Category: op-ed

How the Texas ban on mifepristone could jeopardize telemedicine for everyone

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Sept. 5, Carliss Chatman, law professor at Dedman School of Law, SMU Dallas, for a piece pointing out how the Texas ban on the abortion pill could have a negative impact on life-saving telemedicine healthcare channels and prescription delivery. Published in The Hill under the heading How the Texas ban on mifepristone could jeopardize telemedicine for everyone: http://tinyurl.com/2ntve4j4

​Telemedicine’s expansion during the pandemic minimized exposure and addressed the problem of health care deserts.

Roughly 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas and too often must travel long distances to receive health care. The National Rural Health Association reports the “patient-to-primary care physician ratio in rural areas is only 39.8 physicians per 100,000 people, compared to 53.3 physicians per 100,000 in urban areas.” But during the pandemic, technology, including telephone and video, bridged the care gap, allowing patients to receive critical treatment and prescriptions.

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SMU professor filed a brief with Russia’s constitutional court

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Sept. 3, Jeffrey Kahn, a law professor at the Dedman School of Law, SMU Dallas, for a piece expressing solidarity with Russians punished for their dissenting views against their government. Published in the Dallas Morning News under the heading SMU professor filed a brief with Russia’s constitutional court: http://tinyurl.com/2p88umzd

Silence is a lie’s best friend. So when Russia’s leaders claimed that punishing dissenting voices is just what governments do, including the United States, I asked our country’s top constitutional law scholars to speak up.

The twist is that we did it in Russia’s highest court, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, in what may be the first brief amicus curiae, or “friend of the court” brief, submitted there by U.S. law professors.

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The abortion pill faces its most disturbing attack yet

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August 22, Rhonda Garelick, distinguished professor of English and journalism at SMU Dallas, for an op-ed examining Judge James Ho’s (U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals) ruling in favor of further restriction on mifepristone, the abortion pill. Published in the Los Angeles Times under the heading The abortion pill faces its most disturbing attack yet: https://tinyurl.com/5n7damuf 

Judge James Ho of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote an opinion last week that attracted a lot of attention. A three-judge panel that included Ho ruled in favor of further restrictions on access to mifepristone, the abortion pill, which will remain widely available under a Supreme Court order while litigation continues. But Ho also wrote a separate opinion contending that medical providers could further challenge the drug on the grounds of “aesthetic injury,” a concept he borrowed, strangely, from environmental law.

In what seemed a baffling argument, Ho wrote, “Unborn babies are a source of profound joy for those who view them. Expectant parents eagerly share ultrasound photos with loved ones. Friends and family cheer at the sight of an unborn child. Doctors delight in working with their unborn patients — and experience an aesthetic injury when they are aborted.”

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A half-century later the Santos Rodriguez murder remains the open wound of Dallas

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July 24, Rick Halperin, Director of the SMU Dallas Human Rights Program, for a commentary about the murder of 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez 50 years ago and the impact on the Dallas community. Published in the Dallas Morning News under the heading A half-century later the Santos Rodriguez murder remains the open wound of Dallas: https://tinyurl.com/yrj36fcp

​There was a summer 50 years ago in Dallas rocked by the senseless murder of a 12-year-old at the hands of a Dallas police officer. The incident overshadowed the innocence, travel and care-free “school’s out” musings and left an open wound on the city that has yet to fully heal.

In the early morning hours of July 24, 1973, two Dallas police officers took the Rodriguez brothers — David, 13, and Santos, 12 — from their grandfather’s home and placed them in a police car, handcuffed.

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Academia’s Openness Could Strengthen its Partnerships With the Intelligence Community

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July 19, Fred Chang, Inaugural Bobby B. Lyle Centennial Distinguished Chair in Cyber Security at SMU Dallas along with co-author Peter Schiffer (Professor of Applied Physics and professor of physics at Yale University) for a piece outlining opportunities and incentives for the intelligence community to develop partnerships with academia. Published in Issues in Science and Technology under the heading Academia’s Openness Could Strengthen its Partnerships With the Intelligence Community: https://tinyurl.com/5xfprwhh

Starting with Vannevar Bush’s seminal 1945 report, Science, the Endless Frontier, the federal government has invested significantly in support of fundamental research at universities across all areas of science and engineering. For even longer, government agencies have partneredwith universities to perform research in support of agency missions and to meet national needs. For example, the National Institutes of Health support health-related research, the Department of Agriculture supports agricultural research programs, and the Department of Energy supports energy solutions. And of course, since World War II, the Department of Defense has invested in defense-oriented research at universities.

