A pedophile believes that his "right" to molest physically and mentally handicapped boys is protected because it stems from his religious belief: Phillip Distasio, who said he is the leader of a church called Arcadian Fields Ministries, represented himself at his pretrial hearing Wednesday. He is charged with 74 counts including rape, pandering obscenity to minors and corrupting another with … Read More
Dude, That Is So Wrong
From Missouri: The assault trial of a man accused of shoving a cell phone down a woman’s throat has begun. Prosecutors say 24-year-old Marlon Brando Gill was angry and jealous when he forced the phone into Melinda Abell’s throat in December. But defense attorneys insist the 25-year-old victim swallowed the phone intentionally to prevent Gill from finding out who she’d … Read More
Shacking Up Now Legal In North Carolina
201 years ago, North Carolina passed a law (N.C.G.S. § 14‑184) which made it a criminal offense for a man and woman to live together unless they were married. Specifically, the law says: If any man and woman, not being married to each other, shall lewdly and lasciviously associate, bed and cohabit together, they shall be guilty of a Class … Read More
Heckuva Constitutional Infringement, FEMA.
I had to read this two or three times to make sure I was getting it right: Residents of trailer parks set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house hurricane victims in Louisiana aren’t allowed to talk to the press without an official escort, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reported. In one instance, a security guard ordered an Advocate … Read More
Bush PERSONALLY Blocked DOJ Investigation
Remember earlier this year, when the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) announced that it could not pursue an investigation into the role of DOJ lawyers in crafting the NSA warrantless wiretapping program? The OPR said it was denied security clearance to conduct the investigation. Previously, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would not explain why the security clearances had been … Read More
Dear Mr President…
From Slate’s "Low Concept" feature, an excerpt of Robert Raben‘s recent missive to the chief executive: Dear Mr. President, I think it’s ridiculous that some of my friends on the left, and some in your party as well, are complaining about the fact that you and some of your colleagues in the executive branch have been monitoring and maintaining personal … Read More
New York Court Says “No” To Gay Marriages
What the NY Court actually did was kick the issue over to the Legislature: First, the Legislature could rationally decide that, for the welfare of children, it is more important to promote stability, and to avoid instability, in opposite-sex than in same-sex relationships. Heterosexual intercourse has a natural tendency to lead to the birth of children; homosexual intercourse does not. … Read More
The Winger Response To Hamdan
Entirely predictable. They’re getting all outraged and pulling the "activist judges" crap. Here, for example, is the editorial at NRO: As yesterday’s decision again demonstrates, this Court would rather impose its preferences on us than simply follow the law. We should find this unacceptable in any case. But when the consequences of the Court’s arrogance rise to the level of … Read More
Mark Levin Is A Moron
Publius beat me to it. I was going to post the exact same thing: Mark Levin, NRO: Congress and the Court are systematically stripping the presidency of war-making powers. Congress demands that the president get court approval before intercepting enemy communications (we call that intelligence gathering) and the Court demands that the president get statutory support from Congress before he … Read More
No No No No No….
It astounds me how stupid some law enforcement people can be about, you know, the law: NASHUA – A city man is charged with violating state wiretap laws by recording a detective on his home security camera, while the detective was investigating the man’s sons. Michael Gannon, 49, of 26 Morgan St., was arrested Tuesday night, after he brought a … Read More
Hamdan Perspectives
What Hamdan means — and doesn’t mean: There’s plenty of good analysis at OrinKerr.com and of course SCOTUSBlog. Orin Kerr also cites an interesting New Yorker piece about David Addington, Bush’s "legal mind behind the war on terror" It’s pretty clear from the Hamdan decision that Addington, among others, were simply barking up the wrong tree. The article quotes an … Read More
Article 3 Interpretation
Eugene Volokh notices something in the Hamdan decision. It appears that none of the justices –even the dissenters — take the position that Article 3 doesn’t apply to Gitmo detainees (although Scalia and Alito are silent). Even Thomas, Volokh notes, seems to agree — although he disputes the particular interpretation to be applied to Article 3. Volokh quotes Thomas at … Read More
More on Hamdan: Torture and the Geneva Conventions, AUMF and FISA
Marty Lederman has pinpointed the BIG news about Hamdan decision, which is this: More importantly, the Court held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda. That is the HUGE part of today’s ruling. The commissions are the least of it. This basically resolves the debate about interrogation techniques, … Read More
SCOTUS Decides Texas Gerrymandering Case; Nobody Sure Who Won
There were six different opinions in this case. Here’s the breakdown: "KENNEDY, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts II–A and III, in which STEVENS, SOUTER, GINSBURG, AND BREYER, JJ., joined, an opinion with respect to Parts I and IV, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and ALITO, J., joined, … Read More
A Soldier’s Salute
Ben Shapiro, not surprisingly, thinks that anyone who burns a flag hates America, and publicly desecrates the soldiers who fought to preserve that flag blah blah blah, which is why there should be a No Flag Burning Amendment giving the government more power and taking away liberties from, you know, the people. A soldier comments on Ben’s article: As an … Read More