Christopher H. Schroeder

Charles S. Murphy Professor of Law and Public Policy Studies; Co-Director of the Program in Public Law, Duke Law School

Critics of the Justice Dept.'s subpoena of AP telephone records have shamelessly mischaracterized the Dept.'s actions and the purposes for them. Any interference with the free press merits close scrutiny, but that scrutiny needs to consider just what the Dept. actually has done and why.

Bob Burnett

Berkeley writer, retired Silicon Valley executive

Republican policy no longer represents the teachings of Jesus. The GOP favors the rich and ignores the poor, disadvantaged, sick, elderly, long-term unemployed, and other unfortunates. Republicans may be religious, but they're not Christians.

Joel Rubin

Director of Policy and Government Affairs, Ploughshares Fund

President Obama should stick to his red line policy toward Syria and avoid advancing a red line policy toward Iran that will tie his hands. That may frustrate his domestic critics, but it makes America's adversaries nervous. And this is exactly where we should want our country's foreign policy to be.

Randi Weingarten

President, American Federation of Teachers

America's public education system could be on the brink of a once-in-a-generation revolution. If implemented properly, we can provide all children with the problem-solving, critical-thinking and teamwork skills they need to compete in today's changing world. But that's a big "if."

Elliott Negin

Director of News & Commentary, Union of Concerned Scientists

Despite the fact that ExxonMobil is still a significant contrarian funder, the flurry of media interest in the company's funding agenda sparked by UCS's exposé died down soon after its release and remains feeble to this day. What happened?

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Writer; host, 'The Breakdown'; Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

Debtors' Prison should be required reading for anyone who influences economic policy in this country. Open-minded readers should come away convinced that we need to reject the economics of despair for an economics of hope.

Ian Thompson

Legislative Representative, Washington Legislative Office, ACLU

ENDA's religious exemption, which would extend far beyond churches, synagogues and mosques, effectively gives a stamp of legitimacy to anti-LGBT discrimination that our civil rights laws have never given to discrimination based on an individual's race, sex, national origin, age or disability.

Mary Manning Cleveland

Adjunct Professor of Environmental Economics, Columbia University

As most of us know, sales taxes are "regressive." That is, when sales taxes are "passed on," they fall harder on poorer customers than on richer ones.

Tom Frieden, MD, MPH and Pamela Hyde

Research has shown us that intervening early at the individual, family, and community level can delay or prevent the on-set of mental and substance use disorders. We also know that these can be treated, and individuals with these conditions can lead healthy productive lives.

Marian Wright Edelman

President, Children's Defense Fund

On this 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Children's Crusade it is a time to remember, honor, and follow the example of the children who were frontline soldiers and transforming catalysts in America's greatest moral movement of the 20th century.

Michelle Brané

Director of Migrant Rights and Justice, Women’s Refugee Commission

As the bill moves through committee and onto the Senate floor, the rights and well-being of immigrant women will depend on Senators keeping women -- and women's realities -- in mind.

Martha Burk

Money Editor, Ms. magazine; director, Corporate Accountability Project, National Council of Women's Organizations

Maybe it's time for a '60s-style student uprising -- but this time instead of occupying college hallways, they ought to occupy the halls of a Congress that favors big banks over struggling students.

David Bromwich

Professor of Literature at Yale

Different as they are, the scandals all point to a single disorder that afflicts the Obama White House and the Holder justice department. The name of the disorder is paternalism, and its leading symptoms are suppression and secrecy.

Chris Weigant

Political writer and blogger at ChrisWeigant.com

That's the type of week it's been, and the only way to see a silver lining is to point out that if you're going to have several scandals erupt, you might as well schedule them all for the same week.

Peter M. Shane

Author, 'Connecting Democracy' and 'Madison's Nightmare'; Law professor, E-democracy researcher

What we are witnessing today in depressing, even contemptible form is a GOP-led congressional subversion of two of the most elementary norms on which our government rests.

Hoyt Hilsman

Journalist, screenwriter, critic and former candidate for Congress

By attacking Obama, the Republicans are throwing red meat to their base, which is an increasingly small and extreme group of right-wingers. The danger of tossing red meat to a tiger is that it becomes even more aggressive.

Elisabeth MacNamara

President, League of Women Voters of the United States

Monday, May 20, marks the 20th anniversary of the National Voter Registration Act, the monumental legislation that protects and enhances the ability of Americans to register to vote.