Author: Norman Leahy

A novel legal theory from two conservative legal scholars published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review that a section of the 14th Amendment makes Donald Trump ineligible to run for president may be getting a court hearing in Florida. As Ballot Access news editor emeritus Richard Winger notes: On August 24, a Florida voter, Lawrence Caplan, filed a federal lawsuit seeking to bar former President Donald Trump from being placed on 2024 ballots as a presidential candidate. Caplan v Trump, s.d., 0:23cv-61618. Caplan, who appears to be representing himself in the case, writes: Section 3 of the 14th Amendment,…

Realistic observers of the various federal, state and local mandates to switch from oil and gas to an all-renewable energy economy have wondered how much it will all cost consumers. New York state is providing some answers. Unsurprisingly, the switch is taking a not-insignificant bite out of family budgets: Some upstate New York electric customers are already paying 10 percent of their utility bill to support the state’s effort to move off fossil fuels and into renewable energy. In the coming years, people across the state can expect to give up even bigger chunks of their income to the programs…

There is one area where our fractious political class agrees: They are keen to make consumers pay more for just about everything. In this case, it’s making people pay through tariffs on imported goods. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have used tariffs as a means of rewarding friends and punishing foes. It’s rarely said that way – the usual protectionist line is the government is protecting jobs/economic security/whatever. Out on the campaign trail, Donald Trump floated the idea of imposing a universal 10 percent tariff on imports: “I think we should have a ring around the collar” of the…

The second GOP presidential debate is about a month away. That’s plenty of time for the candidates who made the stage for the first debate but may not qualify for the Sept. 27 event to decide whether it’s wiser to bow out now and get on with their lives or continue to pretend they might yet catch an electoral wave. There’s at least one candidate from that first debate who should move forward – if for no other reason than the candidate’s willingness to tell Republican voters the truth about spending. That candidate is former U.N. ambassador and South Caroline…

A small but noteworthy development in the GOP presidential race: the first candidate has dropped out. In a lengthy post on the website formerly known as Twitter, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he is suspending his campaign for the nomination. Which will come as a surprise to those who never knew he was running in the first place. Suarez wrote that he will be: …keeping in touch with the other Republican presidential candidates and doing what I can to make sure our party puts forward a strong nominee who can inspire and unify the country, renew Americans’ trust in our…

With news that current GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump will have to be in a federal courtroom rather than on the campaign trail next year, look for more stories about potential “lifeboat” candidate Gov. Glenn Youngkin may yet get into the race (particularly from media outlets in the Rupert Murdoch sphere of influence – the Fox News boss owner has been trying to convince Youngkin to run). As I’ve written before, this storyline, while appealing to those who believe that a Trump nomination wouldn’t just reelect Joe Biden but sink GOP hopes up and down the ballot, ignores the mechanics…

The ill-named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has marked its first anniversary of promising subsidies galore for those who want to get in on the green energy bandwagon. But the rule of massive wealth transfers like the IRA, its already generous handouts are never enough for those who’ve lashed themselves to the green mast. And they are making a pitch that if voters give Democrats full control of the federal government – Congress and the White House – they will make the next green energy bill bigger and more generous (with other people’s money) than the IRA could ever be. According…

While the exact cause of the wildfires that have killed more than 110 people and resulted in more than $5 billion in damages is still unknown, investigators are looking at what role downed, live power lines may have played. The island’s main power supplier, Hawaiian Electric, owned and operated the lines in question. And preliminary analysis indicates the company knew its lines could be a fire risk. But rather than devote resources to making the grid more resilient, it instead plowed money into meeting the state’s renewal power mandate. As The Wall Street Journal reports: Former regulators and energy company…

Former President Donald Trump is right: There’s no reason he should sign a GOP loyalty oath in order to participate in the candidates’ debates. Such oaths, which the Republican National Committee employed in the 2016 presidential primary – only to see the last remaining candidates, including Trump, abandon it – aren’t just signs of a party’s weakness; they are also profoundly silly and even un-American. Yes, we swear plenty of legally enforceable oaths – in court cases, for example, or declarations on tax forms and other legal documents. But oaths binding candidates to support someone who they’ve campaigned against, throwing elbows,…

Despite former President Donald Trump’s still-formidable polling advantage over the rest of the GOP presidential field, the prospect of Trump leading the party into the 2024 general election still leaves some Republicans uneasy. To the point where they are looking for a so-called” lifeboat” candidate. For months, that lifeboat was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. But as Mr. DeSantis struggles to gain his footing on the national stage, the search has resumed. And the new lifeboat is Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. I’ve written about this phenomenon before, and stick by my earlier assessment: Youngkin undoubtedly has higher ambitions. But his legacy…