Strong government-university research partnerships can be especially impactful to one sector of the government that is somewhat invisible to outsiders: the US intelligence community (IC). The IC comprises 18 organizations and agencies within the executive branch of the federal government—all with the shared mission of supporting the government’s understanding of the world by collecting, analyzing, and disseminating intelligence. Fulfilling this mission requires access to the most advanced science and technology (S&T) available. Today, the S&T landscape is evolving quickly, and it offers new opportunities and incentives for the IC to develop partnerships with academia. Done properly, enhancing such partnerships will benefit both national security and the academic research enterprise. Somewhat counterintuitively, we also argue that the open nature of academia presents special opportunities for higher impact.

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Don’t let the ‘C’ in NASCAR stand for cronyism in Chicago

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June 23, Robert Lawson, Jerome M. Fullinwider chair in Economic Freedom, SMU Cox School of Business, along with Scott Niederjohn (Concordia University) for a commentary lamenting that NASCAR may be dabbling in cronyism by collaborating with Chicago authorities on a street race in July. Published in the Chicago Tribune under the heading Don’t let the ‘C’ in NASCAR stand for cronyism in Chicago: https://tinyurl.com/ymn69me2

We are free market economists who share a passion for car racing. One of the things we like the most about racing is that it still embodies the spirit of free enterprise — unlike the other major sports.

Almost all racetracks are privately owned by entrepreneurs trying to make a buck. The race car teams are private firms. Sponsors may be wealthy individuals with a passion for racing like the comedian David Letterman or companies like Menard’s that see the marketing value in their association with the sport.

However, if the other major sports can slop up billions of dollars from the taxpayer trough through publicly financed stadium deals, for how long can the two premier racing series in North America — NASCAR and IndyCar — resist the urge to join in the feeding frenzy? The answer, sadly for NASCAR at least, is that they can’t.

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I Know Why Disney Is Fighting DeSantis

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June 7, Sean Griffin, professor of film and media studies at the SMU Dallas Meadows School of the Arts, for a commentary providing insight into the rift between Disney and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, and the corporate tightrope act of engaging in the culture wars. Published in the New York Times under the heading I Know Why Disney Is Fighting DeSantis: https://tinyurl.com/4nv5vjv8

The culture wars have come for corporate America. In the days and weeks leading up to Pride Month, right-wing critics have levied boycotts and even threats of violence at Bud Light, Target and Kohl’s for merchandise and marketing campaigns affiliated with the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Even Chick-fil-A, the chicken-sandwich seller that has historically been aligned with conservative causes, drew sudden condemnation for an existing diversity, equity and inclusion policy.

Companies are rarely exemplars of courage, and some — particularly Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s brewer — switched course almost immediately. But the noise is obscuring a bigger transformation amid the growing politicization of big business. Big businesses are increasingly being forced to take sides, and the realities of doing business with modern-day consumers and employees are increasingly pushing some companies to side with the L.G.B.T.Q. community.

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Is It Better to Be Rich in a Poor and Unfree Country?

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May 17, Robert Lawson, director of the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom at the SMU Dallas Cox School of Business, for an essay about how average people are more likely to prosper in counties that are more free and less regulated. Published in Inside Sources under the heading Is It Better to Be Rich in a Poor and Unfree Country?: https://tinyurl.com/mtbv3duf

Like many economics professors, I frequently get emails from a variety of cranks and conspiracy theorists. Occasionally, I get an interesting email question about my research on economic freedom. It’s complicated, but in a nutshell, my work generally shows that countries with more economic freedom (i.e., lower taxes, stronger private property rights, less inflation, freer trade and fewer regulations) perform better on most, if not all, measures of socio-economic progress.

Recently, an email correspondent who lives in Hong Kong asked: How can Hong Kong and Singapore, the countries with the highest economic freedom in the world, also be two places that are “so expensive that you won’t have sufficient funds to have personal financial freedom?” He continued, “I am wondering how we, as people who love free-market capitalism, can reconcile this? How can the ‘best’ (most capitalist) countries in the world also be some of the most difficult to get by in?”

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The Ten Commandments Bill: Thou shalt not play favorites

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May 17,  Mark Chancey, professor of religious studies at SMU Dallas along with co-author Marc Zvi Brettler of Duke University, for a piece critical of Texas legislation that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments. Published in the Austin American-Statesman under the heading The Ten Commandments Bill: Thou shalt not play favorites: https://tinyurl.com/u9c545mn

​The Ten Commandments bill passed through the Texas State Senate last month faster than the Hebrews through the Red Sea. The bill, which requires public schools to display the commandments, is now under consideration in the House. Its journey thus far has revealed considerable confusion about the commandments, the Constitution, and the “Thou shalts” and “Thou shalt nots” of religious freedom.

That confusion was evident from the moment Sen. Phil King (R-Weatherford) introduced it. The commandments are a foundational “American tradition,” King argued. “If you go to the U.S. Supreme Court you’ll also notice when you walk in, as an establishment of its role in law and liberty, the Ten Commandments is posted above the Justices and in the doors.”

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