Holocaust Remembrance Day can be a powerful inspiration for us, as we struggle against a--so far, at least--less deadly and more poorly organized attempt to impose tyranny. In 2008, my wife and I went to Auschwitz, something I had long thought I should do. I held myself reserved for most of the visit, but at one point we came upon an Israeli student group. I don't speak Hebrew, but to hear it spoken in that place, 65 years after the Nazis made it a killing ground, was truly uplifting. (At the end of our visit, I went over to the wire, took out my father's talit (prayer-shawl) and a yarmulke, and stumbled through the Mourners' Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. My way of sticking a thumb in Hitler's eye.) Even the phrase "Never forget," can become shop-worn and lose meaning, unless we remember and use the memory to keep freedom and human dignity alive.
Thank you again for such an informative newsletter. I recently read the book "The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women who Sewed to Survive" by Lucy Adlington. It was a heart rendering story not only of what these women, and others in the death camps endured, but also the resilience and lasting friendships among them. If you read it...and I recommend that you do...you will understand at a personal level some of what happened there. And the Lincoln Project just came out with a powerful piece called "Never Again". After reading that book, the video brought me to tears.
Robert, thanks for the detailed explanations surrounding "electors" and the discussion about the Supreme Court nominee. I hope you are correct about the former.
With reference to the latter. In our entire history as a nation there have been 115 Supreme Court Justices. 108 of them have been White Males. The three "top contenders" who are Black Females all have undeniable qualifications that match or exceed those 108. Thank you President Biden for turning the ship of state in the direction of more equal representation on the institution charged with defining justice. This is decades if not centuries overdue.
I should note that Republican ideologues are beginning to circulate the idea the VP Harris cannot break a tie. Laurence Tribe wrote an op-ed making that assertion three years ago, so it is not baseless. Let's hope that at least one Republican Senator will do the right thing, and join all 50 Democrats in confirming the nominee.
"The good news for Democrats is that the nominee will have sterling credentials. The bad news for Republicans is that their only real objection will be to the color of the nominee’s skin—no matter how they try to spin their opposition." This is great! We have to weather the storm, however, to overcome the spin and "Primacy Effect", both of which could have an oversized impact. Hence, the nominee's exceptional credentials need to be publicized sooner than later. No foot dragging on this!
You are right, and I appreciate the nod to Kahneman and Tversky. The credentials of every candidate whose name has been floated are significantly more impressive than every Senator who will be sitting in judgment on their confirmation. So, I would celebrate the groundbreaking nature of appointing the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. I suspect that Republicans will drop the "ethnic background" attacks when the nominee is identified, and focus on the opinions of the nominee. Every federal judge who is in consideration has issued rulings that the MAGA crowd will find disqualifying--like ruling in favor employer vaccine mandate, against Trump executive orders, and against Big Lie lawsuits. We just need to get this done, ASAP. Nothing the GOP detractors say will be said in good faith, so let's not give them more oxygen.
Thank you, Robert, for mentioning Holocaust Remembrance Day, and for the correction to yesterday’s post, and for keeping our morale above that of the headlines. You render an invaluable service to readers such as myself whose knowledge of law is limited.
Thank's Jim. See my note above about Larry's Tribe's view (and that of Republicans) that Kamala Harris should not be able to vote on a tie. I suspect that if there is a tie, she will vote anyway, leading to a fight over the legitimacy of the justice (if that happens).
Keep hammering away at the Washington Post and the harmful knee jerk counter narrative they love. "Great economic news, but can it last forever?" And thanks for pointing it out!
With full appreciation of this newsletter, including remembrance of the Holocaust, and valuing that the main thing is the main thing...I came across this interesting distinction today, advocating for the term “antisemitism” instead of “anti-semitism:"
"The term “antisemitism” was coined in 1879 by German journalist and antisemite Wilhelm Marr. Before 1879 hatred of Jewish people was called Judenhass.
Wilhelm Marr coined the term antisemitism because he viewed Jewish people as not only belonging to a religion but also belonging to a race. Therefore, in attempt to justify antisemitism Marr came up with the idea that Jewish people belonged to a so called inferior “Semitic race.”
