Gastonia, NC Correspondent — A linebacker who fills a stadium and a biology major who swims at six in the morning are not the same worker. Pretending they are is how you get a category error with a legal memorandum attached. The courts are right that amateurism as a vow became a business model, and … Continue reading As courts and legislatures chip at NCAA amateurism, should college athletes be treated as employees this fall, or is that a category error that will collapse the non-revenue sports?
Champagne Summits
Is the renewed push for D.C. statehood a representation argument that should be settled on the merits, or a mid-cycle attempt to add Senate seats by statute?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — Taxation without a House vote is an argument I can hear. Two senators from a federal city, created by statute, in a presidential year, is a different argument wearing the first one's coat. The merits version would look like a constitutional process — an amendment that retires the Twenty-third, a … Continue reading Is the renewed push for D.C. statehood a representation argument that should be settled on the merits, or a mid-cycle attempt to add Senate seats by statute?
Should states expand no-excuse mail balloting for November on pandemic grounds, or treat late changes to election mechanics as a confidence risk that outweighs access arguments?
Gastonia, NC Correspondent — Access is a real word. So is a rulebook that moved after the primary posters went up. A pandemic justifies more absentee options for people who can show a reason and a simpler process for people who already had the right. It doesn't justify a July invention of universal mail in … Continue reading Should states expand no-excuse mail balloting for November on pandemic grounds, or treat late changes to election mechanics as a confidence risk that outweighs access arguments?
With the extra federal unemployment supplement scheduled to lapse, should Congress extend the $600 add-on, step it down, or let labor-market tightness and state systems take over?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — Six hundred dollars on top of a state check was a March instrument. March instruments that pay more than the job they replaced become July problems. A cliff on the thirty-first is ugly if the job doesn't exist. A cliff is honest if the job is posted and the add-on … Continue reading With the extra federal unemployment supplement scheduled to lapse, should Congress extend the $600 add-on, step it down, or let labor-market tightness and state systems take over?
After new Hong Kong sanctions and another tariff round, should U.S.–China policy treat decoupling as a destination or as a limited valve strategy?
Gastonia, NC Correspondent — A destination called decoupling sounds like a slogan that has never had to buy a capacitor. A valve strategy sounds like somebody who has read a bill of materials. The Hong Kong measures are a political and legal matter. You don't treat a city that was promised a different rule as … Continue reading After new Hong Kong sanctions and another tariff round, should U.S.–China policy treat decoupling as a destination or as a limited valve strategy?
After weeks of unrest and federal deployments to protect courthouses and monuments, should the use of federal officers in cities that refuse to hold a riot line be normalized, or reserved as an exceptional remedy?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — A courthouse is not a suggestion and a monument is not a comment box. When a city won't hold a line around either, somebody else does or the line is a rumor. Normalize is the wrong word if it means federal patrols standing in as municipal police. Exceptional is the … Continue reading After weeks of unrest and federal deployments to protect courthouses and monuments, should the use of federal officers in cities that refuse to hold a riot line be normalized, or reserved as an exceptional remedy?
Should K–12 systems follow July 2020 federal guidance favoring in-person reopening, or treat teachers’ unions and local case curves as the binding constraint?
Gastonia, NC Correspondent — The federal guidance is a preference for the default that children belong in a room with a teacher. That default isn't reckless. It's a ranking of harms after four months of a substitute that wasn't school. A union is a bargaining unit. A case curve is a hospital measurement. Neither is … Continue reading Should K–12 systems follow July 2020 federal guidance favoring in-person reopening, or treat teachers’ unions and local case curves as the binding constraint?
Are federal and state eviction and foreclosure moratoria still a necessary bridge, or have they become a quiet transfer from property owners to a political calendar?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — A bridge has a far bank. A calendar has a November. March was a bridge. Income stopped, courts closed, and a padlock in week three would have been both cruel and a public-health problem. July is a different month. Some income is back and some isn't, and treating those as … Continue reading Are federal and state eviction and foreclosure moratoria still a necessary bridge, or have they become a quiet transfer from property owners to a political calendar?
Should professional and college sports resume this summer under restricted protocols, or does a restart impose an unacceptable public-health and labor risk on players, staff, and host cities?
Gastonia, NC Correspondent — A restart is a workplace question wearing a mascot. Players are adults who already accept orthopedic ruin as a condition of employment. Staff are adults who need a shift. Host cities are the people who sell parking and plates. Treating those three as one object is how you get a summer … Continue reading Should professional and college sports resume this summer under restricted protocols, or does a restart impose an unacceptable public-health and labor risk on players, staff, and host cities?
Should Congress reassert clearer statutory limits on the use of emergency economic powers by the executive branch?
Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — These authorities were written for genuine, time-limited crises. They've become a route for policy that would be harder to pass ordinarily. Tighter definitions, automatic sunsets, faster congressional review. That restores balance without stripping the ability to act when speed genuinely matters, which it sometimes does. The practical case from my side … Continue reading Should Congress reassert clearer statutory limits on the use of emergency economic powers by the executive branch?
