Welcome to my archives. This is a long list of most of the commentaries and longer articles I have written since 1989; the hundreds of articles I wrote for the New York Times from 1980-1988 can be found via the SELECTED MEDIA OUTLETS box. They are sorted by date, with the most recent posts first. If you want to find something specific, I would encourage you to use the search feature in the sidebar. It is powered by Google. It is fast and accurate.
Opening Argument – The Art Of the Deal: Avoiding A Nomination Armageddon
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
Consultation. Conciliation. Compromise. Such concepts are in eclipse these days in Washington. Everyone is getting ready for the mother of all confirmation battles. As soon as one of the nine aging Supreme Court justices retires, sports fans expect, President Bush will pick a clone of Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas. Liberal groups will "Bork" the nominee as a retrograde, right-wing judicial activist bent on forcing women into back-alley abortions, pushing gays back into the closet, resegregating higher education, imposing a fundamentalist Christian theocracy, and promiscuously paving the habitats of endangered species. And then there will be all of the oppo dirt-digging for ethical lapses, libidinous excesses, and other embarrassments.
Special Report – Who Might Get the Nod?
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
President Bush is keeping confidential his short list of possible nominees should one or more Supreme Court justices retire. But in conversations with former White House officials and others, the same names keep coming up. Brief biographies of 10 of them follow, very roughly in order of their prominence in the Supreme Court succession speculation game.
Special Report – Prepping the Nominee
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
Veteran Washington superlobbyist Tom Korologos, now ambassador to Belgium, had some pithy words of wisdom for past Republican Supreme Court nominees whom he helped shepherd through the process: "Your role is that of a bridegroom at a wedding. Stay out of the way, be on time, and keep your mouth shut."
Opening Argument – Do Racial Preferences Reduce the Number of Black Lawyers?
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
The 35-year-old debate about affirmative action in university admissions has often focused on whether the supposed benefits to black and Hispanic students justify the costs to whites and Asians who lose out, and the resulting racial divisions and resentments.
Opening Argument – What Does Bush Want From the Supreme Court?
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
A lot of liberals, and a lot of conservatives, think that President Bush is speaking in code when he says he would nominate to the Supreme Court "strict constructionists" who would "faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench."
Opening Argument – The Problem With Alberto Gonzales
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales is an amiable man with an inspiring personal story. One of eight children of uneducated Mexican-American immigrants, he grew up in a Texas house with no hot water or telephone. He would be the first Hispanic attorney general. He has the complete trust of the president, whom he has loyally served for four years in Washington, and in Texas before that. He is far less divisive and confrontational than the departing John Ashcroft.
Opening Argument – How the High Court and the Media Aggravate Polarization
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
My last column explored some reasons for the bitter liberal-conservative polarization of our political class, which has helped spawn the anger, mendacity, and emotionalism that make our politics so ugly. Here I explain how the Supreme Court and the media have made this polarization worse, and sketch possible remedies.
Opening Argument – How Our Political System Elevates the Wrong People
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
The air is thick with lies, deceptions, distortions, demagoguery, sleaze, and vicious rhetoric, uttered every day by President Bush, John Kerry, or their surrogates. Both candidates offer evasion and snake-oil non-remedies for dire national problems, ranging from the existential threat of nuclear terrorism, to the war in Iraq, to global warming, to the looming Social-Security-Medicare-deficit disaster. And each campaign is whipping its most partisan supporters into a frenzy of hatred for the opposing party.
Cover Story – The A-List
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
Liberal and conservative interest groups see Supreme Court appointments as a president’s most important domestic legacy. So now they are in their quadrennial lather about how Republican appointees could swing the closely balanced Court decisively to the right, and how Democratic appointees could swing it to the left, especially on big social issues that include abortion rights, affirmative action, gay rights, and religion.
Opening Argument – Should Reporters Go to Jail for Doing Their Jobs?
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
This headline might seem to load the dice, in favor of creating a special privilege for us journalists to defy grand jury subpoenas demanding the names of our sources. But it really is that simple: Judith Miller, of The New York Times, and Matthew Cooper, of Time, will go to jail for contempt of court for as long as 18 months for refusing to betray their sources unless they win what look like uphill battles on appeal. Neither has done anything wrong or done anyone harm. Indeed, Miller wrote nothing at all about the matter in contention. Yet both face incarceration for honoring what any decent journalist would consider a cardinal professional and moral obligation. So do other reporters around the country who face a rising tide of prosecutorial demands for sources’ names.