The usage of antisemitism and anti-Semitism is very complicated and to some, offensive. Accordingly, two years ago, I researched the issue and decided to follow the NYT style guide, which advised using "anti-Semitic" and "anti-Semitism." I just went back to recheck the style guide in response to your comment and learned that the NYT changed its guidance in December 2021 to drop the hyphen. See https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/new-york-times-updates-style-guide-to-antisemitism-losing-the-hyphen/ar-AARCuCD. I will update my usage, as well to follow the NYT. FWIW, some of my readers assert that it is improper to use antisemitism in any form. The question is, how do we communicate the idea that some people hate others based on religious and cultural affiliation? As you know, acceptable usage changes, and not every effort to move to less offensive terms is successful (or welcomed). See, e.g., Latinx, which was, in part, an effort to get away from gender association in describing ethnic heritage. I am told by readers that most Latinos / Hispanics find Latinx offensive, though the term was developed to avoid forcing a gendered description on Latinas and LGBTQ+ people.
Thank you for diving in. Agree that language related to identity and othering is complicated. I think terminology starts with preferences of the people in the group, which may vary, and I also value input from the NYT style guide (thanks for that tip!).
I should have included a more clarifying comment from my Twitter dive, and add the most salient ones here, noting this is all just food for thought:
"The term Anti-Semitic implies that antisemitism is the hatred of a group of people known as “Semitic people” when that simply isn’t true for two reasons.
1. Semitic is a language family, not a people.
2. Antisemitism is specifically hatred of Jewish people."
"The hyphen isn't wrong. The concept of semitism as "policy or predisposition favorable to Jews" has a definition in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary dating back to 1851...Just to clarify, because English is so complicated, antisemitic and anti-Semitic mean the same thing, anti-Jewish, and both are correct because a definition of semitism exists."
""antisemitism” is the ideology and discrimination where as “anti-semitism” infers that Jewish people belong to an “inferior” race, which isnt true by any means."
What I find interesting is several school districts are banning books in their libraries but don’t realize that students today read a lot of material on line and it’s very easy to download the books. Banned books in my youth were considered too sexy (Peyton Place) which just made us want to read them more. I think this will happen again.
The good people of Missouri elected Josh Hawley over Claire McCaskill. Motivation enough to redouble efforts in Georgia to re-elect US Senator Raphael Warnock in ‘22.
The leading newspaper in Missouri (The Sentinel?) just published an editorial that excoriated Hawley for supporting the Big Lie, anti-vaxx support, and support of white nationalists.
For two people who, on occasion, have gone head-to-head, I take great pleasure in conveying how touched I was by your comment honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day. I had spent much of yesterday reading works from Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1986) and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. In many respects your commentary mirrored the mission of Wiesel’s Foundation “to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice.” For Wiesel, indifference “is equal to evil.”
Additionally, I thank you for your deep dive into “Election nullification” and simply would note, aside from current efforts to remove state election officials who, in 2020, refused to comply with directives aimed at de-certifying votes and replacing them with Trump loyalists, presently, GOP controlled state legislatures are changing election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how in-state votes are certified.
On a final note, I would agree that worrying could be counterproductive unless the person were prepared to put those concerns to work. While we await your list of organizations, I will mention a few. I know of no better grassroots organizations than Indivisible and Common Cause that offer a host of opportunities for personal engagement. As for donations, in my view, the most accomplished voting rights litigators, aside from Marc Elias, are associated with NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Thanks. I was trying to find Marc Elias' current affiliation. Democracy Docket is his, but it is not a litigation entity. The LDF is at the top of the list. If you know how we can support Marc's efforts, let me know. Other worthy organizations are The League of Women Voters, the Lawyer's Committee on Civil Rights, and the ACLU.
Thank you, Robert. I can get so depressed from the news that the media have turned so negative. If it weren’t for your very reasoned analysis, and Heather’s history each day, I might not be at all likely to bounce out of bed! You are my touchstone!
They simply need to repeal or modify existing legislation to provide that electors shall be selected by the legislature going forward. That would be completely in accordance with the Constitution. It is how several states selected electors in the first two decades of presidential elections.
Robert, thank you for giving us sound bites and little bits we can share and bring up. I am mystified by how negative all the news is when so much good has been happening under Biden's presidency. How can the people who no longer getting the child tax credit not see or understand where it came from and why it is gone (for now)?
