You can read the full article for yourself, but Tabor's screed ("A Tale of Two Constitutions") starts like this: In the era of President Barack Obama, more than ever we will witness examples of selective application of the US Constitution's First Amendment. …Two recent cases reveal just how partisan advocates of First Amendment truly are. One might argue that the … Read More
Sotomayor Hearings
I don't know why this is even an event. She's going to get asked questions, but she knows what the questions will be, and she has a good answer for every one of them. They're not going to catch her in a "gotcha". They know that; she knows that; everybody knows that. I mean, what's going to happen? Is she … Read More
An Open Letter To Walmart’s Lawyers
Guys: I can't imagine any earthly reason why I would want to follow Walmart's tweets on Twitter. Believe me, there is nothing Walmart can say — especially in 140 characters or less — that would be of the slightest interest to me. But, I recognize that I am powerless to stop the aging process which results in a slow slide into dementia. … Read More
On The Gay Marriage Front
It went little-noticed, but D.C. made an advancement in the gay marriage acceptance. No, sadly, it didn't go as far as the New England states and Iowa in recognizing gay marriages solemnized within its borders, but it did pass a law saying that it would honor and recognize gay marriages from other states. So you if you gay marry in Boston, and … Read More
SCOTUS Wonkery
Ignore the New York Times article which (somewhat misleadingly) headlines that SCOTUS shifted to the right this term. While it's true, and also true that Kennedy (the swing vote) sided with "the right" more often than note, the "swing to the right" itself was negligible and doesn't mean anything. That's because roughly 80 cases on diverse topics decided by nine … Read More
Bring Your Guns To Church
I may not be a religious expert, but it seems to me that Jesus would not approve: Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church here, is passionate about gun rights. He shoots regularly at the local firing range, and his sermon two weeks ago was on “God, Guns, Gospel and Geometry.” And on Saturday night, he is inviting … Read More
Ricci Case Overturned
The US Supreme Court overturned the Second Circuit in the Ricci case, aka the "white firefighters case", this morning. The court held that it was wrong for the Town of New Haven to deny promotions to white firefighters after it appeared that the firefighters' exam was racially biased. The outcome was 5-4 along predictable lines: Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and … Read More
SCOTUS Rules On Strip-Searching Case
One of the few cases I was following this year on the Supreme Court docket was Safford United School District v. Redding, a case out of Arizona where a 13 year old girl was search-stripped by school officials because of a "tip" that she had some ibuprofin. (She didn't, as it turned out). I sketched the full details out in … Read More
The Guy Who Wrote “You Light Up My Life” Is Finally Indicted
About time, too. That song, written in 1977, is a crime which has gone unpunished for too long. Wait, what? Oh. My mistake. He was indicted on sex charges. Date rape.
Dumping Waste Into Clean Water Doesn’t Violate The Clean Water Act
SCOTUS ruling today: The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Clean Water Act does not prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from allowing mining waste to be dumped into rivers, streams and other waters. In a 6-to-3 decision that drew fierce criticism from environmentalists, the court said the Corps of Engineers had the authority to grant Coeur Alaska Inc., a … Read More
Obama and DOMA
Michael Dorf has an excellent thoughful column explaining the DOJ's mostly (but not entirely) weak defense of the Defense of Marriage Act in the Smelt case. DOMA prohibits the federal government from granting same-sex couples benefits that, by law, flow from "marriage" or are granted to a "spouse" — health benefits, for example. An excerpt: Why did the Obama Justice Department … Read More
Bill Clinton’s Email Accessed By NSA During Bush Administration
Man, it was bad: The difficulty of distinguishing between e-mail messages involving foreigners from those involving Americans was “one of the main things that drove” the Bush administration to push for a more flexible law in 2008, said Kenneth L. Wainstein, the homeland security adviser under President George W. Bush. That measure, which also resolved the long controversy over N.S.A.’s … Read More
Pat Buchanan On Sotomayor
In Human Events: Having lost the Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008, Republicans are looking to redefine themselves for a nation that still leans conservative but is less Republican that it has been in decades. "Leans conservative" based on….? The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court presents just such an opportunity. For, even … Read More
Holocaust Museum Shooting
It's all unfolding now. Two people (perhaps 3) shot by a gunman in the Holocaust Musuem in D.C.. The gunman was also apparently shot and is in custody. Too early, of course, to determine the motive, but since it was at the Holocaust Museum, one can surmise that the shooter was anti-Jew. From there, it's not a far leap to suppose … Read More
Punditry Of The Day
The Corner's Victor Davis Hanson: A disinterested observer would conclude that Justice Sotomayor is race-obsessed. In her now much quoted 2001 UC Berkeley speech she invoked “Latina/Latino” no less than 38 times, in addition to a variety of other racial-identifying synonyms. When one reads the speech over, the obsession with race become almost overwhelming, and I think the public has … Read More