction does not impact the Government’s ability to use lawful means to enforce existing conditions of federal grants or 8 U.S.C. 1373, nor does it restrict the Secretary from developing regulations or preparing guidance on designating a jurisdiction as a “sanctuary jurisdiction.” IT IS SO ORDERED.”Continue Reading

The March for Science & the Reality of Dr. Lucy Jones

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“Scientists begin from the assumption that there is an objective reality, independent of our hopes and desires.” – Dr. Lucy Jones

The March for Science took place on Saturday. Although billed as a non-partisan event, it was not. The movement was forced to update their website by changing multiple sections, including their statement on diversity. Here is the current statement:

“Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility are integral to this mission and to our overall goals and principles. People have rightly pointed out that some of our own public communications, including social media posts, have not affirmed this stance. We hear your feedback and have been working to align our communications with our values. We are actively partnering with and seeking advice from organizations and individuals with expertise in this area. We cannot ignore issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, or any other form of discrimination in the discussion and implementation of science. Nor can we ignore the ways in which science has been misused to harm marginalized communities. The lack of inclusivity and diversity in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] thwarts scientific advancements not only by limiting who conducts the research, but also by influencing what topics are studied, who participates in the research, and who will benefit from or be harmed by it.”

Bear in mind, the above reflects the March for Science’s adjusted and “de-politicized” statement.  Now, here are direct quotes – really, I’m serious – from the original statement:Continue Reading

Why Socialism Fails

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“Democratic socialism is legalized theft in the name of the people against the vilified few. It is a battle against income inequality by means of collective immiseration. It is the subjugation of private enterprise and personal autonomy to government power.” – Bret Stephens

“To be a socialist is to submit the I to the thou; socialism is sacrificing the individual to the whole.” – Joseph Goebbels

In yet another move of socialist brilliance, the Venezuelan government of Maduro announced the seizure of the General Motors plant located in Valencia. GM immediately announced the layoff of the division’s 2,700 workers. Venezuela has seized more than 1,400 companies since the socialist rise to power in 1999 under Hugo Chavez. Almost all seized companies have ceased operation.

As noted by Ana Quintano, “forty years ago, Venezuela was the fourth richest nation, per capita, in the world. Today, its economy is collapsing. Such are the wages of Chavismo.”Continue Reading

Your Taxes – How They’re Spent, Some Budget Problems & Spending Gone Crazy

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”Think of the federal government as a gigantic insurance company – with a sideline business in national defense and homeland security, which does its accounting on a cash basis. And an insurance company with cash accounting . . . is an accident waiting to happen.” – Peter Fisher – former U.S. Treasury Under-Secretary – Head of Domestic Finance

In advance of Tax Day I thought it an appropriate time to revisit how our federal taxes are utilized. How your tax payments are actually spent by the federal government, some very real problems we are facing and some examples of government spending gone awry.

But first, where do our federal tax revenues come from? Ultimately, they come from you and me. Individual income taxes account for 47% federal revenues. Payroll taxes account for another 34% of federal revenues. Corporate income taxes account for about 10% of federal revenues – a figure that often surprises many with its small percentage relative to income and payroll taxes. As discussed in Abolish the Corporate Tax, corporations are actually tax collectors – legal entities that serve to collect taxes on behalf of the corporation’s owners. Therefore, the true corporate taxpayers are the company’s shareholders – and perhaps, to some degree, labor and customers – not corporations. The remaining 9% comes from customs duties and excise taxes.

In fiscal year 2016 the federal government spent $3.95 trillion. About $2.7 trillion – more than two-thirds of total spending – went for social “insurance” (Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, unemployment compensation, veterans benefits). National defense spending equaled $600 billion or 15% of federal spending. Interest on our national debt equaled 6% of federal spending.Continue Reading

Climate Change Debate – Politics, False Consensus, Questionable Science & Some Questions

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“If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science.” – Richard Feynman

“In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” – Galileo Galilei

“The debate is settled. Climate change is a fact” – Barack Obama

There is a certain purity to science. The Scientific Method – elegant in its simplicity and maddening in its application – lays down the path to knowledge:Continue Reading

American Nationism

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I used to identify as a Libertarian. I no longer do – although I retain many Libertarian ideals.

Libertarianism fails for me on several counts. Particularly on borders and defense.

Someone once said, “Conservatives tend to be libertarian, but libertarians tend not to be conservative”.

I think there’s a lot of truth in that statement.

So, what do I believe?Continue Reading

The Department of Justice’s Slush Fund

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News of a Department of Justice “Slush Fund” has been making headlines recently.

Unfortunately, this is not new information – the activity goes back to 2012 and can be traced to The Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group (Working Group), created in 2012 by none other than Obama’s first Attorney General, Eric Holder. Let’s just say that I view Mr. Holder as “ethically-challenged”.

The Working Group was created within the Justice Department in 2012 as a means of prosecution and punishment for those perceived to be responsible for the financial crisis of 2008. At its formation Mr. Holder made the following statement:Continue Reading