Please be aware of the archives of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (SSVHF) are now housed at the University of Southern California (USC). I worked on Spielberg's project for 20 months coordinating interviews with Holocaust Survivors. The public can now access information and interviews: https://vhaonline.usc.edu/login Please take advantage of this precious resource.
42 quick pages, at least, and I agree it's one-sided, but the hyperbole is not that hard to discern. However, Republicans have been playing an "if/then" long game for decades, even if we don't look for trolls under every bridge. And historically maybe the Dems haven't done enough contingency-based planning (actually there's nothing "maybe" about it). Cast-iron constitution, thanks for your concern. If I didn't have one of those, I wouldn't still be here. I live in Arizona.
(Every day starts with Hubbell and Richardson, can't thank you enough for all the great work you do.)
Holocaust Remembrance Day can be a powerful inspiration for us, as we struggle against a--so far, at least--less deadly and more poorly organized attempt to impose tyranny. In 2008, my wife and I went to Auschwitz, something I had long thought I should do. I held myself reserved for most of the visit, but at one point we came upon an Israeli student group. I don't speak Hebrew, but to hear it spoken in that place, 65 years after the Nazis made it a killing ground, was truly uplifting. (At the end of our visit, I went over to the wire, took out my father's talit (prayer-shawl) and a yarmulke, and stumbled through the Mourners' Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. My way of sticking a thumb in Hitler's eye.) Even the phrase "Never forget," can become shop-worn and lose meaning, unless we remember and use the memory to keep freedom and human dignity alive.
Mazel tov
Thank you again for such an informative newsletter. I recently read the book "The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women who Sewed to Survive" by Lucy Adlington. It was a heart rendering story not only of what these women, and others in the death camps endured, but also the resilience and lasting friendships among them. If you read it...and I recommend that you do...you will understand at a personal level some of what happened there. And the Lincoln Project just came out with a powerful piece called "Never Again". After reading that book, the video brought me to tears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFCeu5E0nXg
Thank you, Annette. I will watch the Lincoln Project video and check o it The Dressmakers of Auschwitz." I appreciate the recommendations.
I posted on Twitter and Facebook. Thank you for making sure we saw this.
Robert, thanks for the detailed explanations surrounding "electors" and the discussion about the Supreme Court nominee. I hope you are correct about the former.
With reference to the latter. In our entire history as a nation there have been 115 Supreme Court Justices. 108 of them have been White Males. The three "top contenders" who are Black Females all have undeniable qualifications that match or exceed those 108. Thank you President Biden for turning the ship of state in the direction of more equal representation on the institution charged with defining justice. This is decades if not centuries overdue.
I should note that Republican ideologues are beginning to circulate the idea the VP Harris cannot break a tie. Laurence Tribe wrote an op-ed making that assertion three years ago, so it is not baseless. Let's hope that at least one Republican Senator will do the right thing, and join all 50 Democrats in confirming the nominee.
"The good news for Democrats is that the nominee will have sterling credentials. The bad news for Republicans is that their only real objection will be to the color of the nominee’s skin—no matter how they try to spin their opposition." This is great! We have to weather the storm, however, to overcome the spin and "Primacy Effect", both of which could have an oversized impact. Hence, the nominee's exceptional credentials need to be publicized sooner than later. No foot dragging on this!
You are right, and I appreciate the nod to Kahneman and Tversky. The credentials of every candidate whose name has been floated are significantly more impressive than every Senator who will be sitting in judgment on their confirmation. So, I would celebrate the groundbreaking nature of appointing the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. I suspect that Republicans will drop the "ethnic background" attacks when the nominee is identified, and focus on the opinions of the nominee. Every federal judge who is in consideration has issued rulings that the MAGA crowd will find disqualifying--like ruling in favor employer vaccine mandate, against Trump executive orders, and against Big Lie lawsuits. We just need to get this done, ASAP. Nothing the GOP detractors say will be said in good faith, so let's not give them more oxygen.
I see the “like” button has been moved.
Thank you, Robert, for mentioning Holocaust Remembrance Day, and for the correction to yesterday’s post, and for keeping our morale above that of the headlines. You render an invaluable service to readers such as myself whose knowledge of law is limited.
