a progressive perspective on law, politics, philosophy…and occasionally life
We are about two months into our move to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I want a record of how this part of my life unfolds, so I’m keeping a journal. I have decided to experiment with putting the occasional entry into Notes from Calico Manor. Both keeping this journal and using Notes from Calico Manor … Read more
Keynote for the Ontario Bar Association Legal Conference, “Cross Borders”May 4, 2023; Speaker: Heidi Li Feldman Lecture notes prepared by Heidi Li Feldman Part One: Outline of Remarks 1. Overview of the current state of U.S. Supreme Court A. Composition of the current Supreme Court bench i. Irregular withholding of Senate hearings to preserve a vacancy … Read more
Today, I was reading about how the covid-19 pandemic has burned out and traumatized hospital nurses. I caught myself unexpectedly nodding along in recognition, though I’m not a nurse. I’m a professor. Nurses have faced more dramatic, more dire conditions than I have. Yet the demands from their employers and their patients were startling familiar. … Read more
The Florida legislature has now blatantly joined Florida’s Governor in open contempt for peaceful, mutually beneficial cooperation with progressive states or with the District of Columbia. Last fall, Florida governor Ron DeSantis joined other Republican governors in arranging and funding the transport migrants in southern border states to destinations in northern states and in the … Read more
I’m cheerleading for the small public library in South Ryegate, Vermont, which needs $5000 to stay open this year, 2023. I stumbled across the library’s plight here. Increasingly, right-wingers, white Christian nationalists, and Republican officeholders are attacking institutions of learning and education, particularly those supported with public funds. This is part of a concerted effort … Read more
I hate the term “self-care.” It is always sounds too woo-woo to me. It carries connotations of superficiality, summoning up the image of people relying on scented candles to handle oppression, injustice, subordination. Because the phrase has been hijacked by “influencers” and by marketers, it can seem that self-care is not-politics, that it requires inattention … Read more
Ron DeSantis’s book drops on February 28. The book’s subtitle is Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, signaling DeSantis’s ambition for national office. Despite the book’s imminent publication, major national news outlets’ coverage of DeSantis has been mostly piecemeal. This is a a dereliction of journalistic duty. It allows DeSantis to set the terms of the … Read more
It was easy for me to depart Twitter. I liked having a place to share thoughts, I appreciated the visibility some of my ideas and efforts gained. But there was no way I was to create content for a platform owned by the new owner, who closed his purchase in October, 2022. I still wanted … Read more
Today, the House Republicans unanimously nixed further consideration of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). Too often, the WHPA has been described only in shorthand, depicted as an attempt to codify the now overruled Roe v. Wade. The WHPA, however, made a much bolder statement about women’s equality in the U.S. than Roe ever did. … Read more
I neither know nor care why George Santos, the newly elected Republican Congressman from Long Island, NY flashed a white supremacist sign while voting for Kevin McCarthy to become Speaker of the House. I care greatly, however, that none of the House Republicans seem to think that because he did they should immediately eject Santos … Read more