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Schwartz sets smart benchmark for new beat

By Mark Obbie

Now this is encouraging: One of John Schwartz's first significant pieces as the new legal-affairs national reporter at the Times -- and his first in that role with a "news analysis" bug -- tackles an unlikely topic in a clear, engaging way. Is there a new federalism blooming, he asks? Through examples and experts, Schwartz explores a story that's more regulatory than courts-driven; more evolutionary than events-driven; and more about ideas and government theory than about conflict and crisis. True, he might have fleshed out the historical context a bit more -- this certainly isn't the first time we've been told that activist state attorneys general may grab more influence, and there's a lot of interesting and recent Supreme Court jurisprudence to cite -- but overall it's a fresh look at a story as old as the Constitution. Best of all, he doesn't tell us that he has all the answers, or what we ought to think, and he doesn't write it for con-law experts.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).