Uncategorized « Disasters, Property, and Politics

A fascinating discussion about the Ninth Circuit and claims about its overturn rate… I highly recommend taking a look!

Recently lots of hubbub was made of the Ninth Circuit’s decision to uphold a lower court’s order blocking the Trump Administration from enforcing its executive order on immigration including President Trump’s immediate Twitter response of “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!” Right-wing pundits were quick to assail the Ninth Circuit’s credibility. Republican Senator of Arkansas Tom Cotton for instance released a statement saying “This misguided ruling is from the Ninth Circuit, the most notoriously left-wing court in America, and the most-reversed court at the Supreme Court.”

While it is true the Ninth Circuit’s decisions taken up by the Supreme Court for review are often reversed, other statistics show that it is not the most overruled of the federal courts of appeals. To take a deeper look at the question of the relative frequency with which the Supreme Court overturns decisions from the various…

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In the midst of what looks to be an active hurricane season, Congress is set to vote on a measure that would reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which expires on September 30th. For these reasons, now is a good time for a refresher on NFIP, with all of its problems.

With the reauthorization vote on the horizon, I wrote a short piece, published at The Washington Post, which lays out in short form some of the key problems with NFIP, and how the NFIP actually exacerbates flood risk. You can read the piece here.

In a companion piece published a few months ago in LSE’s US Centre blog on American Politics and Policy, I explain how the politics of the program make it very difficult to reform. You can read this article here.

If you’re really interested, you can read the long-form academic article I wrote on this topic:
Strother, Logan. “The National Flood Insurance Program: A Case Study in Policy Failure, Reform, and Retrenchment.” Policy Studies Journal. Early access: DOI: 10.1111/psj.12189