Is Alito’s word his junk bond?

So it would appear. Professor Bainbridge is worried.

If it’s really Judge Alito’s position that any promise on his part, made at a confirmation hearing, to do something that the law wouldn’t otherwise require, is excessive and therefore void, I think he may have a really serious problem.

Well, that’s not surprising; you’d expect me to think that Alito had a problem, just as you’d expect it of Atrios and John Aravosis.

But when Professor Bainbridge thinks Alito might have a problem, having heard the official GOP talking-points phone call on the topic, Alito really might have a problem.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com