I've written in the past — here and here and here — about the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in the state of Texas, a state which has a disturbing record of getting it wrong when it comes to death penalty cases. For those unfamiliar with the story, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by the state of Texas on February 17, 2004 after having … Read More
Obama Administration To Challenge Court’s Rejection of DOMA
Recently, a federal judge ruled that DOMA, the federal law that says that marriage is only between a man and a woman, unconstitutional. Today, the Justice Department filed an appeal of that decision, which is bad. But they did in it a half-assed way, which is good: Although Obama opposes the law, a Justice Department spokeswoman said that the administration … Read More
Victory For NC ACLU In Body Piercing Case
Honestly, I think the North Carolina chapter of the ACLU has only one attorney, Kathleen Lewis Parker (who I crossed paths with last year when a friend's daughter was barred from creating a gay student organization at a local high school). The NC chapter of the ACLU is a good organization, but woefully underfunded. So it can't do all the … Read More
Judge Jails Lawyer When Lawyer Refuses To Say The Pledge Of Allegiance
Danny Lampley was jailed by Chancery Court Judge Littlejohn in Tupelo for failing to recite the pledge of allegiance in open court earlier this week. Danny was one of the local lawyers who represented the plaintiff in the Pontotoc school prayer case years ago, working with the ACLU and People for the American Way. The order incarcerating him provides: BE … Read More
ObamaCare Is Constitutional
There are court challenges all over the country, but this is the first actual decision to come down. And it rules that Obamacare is constitutional. Which, of course, we already knew, but that doesn't stop wingnuts from making the argument.
Gay Bullying
There have been a few news stories cropping up lately about "gay bullying" and they all make me wish I was a Second Amendment advocate so that I could go all vigilante on someone's ass. But this story…. man, this is a tough one: It started with a Twitter message on Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into … Read More
Yeah, Canceled
This was supposed to take place at the University of Texas Law School yesterday: The Federalist Society and SCCC Present: John Lott's More Guns, Less Crime Date: September 28, 2010Start: 6:00pmEnd: 7:30pm Location: TNH 2.114 (Auditorium) Prominent Second Amendment scholar and author John Lott will discuss how more legal possession of guns leads to less crime. Sponsored by the Texas … Read More
Yes, Let’s Just Federalize Manhattan
TPMMuckraker: Newt Gingrich… said he wants the national government to step in and stop the developers from building the Islamic community center by whatever means necessary. "I think the Congress has the ability to declare the area a national battlefield memorial because I think we should think of the World Trade Center as a battlefield site; this is a war," he said, … Read More
Discovery Channel Bomb Guy
UPDATE: From 2008, someone caught a Youtube video of a protester outside the Discovery building, throwing money. Yes, the money-thrower is apparently the same dude. UPDATE: Some posts about Lee and his earlier protests. View it soon before the site crashes. UPDATE: From 2008, a blurb about his arrest following an unarmed protest of Discovery. *** It started at 1:00 pm EST. The … Read More
The Facebook Killer
It was only a matter of time, really: Three teens who were on a 69-name hit list posted on Facebook have been killed in the past 10 days… Don't worry — it isn't happening in America…. yet. Read the whole thing.
Truth Gets Its Boots On
The Associated Press sent out a memo today to its writers and editors advising that they should no longer use the phrase "Ground Zero mosque" to describe the controversial Islamic cultural center and former Burlington Coat Center store, located in lower Manhattan two blocks (and out of view) from Ground Zero. While I applaud the Associated Press for its stance, this would … Read More
Kathleen Parker On Why The “Mosque” Should Be Built
She's a conservative, and she's making sense. This is why plans for the mosque near Ground Zero should be allowed to proceed, if that's what these Muslims want. We teach tolerance by being tolerant. We can't insist that our freedom of speech allows us to draw cartoons or produce plays that Muslims find offensive and then demand that they be … Read More
The Standing Issue Of The Prop 8 Appeal
Hi. Welcome to Civil Procedure for Laymen 101. Today we're going to talk about an interesting case going on right now called Perry v. Schwarzenegger, also known as the California Prop 8 same-sex marriage case. As you know, a federal judge last week struck down California's ban on same-sex marriages, which was passed by a thin majority in a public referendum … Read More
Quote Of The Day
Well…. would you like Fox’s right to free press put up to a vote and say well, if five states approved it, let’s wait till the other 45 states do? – Conservative lawyer Ted Olsen (who represented Bush in Bush v Gore and who now is the lawyer for same-sex marriage proponents) to Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, after Wallace … Read More
Prop 8 Overturned
Two years ago, the voters of California took to the ballots, and overturned legislation which would have permitted gay marriage. That was Prop 8, a big controversy at the time. 52% of Californians voted in favor of the gay marriage ban. But yesterday, a decision by federal Judge Vaughn Walker (a Reagan appointee) ruled that the gay marriage ban violated … Read More