Thank's Jim. See my note above about Larry's Tribe's view (and that of Republicans) that Kamala Harris should not be able to vote on a tie. I suspect that if there is a tie, she will vote anyway, leading to a fight over the legitimacy of the justice (if that happens).
Keep hammering away at the Washington Post and the harmful knee jerk counter narrative they love. "Great economic news, but can it last forever?" And thanks for pointing it out!
Sigh. I missed that headline. I just don't understand the base instinct to go for the negative. Makes me glad I am not a journalist.
With full appreciation of this newsletter, including remembrance of the Holocaust, and valuing that the main thing is the main thing...I came across this interesting distinction today, advocating for the term “antisemitism” instead of “anti-semitism:"
"The term “antisemitism” was coined in 1879 by German journalist and antisemite Wilhelm Marr. Before 1879 hatred of Jewish people was called Judenhass.
Wilhelm Marr coined the term antisemitism because he viewed Jewish people as not only belonging to a religion but also belonging to a race. Therefore, in attempt to justify antisemitism Marr came up with the idea that Jewish people belonged to a so called inferior “Semitic race.”
https://twitter.com/challahbackjew/status/1371621633606094848?s=20&t=Rdl6tZ_7MLBr8VX4vKm1Dw
https://twitter.com/challahbackjew/status/1371621619777433601?s=20&t=Rdl6tZ_7MLBr8VX4vKm1Dw
The usage of antisemitism and anti-Semitism is very complicated and to some, offensive. Accordingly, two years ago, I researched the issue and decided to follow the NYT style guide, which advised using "anti-Semitic" and "anti-Semitism." I just went back to recheck the style guide in response to your comment and learned that the NYT changed its guidance in December 2021 to drop the hyphen. See https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/new-york-times-updates-style-guide-to-antisemitism-losing-the-hyphen/ar-AARCuCD. I will update my usage, as well to follow the NYT. FWIW, some of my readers assert that it is improper to use antisemitism in any form. The question is, how do we communicate the idea that some people hate others based on religious and cultural affiliation? As you know, acceptable usage changes, and not every effort to move to less offensive terms is successful (or welcomed). See, e.g., Latinx, which was, in part, an effort to get away from gender association in describing ethnic heritage. I am told by readers that most Latinos / Hispanics find Latinx offensive, though the term was developed to avoid forcing a gendered description on Latinas and LGBTQ+ people.
Thank you for diving in. Agree that language related to identity and othering is complicated. I think terminology starts with preferences of the people in the group, which may vary, and I also value input from the NYT style guide (thanks for that tip!).
I should have included a more clarifying comment from my Twitter dive, and add the most salient ones here, noting this is all just food for thought:
"The term Anti-Semitic implies that antisemitism is the hatred of a group of people known as “Semitic people” when that simply isn’t true for two reasons.
1. Semitic is a language family, not a people.
2. Antisemitism is specifically hatred of Jewish people."
https://twitter.com/jewish_activist/status/1348376118601121795?s=20&t=pai-WD7oSG6iI6d5M-Qwkg
"The hyphen isn't wrong. The concept of semitism as "policy or predisposition favorable to Jews" has a definition in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary dating back to 1851...Just to clarify, because English is so complicated, antisemitic and anti-Semitic mean the same thing, anti-Jewish, and both are correct because a definition of semitism exists."
https://twitter.com/ljmauler/status/1348301178954723329?s=20&t=pai-WD7oSG6iI6d5M-Qwkg
""antisemitism” is the ideology and discrimination where as “anti-semitism” infers that Jewish people belong to an “inferior” race, which isnt true by any means."
https://twitter.com/ChanIsom/status/1371952362697396225?s=20&t=pai-WD7oSG6iI6d5M-Qwkg
"since we have terms like "islamophobia", then would calling this "judeophobia" be even more accurate?"
https://twitter.com/ErrantNerd/status/1371767488644485122?s=20&t=pai-WD7oSG6iI6d5M-Qwkg
"Avoid the euphemism altogether and call it what it is: anti-Jewish bigotry or Jew-hatred"
https://twitter.com/EnLiEretzAheret/status/1371898437629849600?s=20&t=pai-WD7oSG6iI6d5M-Qwkg
"I always thought it was an odd term, given that the Semitic languages range from Israel to Arabia to Ethiopia."
https://twitter.com/jesuiscatte/status/1371841728836214786?s=20&t=pai-WD7oSG6iI6d5M-Qwkg
Deborah E. Lipstadt wrote a book about antisemitism:
@deborahlipstadt
Author ANTISEMITISM HERE & NOW
Interesting historical note, thanks Ellie. It's nice to start the day by learning something new.
