A Thread About US Politics

[Maximus]

I tend to think of justice as a balance between mercy and vengeance.

[Ideologue]

Justice is whatever increases human happiness the most. Mercy is one of its expressions, to be used if the case is right.

[garbon]

Justice is whatever increases human happiness the most.

If only the Justice Dept knew that.

[dps]

I respectfully disagree as to the first assertion.

Sorry, that was an incomplete sentence.  It should have read, "The guy gets plenty of sex compared to me." 

As long as each of you has one functional hand, you should both  be able to get all the sex you want.  Sexual partners, though, are a different story.

[garbon]

Who calls masturbation, sex?

[dps]

Who calls masturbation, sex?

Can't really consider someone who masturbates a lot asexual.

[garbon]

Who calls masturbation, sex?

Can't really consider someone who masturbates a lot asexual.

Of course not. But then I wouldn't define asexuality on that basis but rather on the extent to which they have a sex drive.

[Ideologue]

Who calls masturbation, sex?

Dps, when aa is mad at him.

[Jacob]

So, American languishites, what's your take on the current immigration enforcement executive order?

Did Obama overreach in a heinous fashion, undermining the governance of the very Republic?

What are the Republicans' options? What will they actually do?

How is the American public responding?

[Berkut]

Hang on, let me go check Fox News and I will get back to you on my opinion...

[Admiral Yi]

I thought he overreached.  I would love a nice, clean Supreme Court case to determine if he did or not.

[The Minsky Moment]

Immigration is "special" in certain ways.  The power to control immigration (as opposed to naturalization) is not enumerated in the Constitution.  Nor is it based on the Commerce power.  Historically, the constitutional power to regulate immigration has been based on inherent powers of a sovereign, and the Supreme Court has sometimes characterized this as an executive function that forms part of inherent Article II presidential powers, that may in some cases be exercised even without explicit grants of authority from Congress.  In addition, the immigration laws - namely the INA - also give very broad grants of discretion to the Executive.

The upshot is that executive power is near its zenith in the immigration context.  [BTW I don't view that as a particularly good thing or even a proper constitutional interpretation, but as a matter of reality that ship long since sailed]. Given that the announcement seems to be a declaration of prosecutorial discretion, albeit a very broad and consequential one, it seems to be within the President's legal power. 

Whether it is good policy is another question, and for my 2c the GOP would be better served focusing on that avenue attack, rather than tangling themselves in legalisms that could be used as precedent to limit future hypothetical GOP presidents.

[Admiral Yi]

The issuance of work permits seems to go a bit further than opting not to prosecute immigration offenders.

[grumbler]

I agree that the case is an interesting one, and is at the outer limits of what I consider executive authority, but also that the actual executive order was pretty well-crafted to not exceed that authority.  The Republican criticisms that I have heard are mostly daft, simplistic and false assertions that "a year ago the President said he didn't have this power" when the question a year ago was different than the current one.  The vague Republican threats that they will actually pass legislation to retaliate against this executive order are somewhat promising in that they imply that the Republicans might actually care about doing something constructive rather than destructive (unless their eventually-chosen solution is to just defund the government).  Seeing a Republican immigration bill or policy would be a novel experience and good for the country.

[Jacob]

The issuance of work permits seems to go a bit further than opting not to prosecute immigration offenders.

But isn't issuing/ not issuing permits of whatever kind, within the bounds of the law, exactly what the executive is supposed to do?