(1) So the Justice Department has been doing its job by looking into the (il)legalities of the NSA wiretapping. In fact, the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility has specifically been looking into it. So far, so good. Until…. Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry NSA won’t grant Justice Department lawyers required security clearance The government has abruptly ended an inquiry … Read More
Professor Volokh’s Criminal Law Question
Professor Volokh posted a question that he is giving to his Criminal Law class: Bert and Ernie are walking down the street from the local bar, when they see their old nemesis the Count. Drunk and a little paranoid, they conclude that the Count is trying to kill them, so they decide to kill him to prevent that from happening; … Read More
Bush Disobeys 750 Laws
I didn’t say that; the Boston Globe did. What’s remarkable is that Bush apologists — rather than saying "That’s bullshit" — respond instead with "Yeah? So?": President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it … Read More
Judicial Da Vinci Code Cracked
A London judge, who ruled in the copyright infringement case involving Dan Brown’s "The Da Vinci Code", stuck an encoded message of his own within his 71-page judgment (in favor of Brown). The code has been cracked. RELATED: Judges are not averse to being humorous. This website catalogues some of the more interesting/weird/humorous works from those who sit on the … Read More
NH Phone-Jamming Scandal: Something’s Coming
Rumors that something is going to break, possibly involving an elected GOP official. Today or tomorrow. POSTSCRIPT: Ah, here it is.
Net Neutrality Again
Look, I know it’s a boring issue, but it is important. Fortunately, via Digby, there’s a good analogy which explains the issue quite well: What the telecoms are trying to get away with is like this: suppose you ran a business, and your product was delivered by FedEx, with your customers paying FedEx for it. Now suppose FedEx came to … Read More
Okay. This Is All I’m Gonna Say About The Duke Thing
I refuse to get sucked in to this story. I absolutely refuse. I think there are greater issues that we need to be concerned about rather than the media frenzy over the (alleged) horror-of-the-day. Rapes (and rape allegations) occur everyday, and I don’t quite see what is so special about this one such that it has to dominate the news. … Read More
Pulitzer Prizes
… awarded to James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times for their carefully sourced stories on secret domestic eavesdropping that stirred a national debate on the boundary line between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberty. No Pulitzer Prize for Drama this year.
Coulter Schaudenfreude
Ann Coulter on the 2000 Presidential elections: Seventy-five percent of the voter/felons unearthed were registered Democrats(!). If that sample is representative — and 8 percent of all Florida voters is a lot more representative than the average Gallup poll — about 5,000 felons voted illegally in Florida’s election this year. Had those votes been excluded in a post-election contest — … Read More
Well, Well, Well
It’s interesting to see who the Pentagon sees as the true enemy: A high-ranking Pentagon official has been snooping around Hillary and Bill Clinton’s personal financial records, The Post has learned. The Defense Department big shot recently scoured Sen. Clinton personal financial filings – which are required by Senate rules and publicly available. The records contain information about her investments … Read More
Don’t Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry
Pregnant woman beaten at baby shower Police are describing it as a "baby shower gone bad." Apparently.
Greenwald On Orrin Hatch
The whole post is worth a read, but I like Glenn Greenwald’s views about Sen. Orrin Hatch: This seems to be an accurate summary of the evolution of Sen. Hatch’s views of constitutional law: (1) The Congress has the right to restrict the President’s eavesdropping activities, and to make certain eavesdropping activities a criminal offense punishable by up to five … Read More
Let’s Help John Out
Poor John Hindrocket. Hampered by his own desire to be right, he can’t see the plain evidence in front of his face. Here’s what he writes in his post "Someone’s Misreporting This Story": Yesterday, five former judges of the FISA court testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the National Security Agency’s international terrorist surveillance program. Some observers have alleged … Read More
SCOTUS Report: Rumsfeld v. Hamdan
To hear Lyle Denniston tell it, the government had a rough day in front of the Supreme Court justices today, and the "existing ‘military commission’ scheme may well fail". Good. And no, Scalia didn’t recuse himself, although he opined on the subject matter earlier this month. Denniston’s analysis: With Justice Antonin Scalia taking part — and, in fact, providing the … Read More
Lying To SCOTUS — Not A Good Idea
The full story is here; I’ll just give the funny bits. Today, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case of Rumsfled v. Hamdan. At issue in the case is whether a provision in last year’s Detainee Treatment Act ("DTA") effectively strips the Court of jurisdiction to hear Hamdan’s case. The Government contends that it does. In support of … Read More