E-mail:
Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com
Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu
Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu
Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu
Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu
Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com
Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu
Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu
Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu
Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu
Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu
Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu
Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu
Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu
Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu
David Luban david.luban at gmail.com
Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu
Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu
Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu
John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu
Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com
Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com
Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com
Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu
Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu
David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu
Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu
K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu
Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu
Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu
David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu
Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu
Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu
Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu
Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu
The nomination of Edith Clement would support observations that contemporary American politics is a contest between the party of the rich who fight to the death against welfare while caving on abortion and the party of the other rich who fight to the death on abortion while caving on welfare. The preliminary indications, very preliminary, indicate that Judge Clement is extremely pro-business while possibly willing to reaffirm some version of Roe v. Wade (and probably some version of Lawrence v. Texas). Best guess is that will do it for the Democrats and a great many liberal lawyers whose constitutional liberalism seems almost exhausted by efforts to preserve Roe.
The lower-middle class voters who Democrats formerly counted on tend to be ambivalent, at best, about abortion and gay rights. A reasonable case can be made that liberal elites should still champion abortion and gay rights, given the gross discrimination against the poor and persons of color when abortion is illegal and the bigotry underlying opposition to gay rights. Still, the present debates on Supreme Court nominations suggest that liberal elites have nothing to offer their lower-middle class base. Justice Clement will be free to gut protections for unions and laws limiting hazards in the work place, as long as she might declare parental consent laws unconstitutional. Posted
12:42 PM
by Mark Graber [link]