Ramesh Ponnuru reveals today over at National Review Online that Justice John Paul Stevens got suckered in the recent Hamdan decision. In deciding how to read the amendment, Justice Stevens, writing for the Court, looked at senators’ statements, among other things. Here he encountered a problem: The senators disagreed. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jon Kyl, […]
Last year, I wrote about the case of Judge Manuel Real of the Ninth Circuit who violated numerous laws in order to keep a woman living rent-free in a home for 3 years. The Judicial Council, which usually rules on cases of judicial misconduct, made the Congress look like a bunch of saints in comparison […]
National Review's Andrew McCarthy has a must-read article on the implications of the Supreme Court's Hamdan ruling for the FBI's terrorist surveillance program. For those of you with short attention spans, I direct you to a less-eloquent summary of the situation by yours truly.
Last week, federal district judge Richard Matsch ruled that three Utah-based companies that provide PG-rated, edited versions of feature films are an "illegitimate business." The quotes from Matsch in the CBC article are over the top. Judge Richard P. Matsch decreed on Thursday in Denver, Colo., that sanitizing movies to delete content that may offend […]
But a federal judge ruled today (surprise!) that Congressional Capitol Hill offices are not a safe haven for criminal activity. Hogan acknowledged the "unprecedented" nature of the case. But he said the lawmakers' "sweeping" theory of legislative privilege "would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime." A member […]
Friday it was revealed that terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay had been using papers and envelopes stamped with "privileged attorney-client material" had been used to orchestrate three suicides at the camp and other assorted plots. In the cell of one of the detainees who died, the authorities said, investigators found a handwritten message from […]
Yesterday a Houston court ruled that former Rep. Tom DeLay's recent move to Virginia was a coldly calculated political move to make sure that the GOP would hold his Houston-area seat. DeLay could withdraw from the race, but then Republicans couldn't replace him on the ballot. By moving to Virginia, DeLay made himself ineligible -- […]
Former Vermont governor and current Democrat National Committee Chairman Howard Dean continues to demonstrate that any wacko can run Vermont -- or the Democrat Party. In a ruling today, New York's high court decided that there in no "right" to gay marriage in that state's constitution. This prompted Dean -- who is obviously one of […]
I've been doing some more blawg (that's a legal blog for those of you unfamiliar with all of the hip blog-terminology) reading on the Hamdan case and came across this piece over at Professor Bainbridge's place. Bainbridge appears to suggest that the Congress re-pass the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, re-stripping the court of jurisdiction […]
After today's Supreme Court ruling in the Hamdan case, I've decided to update Article II, Section II of the U.S. Constitution to what current Supreme Court jurisprudence has changed it to. Article II. - The Executive Branch Section 2 - Presidential power The president only has the power the Supreme Court chooses to give him, […]