I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Detroit News pundit George Bullard has a novel idea for the Supreme Court. He thinks it’s time we put a non-lawyer on the court.
The best pick for U.S. Supreme: Someone who has no law degree. Inject common sense readings of the Constitution into decisions — a move more beneficial than finding someone with empathy.
Lawyers dominate the court but the Constitution does not require a law degree to be a justice. Time to diversify away from the narrow-mindedness of the legal profession.
Technically, he’s right; the Constitution does not require a law degree to be a justice. Of course, the Constitution also doesn’t require that the president have a high school diploma, or even be literate, but that doesn’t mean we should put a high school dropout in the White House either.
The notion that the “legal profession” is narrow-minded is quite ridiculous. The legal profession includes everything from conservative originalists to radical critical race theorists, from Republicans to Democrats to socialists to libertarians to Geoffrey Feiger. A profession that includes everyone from Catharine McKinnon to Robert Bork can hardly be accused of lacking diversity of opinion.
And the fact is that constitutional law is enormously complex and takes specialized knowledge to understand. Eric B at Michigan Liberal is right, this elevation of some ill-defined “common sense” over expertise that is acquired through hard work and dedication is a classic example of the anti-intellectualism that is so pervasive in this country.
Some have become so accustomed to paeons to the “average Joe” and so beset with a twisted conception of egalitarianism that they believe that expertise and specialized knowledge are irrelevant, that everyone really is just as competent as everyone else at every task. Well, they believe that right up until it’s time to go visit a doctor.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter