Abrams may be the greatest First Amendment lawyer we have ever known. Abrams’s book, however, delivers only brief snippets of the fascinating war stories he must have to tell. Instead, as its title suggests, The Soul of the First Amendment deals in big, broad ideas.
The Roberts Court elevates the “how conservative?” question to a heightened pitch. The conservatism meme, though, presents a problem for serious analysts like Tribe and Coyle. The court is not supposed to be a political actor. We expect the justices to provide reasoned grounds for their decisions. That expectation is not wrong—judicial reasoning is a real thing—but neither is it simple.
The Common Reader, a publication of Washington University in St. Louis, offers the best in reviews, articles and creative non-fiction engaging the essential debates and issues of our time.
The word “stories” was used often at the annual NABIP Capitol Conference, held in the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, February 25-28, 2024. I went because I have my own stories of frustration with health care, and because I am interested when someone seems ready to try to make things better in the largely incomprehensible and vaguely menacing system we all rely on.
