Capacious, Ordered Liberty
The phrase “ordered liberty” reminds me the reasons the Framers abandoned the Articles of Confederation and created the Federal Constitution
Author: Burt Likko
Pseudonymous Portlander. Homebrewer. Atheist. Recovering Republican. Recovering Catholic. Recovering divorcé. Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Ordinary Times. Relapsed Lawyer, admitted to practice law (under his real name) in California and Oregon. On Twitter, to his frequent regret, at @burtlikko.
House Likko's Words:
Scite Verum.
Colite Iusticia.
Vivere Con Gaudium.
Summing Up Justice Alito’s Draft Opinion in Dobbs v Mississippi
To sum up the draft opinion on abortion, Justice Alito focuses on the abstract intellectual and legal origins of rights.
Discretion Has No Substitute: Lessons In Moving The Overton Window
Burt Likko on moving the Overton Window and lessons taught by his predecessor upon these pages, the Blues Brothers, & William F. Buckley, Jr.
Alternate Electors: The Illusion and Pretense of Lawfulness to the Unlawful
The “alternative electoral certificates” and “alternate electors” were intended to provide the illusion of lawfulness to the unlawful.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn: The Sociosexual Kobayashi Maru
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is maybe the art-housiest of every art-house movie I’ve seen in at least the past ten years
Nine Days Of American Justice
Burt Likko reviews a tumultuous week and a half in America’s justice system, and muses about its larger implications.
They’ll Think Themselves Victims: Scenes From An Oregon Attorney’s Office
In which pro-vaccination employment attorney Burt Likko is repeatedly asked to help people avoid their employers’ vaccination mandates.
Jeopardy! And What Is Actually Not So Important?
In which I take Andrew Donaldson to task for advocating the end of a cultural juggernaut whose time has not yet come.
The Two Year Chit: A Filibuster Suggestion
What might be done to mitigate the contra-democratic effect the peculiar tradition of filibuster has in the Senate? Burt Likko has an idea.
Paging Dr. Kübler-Ross
Burt Likko compares the bizarre subversion-of-democracy fantasies of Trump supporters with the actual law, and is unimpressed.
Best Meal Ever Week: Jurassic Cart
It was, quite simply, a definitively Portland experience, the exact sort of thing I had hoped to find upon relocating to the Rose City.
DC Statehood: 68.34 Square Miles of Constitutional Conundrum
Opponents of D.C. statehood, with the certainty of gospel truth, state DC statehood would require a Constitutional Amendment. I disagree. Am I right to?
Two Great Cases: Of Wheat, Weed, and Wickard
In which a farmer from Ohio and a very sick woman from California, across the generations, test the notion of the limited nature of Federal power.
The Most Constitutional Right
Does the Constitution guarantee a right to have the Constitution itself? A recent dissenting opinion suggests so, and Burt Likko muses upon what that means in today’s age of impeachment.
Spend a Few Evenings with Mrs. Fletcher
The story of “Mrs. Fletcher,” a limited series currently on HBO based upon a novel by Tom Perrotta, tries to have it all three ways…
High Sierra Ghost Stories
The past isn’t ever really past, and ghosts don’t ever die. So instead of avoiding them or feeling bad, maybe try confronting them a little bit?
The Great Cases: United States v. Nixon
U.S. v. Nixon was, beyond doubt, the most consequential decision Burger ever wrote and probably the most politically consequential decision between Brown v. Board of Education and Bush v. Gore.
Why I Actually Do Care About Trump’s Tax Returns
“I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency,” – Former President Harry Truman
Tenshot: The End of the World with Josh Clark
A bingeable podcast series confronts the big question, “Are We Doomed?”
Screengrab from WIVB Buffalo Channel 4 News[/caption]
