I said it, but Greenwald said it better when he writes that the assisted suicide case shows the Administration’s true colors: [O]nce the Bush Administration took power, democratic processes in this area ceased to matter. John Ashcroft was hell-bent on putting an end to physician-assisted suicide in Oregon because he personally believes it to be morally wrong, and he wasn’t … Read More
Ayotte Case Decided
I gave the backgrounder on the case back in November. It concerned a parental notification law in New Hampshire, a statute which required notification of parents (or a court order, in the alternative, under certain circumstances) before a teenage girl is allowed to have an abortion. The ruling was somewhat surprising, but the bottom line is that it didn’t alter … Read More
Scalia’s Idea of Morality
I don’t want to get all legal-wonkish here, but Publius notes an interesting comment in Scalia’s dissent in today’s "physician-assisted suicide" case. Scalia wrote: From an early time in our national history, the Federal Government has used its enumerated powers, such as its power to regulate interstate commerce, for the purpose of protecting public morality–for example, by banning the interstate … Read More
Connecting The Dots
Michelle Malkin: "You can’t connect the dots if you don’t gather them." Kevin Drum, Matt Yglesius, the FBI and many others too numerous to mention: "If you gather way too many useless dots, you can’t connect anything correctly."
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Is Either A Bad Lawyer Or A Liar
From last night’s CNN interview by Larry King of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez: KING: General, isn’t there a happy medium? Isn’t there a way to get quickly to a judge who signs off on a warrant to tap or listen in? Isn’t there a way to do that quick? GONZALES: Larry, whenever you involve another branch of government in an … Read More
Post 9-11 Wiretapping Yields Tons Of Useless Info
Reuters: In the months following the September 11 attacks, the National Security Agency sent a torrent of names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses to the FBI that swamped the agency but led in virtually every case to dead ends or innocent Americans, The New York Times reported on Monday. FBI officials complained repeatedly to the secretive spy agency, which was … Read More
Breaking News: SCOTUS Upholds Physician Suicide Law
With all this talk about Alito, people seem to forget that the U.S. Supreme Court is actually in session. CNN is reporting that it just upheld Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law. Here’s the blurb from SCOTUSBlog: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the U.S. attorney general does not have the power to bar doctors from prescribing lethal drugs for use … Read More
Gore On Wiretapping
There’s an unwritten rule that ex-Presidents don’t criticize sitting Presidents. Comity, or something like that. That doesn’t apply to Vice-Presidents (apparently). called on Congress and the public to resist what he called "a gross and excessive power grab" by the Bush administration amid the war on terrorism, declaring that "our Constitution is at risk." Gore said the use of the … Read More
No, Clinton Didn’t Do It
Bloomberg News: Former President Clinton said Thursday that he never ordered wiretaps of American citizens without obtaining a court order, as President Bush has acknowledged he has done. Clinton, in an interview broadcast Thursday on the ABC News program ”Nightline,” said his administration either received court approval before authorizing a wiretap or went to court within three days after to … Read More
Greenwald Writes
You read.
Liveblogging The Mrs. Alito Hearings
9:00 Specter reconvenes the hearings. Mrs. Alito is once again sitting behind her husband. She’s dressed in black today, and has a black purse on her lap. She clutches it tightly, much like a Nebraskan tourist on the New York City subway. 9:10 Leahy has the floor for 25 minutes. Mrs. Alito closes her eyes. Her lips are moving, as … Read More
Legal Quote Of The Day
"The technical legal term for that, I believe, is poppycock." — Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, in a letter to Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), on the Bush administration’s claim that the U.S. Constitution authorizes the domestic eavesdropping program.
His Name Is Tice
The NSA wiretapping whistleblower (and presumptive subject of the DOJ investigation about the leak) has come forward. Russell Tice has worked within the bowels of the NSA, and he has a lot to say: "I specialized in what’s called special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them ‘black world’ programs and operations." But now, Tice tells ABC … Read More
Bush: Alito Not Quite Qualified Yet (But Will Be Soon)
I’m not following the Alito hearings much*, but I note in passing that Bush said today that Alito is "imminently qualified" to serve on the high court. Maybe I’m setting the bar too high, but I think we should have nominees who are already qualified. * Firedoglake is doing some blogging coverage of the opening day of hearings. But … Read More
The Worst Lawyer Ever
John Hindrocket of Powerline is a stanch defender of the Administration’s use of warrantless NSA wiretaps. In this post, he writes an update: OK, JUST ONE MORE THING: We’ve been getting emails from liberals who seem to think that the 72-hour provision of FISA makes the problem of speed disappear. I did a separate post on that issue above, titled … Read More