Region: California
Does the Constitution Exempt Churches from Social Distancing?
Short answer: “No.” And it might even be unconstitutional for states to grant such exemptions.
Most religious groups have willingly complied with public health limits on large gatherings. But not all. These claims of religious exemption, and some states’ responses to them, raise important constitutional issues. There have been a couple of cases in the spotlight. Rodney Howard-Browne is a Florida preacher who prayed over Trump in the Oval Office …
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CONTINUE READINGDeferred Planetary Maintenance
It’s easy to put off long-term problems when there’s a crisis. Much too easy, actually.
Long-term problems get short shrift in a crisis. That’s true of infrastructure repair; it’s also true of climate change. Like deferred maintenance, climate change just gets bigger the longer it’s put off. I often see the fruits of deferred maintenance on the Berkeley campus. Building conditions are a huge problem at Berkeley. Whenever there’s a …
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CONTINUE READINGIs Saving Lives Unconstitutional? A Response to John Yoo
Takings law is complicated, but the answer to this question is clear. The answer is no.
Like others on the extreme right, the Hoover Institution is campaigning against “stay at home” orders because they cost too much money. Regrettably, the most recent argument to this effect on their website is by my colleague John Yoo. He argues that the Constitution requires states to compensate business owners for their losses. That’s simply …
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CONTINUE READINGTransit-Oriented Development Shouldn’t Be A Coronavirus Casualty
California still needs more housing close to transit.
In recent weeks, California has emerged as one center of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it continues to face challenges that existed long before the disease reached the state. Two serious ones: how California will meet its ever more stringent greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and how the state will manage to provide affordable housing for …
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CONTINUE READINGStill Not SAFE
The Trump administration moves ahead with plans to roll back Obama-era fuel economy standards.
After months of delay, the Trump administration has reportedly chosen this coming week—in the middle of a nationwide crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic—to finally release the second part of its two-part rollback of Obama-era automotive fuel economy standards. This isn’t the only environmental rollback action the administration is planning to take during the coming …
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CONTINUE READINGWhile You Were Sleeping: Coronavirus Apparently Won’t Stop Trump Environmental Rollbacks
EPA May Roll Back Car Standards Next Week
The New York Times is reporting that, despite the corona crisis and the shelter in place orders affecting people around the country, Andrew Wheeler is pressuring his EPA staff to release a finalized rule rolling back greenhouse gas emissions/fuel economy standards for cars. These EPA staff are for the most part working from home with …
CONTINUE READINGAre Pandemics An Argument Against Cities?
COVID-19 spread shows governance matters more than density
With the COVID-19 virus shutting down cities and countries all over the world, anti-urban advocates are seizing the moment to argue that pandemics prove urban density is bad. For example, longtime sprawl booster Joel Kotkin argues that shelter-in-place orders and fear of contagion will push people to demand more lower-density homes, far from crowded and …
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CONTINUE READINGCourt Rejects Trump Administration’s Cap-and-Trade Lawsuit Against California
Federal Government’s Constitutional Challenge to California’s Linked GHG Reduction Plan Fails
Since President Trump took office in early 2017, the State of California has filed over 70 different lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration’s policy initiatives on multiple fronts, including the environment, immigration policy and health care. Over 40 of California’s lawsuits have targeted the Administration’s efforts to roll back longstanding federal environmental protection, natural resource management …
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CONTINUE READINGHeathrow’s Third Runway and Airport GHG Emissions
California’s potential opportunity to lead through local action
Late last month, a UK court blocked a proposed new runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, ruling that the project conflicted with the national government’s commitment under the 2015 Paris Agreement. The court held that project planners improperly failed to assess the proposal’s consistency with the UK government’s ratified plan to help meet the Paris target …
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CONTINUE READINGNew Roadmaps for Negative Emissions
Two reports try to figure out how to scale carbon removal
Last week saw two exciting reports released which examine how to remove carbon at scale. Getting to Neutral: Options for Negative Carbon Emissions in California was led by a team from Lawrence Livermore National Labs (LNLL), and assesses pathways for California to remove 125 million tons of CO2 /year from the air by 2045, in …
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