Coale Mind

This episode considers the phenomenon of "cancel culture" in light of the recent case of Wilson v. Houston Community College College System Board.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Wilson, a trustee of the Board, stated a viable First Amendment claim when the Board passed a censure resolution against him for his public comments about the Board's activities. The Board sought en banc review from the full court, which tied 8-8 on whether to consider the case again.

The arguments in Wilson illuminate the concerns that drive what is sometimes called "cancel culture," and may help us think through when healthy debate can become an overreaching desire to silence the other side of a debate. 

If those questions seem hard, the fact that a team of very sophisticated judges split 8-8 may give us some reassurance that they really are challenging. 

This episode examines President Trump's recent pardon of Roger Stone. It notes that the pardon is (1) unusually close in time to the actual events of the underlying prosecution, and (2) unusually close in personal relationship to the President himself, and suggests those two questions will be useful in examining future uses of the pardon power that the Constitution gives the Chief Executive. 

A statue of former Texas governor James Throckmorton stands on the town square of McKinney, Texas, the county seat of Collin County immediately north of Dallas. Because he served as a general in the Confederate army, a debate is ongoing as to whether the statue should be removed. In this podcast, I question whether its removal is appropriate given the (1) Mr. Throckmorton voted against Texas secession; (2) the statue contains no military trappings or pro-Confederate slogans; and (3) Mr. Throckmorton lived and worked in Collin County, giving him a real connection to the place where his statue is on display. 

In a pilot post for Coale Mind, David discusses the July 6, 2020 decision in Chiafolo v. Washington about "faithless electors." What does Edmund Blair's 1952 refusal to follow the Alabama popular vote mean for our 2020 election, and Presidential elections going forward?