Category: Other Writing

Co-authored with Ben Wittes and Quinta Jurecic. Punchline:

Perhaps most importantly of all, Biden can, simply by being himself, cure a long-standing constitutional defect of the Trump era: the national disgrace, visible around the world, of a president incapable of satisfying the most important qualification of his office, the responsibility to try, in good faith, to follow the law and uphold the Constitution. It is entirely within Biden’s power to act not only as the leader of his party but also as the head of state of his nation, to spare the country from lunatic Twitter rants and, merely by displaying basic decency, bring some measure of dignity back to the Oval Office.

Democracy is not a finish line to be crossed once and for all, but a struggle to be fought over and over again—every four years, every two years, every day. President-elect Biden’s victory means that, across the political spectrum, democracy’s believers get to keep fighting to preserve and strengthen it. After what the country has lived through for the past four years, that’s a thing worth celebrating without reservation.

Full post here.

It begins:

The Supreme Court recently denied a request to clarify the meaning of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which, as interpreted by lower courts, immunizes internet platforms from liability for user conduct. But Justice Clarence Thomas wrote separately to explain why the views the current dominant interpretation of Section 230 to be overbroad, arguing that the Supreme Court should, at some point in the future, correct this mistake. 

I’m of two minds as to Thomas’s statement. On the one hand, I agree with his legal analysis that lower courts wrongly read far more expansive liability protections into the law than Congress intended. On the other hand, I’m frustrated: Why has it taken until now for a justice to pay attention to Section 230? 

Full post here.