Category Archives: Articles

What is the National Rifle Association’s position on pistols? Do they want people to have to wait a few days to buy a pistol? What about criminal background checks on gun buyers? What is the right answer? That depends on … Continue reading →

By the end of this decade Texas will be the home of two incredible new scientific machines that will advance human knowledge in very different ways, both seeking to get a little closer to the moment time began. A new … Continue reading →

“Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself,” Albert Schweitzer once said. Prolonged pain destroys the quality of life, erodes the will to live, and sometimes drives people to suicide. One of the most common causes … Continue reading →

On July 1, a month and a half from today, the Governor’s Task Force on Revenue will report on the condition of the state’s finances and recommend changes in the state’s taxes. Nobody knows what those recommendations will be, but … Continue reading →

For very understandable reasons, Texas’ public schools have been getting most of the attention in Austin for the past few months. But the crisis in our public schools is not the only educational crisis Texas faces. In the last few … Continue reading →

Last Sunday my friend and fellow columnist, Tom Luce, made several suggestions about changes he thinks ought to be made in state government before any tax bills are considered. Some of them are very good ideas–so good in fact that … Continue reading →

Almost 30 years ago the federal courts first set foot on the path through the partisan thicket of redistricting, a course against which Justice Felix Frankfurter warned for years. But the population differences among Congressional and state legislative had grown … Continue reading →

Since the mid-1960’s, the Constitution has said that if the Legislature fails to redistrict itself in the first regular session after a federal census, the job will be done by the Legislative Redistricting Board (LRB). In fact, almost all legislative … Continue reading →

Do our laws really mean that somebody who tries, anonymously, to defame another person get a reward of $700,000? The United States Supreme Court will decide soon. Late last year, the Court decided to hear an appeal from the Minnesota … Continue reading →

Texas’ new legislature has its plate more than full of the usual problems: schools, prisons, human services, and how to pay for them. In addition to the usual menu, this year there is the once-a-decade biggie: redistricting. Quality of education, … Continue reading →