Nicholas Lemann

published in The New Yorker

542 days ago

published in The New Yorker
Lemann embarks on a judicial history of affirmative action and diversity, sparked by a potential Supreme Court case: Students For Fair Admission vs. Harvard. He writes "[i]t’s distinctly possible that the Supreme Court, as early as next year, could signal that it considers efforts aimed explicitly at helping Black people to be unconstitutional."
999 days ago

published in The New Yorker
Lemann reviews Kenneth Whyte's "The Sack of Detroit: General Motors and the End of American Enterprise." Although it is largely about GM, it's also a biography of Ralph Nader, the now infamous leader of the movement to make motor vehicles safer, and make the government run more efficiently more generally.
1032 days ago

published in The New Yorker
Many people perceived Liz Cheney being ousted from Republican Party leadership as the party's shift to relentless Trumpism. But Lemann argues that both parties, or at least the voters that actually vote and less the party leadership, are rejected the "aggressive use of American power" and "interventionism" that has dominated American foreign policy for the last decade.
1061 days ago

published in The New Yorker
The American Rescue Plan signals a change in the Democratic Party's leadership and how they represent ordinary Americans in government. This plan does not focus on key financial, elite sectors, nor does it focus on minority groups. It includes a direct check and a "guaranteed family-income program" to any qualifying American, something that the opposition will find hard to caricature. It might also be an "appetizer" for Biden's Build Back Better infrastructure plan in the months to come.
1125 days ago