Learn something every day from Ellie Kona!!
What I find interesting is several school districts are banning books in their libraries but don’t realize that students today read a lot of material on line and it’s very easy to download the books. Banned books in my youth were considered too sexy (Peyton Place) which just made us want to read them more. I think this will happen again.
You're quite right, I hadn't read Maus but it just jumped to the top of my list. As with many things in life, prohibition increases desirability.
Me too, just bought it!
The good people of Missouri elected Josh Hawley over Claire McCaskill. Motivation enough to redouble efforts in Georgia to re-elect US Senator Raphael Warnock in ‘22.
The leading newspaper in Missouri (The Sentinel?) just published an editorial that excoriated Hawley for supporting the Big Lie, anti-vaxx support, and support of white nationalists.
For two people who, on occasion, have gone head-to-head, I take great pleasure in conveying how touched I was by your comment honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day. I had spent much of yesterday reading works from Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1986) and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. In many respects your commentary mirrored the mission of Wiesel’s Foundation “to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice.” For Wiesel, indifference “is equal to evil.”
Additionally, I thank you for your deep dive into “Election nullification” and simply would note, aside from current efforts to remove state election officials who, in 2020, refused to comply with directives aimed at de-certifying votes and replacing them with Trump loyalists, presently, GOP controlled state legislatures are changing election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how in-state votes are certified.
On a final note, I would agree that worrying could be counterproductive unless the person were prepared to put those concerns to work. While we await your list of organizations, I will mention a few. I know of no better grassroots organizations than Indivisible and Common Cause that offer a host of opportunities for personal engagement. As for donations, in my view, the most accomplished voting rights litigators, aside from Marc Elias, are associated with NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Thanks. I was trying to find Marc Elias' current affiliation. Democracy Docket is his, but it is not a litigation entity. The LDF is at the top of the list. If you know how we can support Marc's efforts, let me know. Other worthy organizations are The League of Women Voters, the Lawyer's Committee on Civil Rights, and the ACLU.
Marc Elias is with Elias Law Group: https://www.elias.law/
He’s all over Twitter: @EliasLawGroup
A Harvard Law School review of Elias Law Group:
https://twitter.com/eliaslawgroup/status/1486848843912253440?s=21
Thank you for the recommendations.
Vivian, My pleasure.
Thank you, Robert. I can get so depressed from the news that the media have turned so negative. If it weren’t for your very reasoned analysis, and Heather’s history each day, I might not be at all likely to bounce out of bed! You are my touchstone!
What is the scenario for which a state legislature can change it's method of appointing electors pre-election (legally)?
They simply need to repeal or modify existing legislation to provide that electors shall be selected by the legislature going forward. That would be completely in accordance with the Constitution. It is how several states selected electors in the first two decades of presidential elections.
Robert, thank you for giving us sound bites and little bits we can share and bring up. I am mystified by how negative all the news is when so much good has been happening under Biden's presidency. How can the people who no longer getting the child tax credit not see or understand where it came from and why it is gone (for now)?
Please be aware of the archives of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (SSVHF) are now housed at the University of Southern California (USC). I worked on Spielberg's project for 20 months coordinating interviews with Holocaust Survivors. The public can now access information and interviews: https://vhaonline.usc.edu/login Please take advantage of this precious resource.
Thank you Robert. Excellent discussions! I just ordered Maus and hope it sells out as a protest against the dangerous censorship of that school board.
42 quick pages, at least, and I agree it's one-sided, but the hyperbole is not that hard to discern. However, Republicans have been playing an "if/then" long game for decades, even if we don't look for trolls under every bridge. And historically maybe the Dems haven't done enough contingency-based planning (actually there's nothing "maybe" about it). Cast-iron constitution, thanks for your concern. If I didn't have one of those, I wouldn't still be here. I live in Arizona.
(Every day starts with Hubbell and Richardson, can't thank you enough for all the great work you do.)