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March 2009 - Posts
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A recently released Justice Department memo, written by John Yoo and dated Oct. 23, 2001, argues that First Amendment speech and press rights may be "subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully." The "current campaign against terrorism," he concluded, "may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically." The memo is devoted primarily to the president's ability to use armed forces against terrorists within the United States, largely free of the constraints of the Fourth Amendment. It did not explore how military needs might override the First Amendment. What actions did the Bush administration contemplate?
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AIG went from a market capitalization of more than $200 billion to a public float of about $1 billion, representing little more than the option value of a speculative bet on the company's future. The sum of AIG's lost market value and its bailout fund is almost half the value of the recently passed national stimulus package. Has the government really made the case that failure to satisfy AIG's counterparties would result in greater societal harm than spending $170 billion on what were private obligations?
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Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, the Supreme Court held that a city's display of a privately donated monument is "government speech," so that its decision to reject a proffered donation is not covered by the free speech clause. The near unanimity can be explained by two points: the complete impracticality of Summum's position, and its continued, unhampered right to speak in the park at issue.
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