Letters are welcome via e-mail to [email protected] to the chief?SIR – The reasoning behind The Economist's endorsement of Barack Obama for president ("It's time", November 1st) was inconsistent with past leaders.
Under that reasoning, Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote, "It is difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power," adding that "if we were to accept the government's arguments, we are hard pressed to posit any activity by an individual that Congress is without power to regulate".
Stephen Wall, the council's chief, explained his reasoning to Fairfax Media: "We believe it is offensive because of the depiction of a near-naked woman, not on the basis of disrespect to Hillary Clinton, in accordance with the Graffiti Prevention Act 2007".
Thursday's ruling is a strong judgment, by a powerful trio of judges including the lord chief justice, and its reasoning looks hard to overturn.
To accept that reasoning, the chief justice said today, "would allow Congress to regulate any crime as long as the nationwide, aggregated impact of that crime has substantial effects on employment, production, transit or consumption".
What is behind the reasoning when chief executives make big decisions?
Since in many cases one of the chief guides is logical reasoning, the ability to spot fallacies is an essential skill.
Yet the chief flaw in their reasoning is encapsulated in the petition's title: Although safety is a right, so is due process.
Not only was the outcome in this health care decision much better than in the last one, so too was the legal reasoning that Chief Justice Roberts used when interpreting the statute to require tax credits nationwide.
"This reasoning is backwards," Chief Justice Roberts wrote.
