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The Jerome Powell investigation shows Trump’s need for limitless power | Austin Sarat

The Jerome Powell investigation shows Trump’s need for limitless power | Austin Sarat

The inquiry into the Federal Reserve chair sends a message to anyone standing in Trump’s way – including the supreme court News that Donald Trump’s justice department has launched an investigation of Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, is the latest example of the president’s governing philosophy: do what I want, or I will crush you. The desire to make Powell’s life miserable is also a warning sign to anyone who thinks that they have an independent source of authority. What is happening to Powell is a test, not just for him and the Fed, but for any other person or institution that dares to stand up to the president. Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty Continue reading...

I am moving house – and being a lifelong hoarder has finally caught up with me | Zoe Williams

I am moving house – and being a lifelong hoarder has finally caught up with me | Zoe Williams

As I pack up for pastures new, I’m wondering why I still can’t tell the difference between a knick-knack and a mess I’m trying to move house; so are more than one pair of friends. We spend a lot of time trying to get on the insurance for each others’ cars, because some can fit a sideboard, and others can’t fit a handbag. We swap recommendations for things like secondhand book exchangers, and avoid talking about fond memories of the home about to be departed, concentrating on all the brilliant things there are to be said about new pastures. The main thing we don’t talk about is that none of us know how to do anything and that all of us are hoarders. There’s a reason not to know the big stuff – how to paint a skirting board, how to mend a bannister spindle – never doing a thing without landing in a place of pure ignorance. Probably if any of us were 25, we’d be no worse at painting than any other 25-year-old. Continue reading...

40 years on, did Proposition 48 protect US college sports – or punish Black athletes?

40 years on, did Proposition 48 protect US college sports – or punish Black athletes?

When the NCAA tied eligibility to standardized test scores in 1986, hundreds of recruits were barred from competition. But its legacy is still a subject of debate Tony Rice noticed the looks and smirks during his first week of freshman classes in the fall of 1986 at Notre Dame. He had accepted his fate a few months earlier when standardized test results led to the decision that he would not be eligible to participate in collegiate sports his freshman year. But nothing prepared him for this. Continue reading...

US supreme court to hear trans athletes cases that could erode key protections

US supreme court to hear trans athletes cases that could erode key protections

A ruling against two athletes in West Virginia and Idaho could have far-reaching implications for civil rights The US supreme court is considering the rights of transgender youth athletes on Tuesday in a major hearing on state laws banning trans girls from girls sports teams. Oral arguments center on two cases of trans students who sued over the Republican-backed laws in Idaho and West Virginia prohibiting them from participating in girls athletic programs. The cases could have far-reaching implications for civil rights , with a ruling against the athletes potentially eroding a range of protections for trans youth and LGBTQ+ people more broadly. Continue reading...