Andy (who ghost-wrote an Eldred amicus petition) writes:

Volokh's prediction and reasoning for a 6-3 win by Eldred are intriguing.

Like me, Volokh predicts Thomas, Scalia, Souter and Stevens will rule for Eldred, and Rehnquist and Ginsburg will rule for the Bush Administration. And maybe those are the 4 pro-Eldred votes to get him cert. (it only requires 4, not 5, votes for cert.).

But I disagree with Volokh about Kennedy and O'Connor, who I think will side with Congress and the Bush Administration. Kennedy, after all, hopes to be elevated to Chief Justice in 9 months when Rehnquist presumably resigns. So Eldred needs Breyer to win, I think.

Roger writes, "Laffer is a joke. He hasn't accomplished anything."

Just the greatest economic insight of the last 25 years: that lowering taxes increases government revenue, also called Supply Side economics.

I am sure that there is plenty of literature on optimal levels of taxation. What has Laffer contributed to it? Did he ever prove that tax levels were so high that lowering taxes would increase revenue? Where is that paper? Where is the proof? Laffer was all talk, no substance.