National

The bottom line is that electing Bernie Sanders president is not going to eliminate tuition for most American college students. Not because Sanders's College for All bill probably wouldn't pass even if he did win, but because even if it did pass the bill simply will not lead to the elimination of tuition in most cases. This isn't Sanders's fault, per se — it's not sloppy legislative drafting — but it reflects the fact that the administration of public institutions of higher education in the United States is primarily a state matter. The federal government has a role, and it's an important one, but it's secondary. The fiscal cost of a total federal takeover of the system would be so prohibitive that Sanders doesn't propose it, and that means his ideas can have only a limited impact on what happens on the ground. That's all fine, except Sanders's rhetoric is raising expectations and mobilizing voters around promises of change that are completely at odds with what his policies and American institutions can actually deliver.

There is a fun legal theory floating around advocating one way the Obama administration could resolve the mess over Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court. In brief, the theory says this: A few months from now, Garland could just show up at the Supreme Court building and start working. Okay, it’s a legal theory, so it is much more complicated than that. But Garland pulling on his judicial robe and plunking himself down in Antonin Scalia’s seat without so much as a fare-thee-well from Mitch McConnell....