Legal Commentary

Bloggers disagree on politics of offshore drilling, and immigration

By David Kopel

The latest National Journal poll of political bloggers asked: ?With the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, does it make political sense for President Obama to stick to his plans to allow increased oil and gas development along the coasts?? Only 6% of the Left, but 75% of the Right thought that it did still make political sense. I thought it didn?t make political sense, unless the President were ready to make a strong affirmative case: ?The president would have to convince the public why some types of new drilling would not pose the same risks that the BP well did.?

The other question asked what is best for the Democratic/Republican parties this year on immigration. Two-thirds of the Left thought Democrats would be best off with a pathway to citizenship, and without any tougher enforcement. Nobody on the Right thought that would be a good idea for Republicans. The Right bloggers split between citizenship + enforcement, enforcement without citizenship, and ?stay away from the issue.?

My vote was for the middle choice, at least as the essential first step: ?Effectively closing the border has to come first. Offering citizenship but without effectively securing the border would simply repeat the mistake of 1986 and result in even more illegal immigration.?

This poll marked the last of the National Journal?s weekly blogger polls as part of NJ?s ?Blogometer.? The National Journal is undergoing major budget cuts, and Blogometer is disappearing, although parts of its will be folded into other National Journal coverage.

Far worse, from a social utility point of view, than the disappearance of the blogger polls is National Journal cutting Stuart Taylor?s weekly column. Taylor is one of the best legal journalists in the United States, and he will continue to write for a variety of other outlets. However, the loss of his weekly column is a major loss of high-quality legal journalism.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on May 10, 2010 (boomark / email).