After having had the opportunity to scan the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Terri Schiavo case, and having read and listened to a variety of sources, I've come to the conclusion that the court is populated by a bunch of teenagers. Father: "Be home by 11." Son: "No problem, dad." Son arrives […]
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied an appeal by the parents of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman, to have her feeding tube reinserted pending a complete review of her case. I'd like to make it clear that I am not opposed to removing a respirator or some other sort of machine […]
Justice Antonin Scalia gave a talk earlier this week at the Woodrow Wilson Center on the less-than-sexy topic of "Constitutional Interpretation." Most media outlets zeroed in on Scalia's blistering attack on the Court's recent decision abolishing the juvenile death penalty. However, Scalia's comments on the current state of judicial confirmations was much more interesting with […]
Today's New York Times has a shocking editorial on the GOP's efforts to turn the United States into a fascist dictatorship. Actually, the editorial is about the prospect of changing or clarifying the Senate rules regarding the use of a filibuster. [T]he White House's insistence on choosing only far-right judicial nominees has already damaged the […]
for those young people who've never seen an analog clock, the second hand counts off the seconds. In a quiet room you can hear each of the 60 ticks that culminate in the minute hand moving from, say 11:59:59 p.m. to 12:00:00 a.m. There's some magic in that second hand, because with just one tick […]
The Supreme Court today heard arguments in a pair of cases challenging the display of the Ten Commandments on public land in Kentucky and Texas. I will be very surprised if the monuments are allowed to stay. The Court for years has been moving toward removing religion from public life. The interesting thing that struck […]
When you say someone has a "mixed record," what exactly do you mean? They've done some bad, some good? They've had some failures, some successes? Either of those definitions, I can understand, but Sunday's Los Angeles Times, in the liberal spirit of kicking someone when they're down and dying, runs an editorial in Sunday's paper […]
Senate minority leader Harry Reid made waves late last year when he went on "Meet the Press" and attacked Justice Clarence Thomas for being a poor writer and a bad justice. When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's "Meet the Press": "I think that […]
From the country that shows more concern about the safety of burglars than of homeowners comes this report on how British law enforcement is making sure that the roadways are safe. LONDON (Reuters) - Police called in a spotter plane, helicopter and video-equipped patrol car to help convict a woman who ate an apple while […]
American University now has a transcript up of the Scalia-Breyer debate that I posted about last week. You can find more discussion about the event over at Kenneth Anderson's blog -- he was also the moderator of the debate. Anderson took issue with the quote that the Associated Press and I picked up on regarding […]