Lawyers, Guns and Money

Lawyers, Guns and Money is a blog focused on politics and culture, primarily authored by a team of eight scholars. The blog was established in May 2004 by David Watkins, Rob Farley, and Scott Lemieux.

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Never Would Have Made It Through the Arkansas Mud If I Hadn't Been Riding the Tennessee Stud

1 day ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Erik Loomis

Gov. Sarah Sanders said Arkansas is in “dire need of federal assistance” in an appeal letter last week after the federal government denied help after last month’s damaging storms. Fourteen tornadoes touched down in Arkansas on March 14 and 15, leaving three dead and dozens injured. The next week, Sanders asked President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration, the first step in securing federal funds and other help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Approval of Trump's immigration policies declining

1 day ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Scott Lemieux

The backlash to Trump is not confined to his handling of the economy:New YouGov/Economist poll out this morning finds Trump is no longer popular on immigration. This was the last issue he had a positive net approval on.
MAGA natalism is a dead end

1 day ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Scott Lemieux

Republicans are going to try to respond to their panic about lowering birthrates with policies that are a proven failure, at least in part they care more about traditional gender hierarchies than they do about increasing birthrates:Coercing women into having children should always be anathema, but we should aim to create a society where people generally feel optimistic enough about the future to want children and secure enough to have them.
Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 1,870

1 day ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Erik Loomis

This is the grave of Joshua Bowen Smith. Probably born in 1813 in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Smith was a mixed race man. His mother was part Black and part Native and his father was white. He grew up in Philadelphia and educated in Quaker schools. He moved to Boston in 1836 and got a job as a headwaiter in a hotel. This hotel, the Mount Washington House, happened to be the favorite hangout of Charles Sumner and his allies, such as John Fatal.
Free minds and free markets: an update

1 day ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Scott Lemieux

Let’s check in with the libErtARiaNs again:When it’s impossible to distinguish between your blog posts and the claims that Stephen Miller is making, it might be time to just stop writing:reason.com/volokh/2025/…[image or embed]— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) April 22, 2025 at 7:43 PMIt’s obvious that “why do you care so much about THIS” is a concession that you’ve got nothing on the merits.
Tesla profits fall 71%

2 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Scott Lemieux

In these times we need all the good news we can get:Tesla’s net income slid 71% in the first quarter, as the company struggled to overcome competitive pressure overseas and a reputational hit from Chief Executive Elon Musk’s polarizing role in the Trump administration. The company also reported adjusted earnings-per-share of 27 cents, which missed analysts’ expectations of 41 cents.
Republicans are coming for the Medicaid expansion

2 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Scott Lemieux

But Medicaid is a joint federal-state program, with Washington putting up the majority of money and leaving administration to states, as long as they keep within certain guidelines. And for most of the program’s history, the majority of states stuck to the minimum requirements, or relatively close, meaning they limited coverage to certain categories of people, including children, young single mothers, and the elderly.
Destroying Public Education

2 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Erik Loomis

Just weeks after creating a $50 million tax credit to help families pay for private school tuition and homeschooling, Idaho has shut down a program that helped tens of thousands of public school students pay for laptops, school supplies, tutoring and other educational expenses. The Republican leading the push to defund Idaho’s Empowering Parents grants said it had nothing to do with the party’s decision to fund private schools.
That Tasty New Gilded Age Milk

2 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Erik Loomis

As I’ve said again and again, the policy positions of the Trump administration are to return the U.S. to the Gilded Age, repealing the 20th century. Maybe it would help if Americans stopped watching the Nazi documentaries and remember that their own country is at fault for many of the problems in the world and that to understand what is happening in the U.S. today, focusing on our own history makes a lot more sense.
What's the Court Up To?

2 days ago | lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com | Erik Loomis

At 1 o’clock on the morning of Saturday, April 19, the Supreme Court issued a terse, one-paragraph order that amounted to John Roberts telling Donald Trump to stop playing in his face. The court, by a presumed vote of 7-2, ordered Trump to halt a number of planned deportations to El Salvador of immigrants being held in Texas. I believe this is the first time that a majority of Supreme Court justices have gotten pissed at the Trump administration’s lawless refusal to follow basic court orders.