December 07, 2010

Let's have a toast for the assholes...

Or at least the liars: 3.32pm: "This case is not about WikiLeaks," district judge Howard Riddle told the court, according to my colleague Sam Jones, who was there. No. Of course not. Sexual assault in Sweden is of the utmost...
Posted by binky at 07:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 16, 2010

Walter Dellinger's "Defense" of Elena Kagan

So some people on the left have decried the possibility of a Kagan nomination to the Supreme Court because she has argued in favor of expansive powers for the president in her role as Solicitor General. Walter Dellinger jumps to...
Posted by armand at 09:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 10, 2010

The Day After - My Initial SCOTUS Nominee Guesses

I know nothing about what's going on in the White House, but why not make some guesses, right? Play along if you wish.The favorites - Diane Wood and Elena Kagan. Definite possibilities - Jennifer Granholm and Elizabeth Warren. Intriguing long-shots...
Posted by armand at 04:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 09, 2010

Justice Stevens Makes It Official - He's Retiring

For those of you who are now going to enter betting pools on who the nominee to replace him will be, keep in mind that according to this New York Times story, this was the short-list of candidates who were...
Posted by armand at 12:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 07, 2010

Top Appellate Attorneys Suggest Who Should Succeed Justice Stevens

An interesting list. It makes me wonder what the senatorial succession laws are in Rhode Island, and happily it's a little broader than the same three names that are in every article on this subject. Sure, the pick is possibly...
Posted by armand at 05:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 04, 2010

If Anyone Was Doubting Justice Stevens Was About to Retire ...

I'd say these stories make it clear he will be making that announcement shortly. You don't generally hold so many interviews about a possible retirement unless you are going to retire (well, presuming you aren't a professional athlete or a...
Posted by armand at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 27, 2010

"The Horrible Prospect of Supreme Court Justice Cass Sunstein"

Glenn Greenwald unloads against the notion that The Left likes Cass Sunstein (as was suggested by Peter Baker in a piece reviewing possible replacements for Justice Stevens). While Sunstein's close to the president, I really can't see him being nominated...
Posted by armand at 10:49 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

March 11, 2010

Is Jan Crawford Suggesting the Supreme Court's Right Wing Is Petty and Tempermental?

As much as she might admire them and be friendly with their chums I don't think she's doing them any favors with this observation. But at some point - and I'd say that point is now - the Obama Administration...
Posted by armand at 03:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 24, 2010

Kagan Will Replace Stevens, Ginsburg Won't Retire

Those are the predictions from Tom Goldstein in this lengthy analysis. His track record on these things is strong. He correctly foresaw the Sotomayor, Roberts, and Alito appointments....
Posted by armand at 12:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 15, 2010

Manga Collector Gets 6 Months in Prison

What the Helen Lovejoys have done to the Bill of Rights is a disgrace. Ugh....
Posted by armand at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 04, 2010

Illinois - Political and Judicial Follies

The highest court in Illinois just declared the state's med-mal caps unconstitutional - and the decision has led to some justice-on-justice snark and posturing (though not quite as delicious as the recent tidal wave of derision unleashed on PA's newest...
Posted by armand at 12:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 24, 2010

Additional Questions

Following up on armand... ...if the Supreme Court just said, essentially, that corporations/unions have as much free speech as individuals (and thus they can spend money to buy political adds) then either: 1. Like individuals, they are limited to spending...
Posted by baltar at 08:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 21, 2010

How Does Citizens United Square With Caperton?

To me, there'd seem to be some tension there....
Posted by armand at 03:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 12, 2010

Briscoe v. Virginia

So the argument of over half the states as to why Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts needs to be overturned less than a year after it coming down is ... doing what's constitutional is too expensive? Well sure they have other arguments,...
Posted by armand at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 19, 2009

Judge David Hamilton Is Confirmed to the Sixth Circuit

In terms of events that do not bode well, Judge David Hamilton, who is controversional for reasons I find hard to fathom (or who should seem downright dull to anyway to the left of Sen. Jim DeMint) was finally confirmed...
Posted by armand at 05:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 06, 2009

2 New Nominees to the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals

As this is the US Circuit Court that covers West Virginia I've always got an interest in it. President Obama has nominated two men to join the court, both from North Carolina. One would be the first Latino to serve...
Posted by armand at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 05, 2009

Pottawattamie County v. McGhee

The Supremes were considering prosecutorial immunity yesterday - you know, for prosecutors who spend their time framing people. It's a complicated topic. For you constitutional-law scholars out there with casebooks to update, you may soon have an addition to the...
Posted by armand at 01:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 13, 2009

Texas Gov. Perry Still Coving Up Death Penalty Error

If you haven't seen the story about Texas (likely) executing an innocent man, you should really read it. What is becoming almost as interesting are the brazen attempts by Gov. Perry to bury the story. I think I'm OK with...
Posted by baltar at 08:29 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 07, 2009

Salazar v. Buono

Chris Lund has two posts on what could be an important establishment clause case that the Supreme Court is hearing today....
Posted by armand at 01:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 15, 2009

Barbara Milano Keenan

President Obama has nominated a second person to fill one of the five vacancies on the US Court of Appeals that has jurisdiction over West Virginia (and the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland). It continues the administration's practice, unlike that seen...
Posted by armand at 06:26 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 08, 2009

Corporate Spending in Political Campaigns - The Court Hears Citizens United, Again

Lyle Denniston discusses Citizens United here. The re-arguing will be held at One First Street tomorrow. The case has huge implications for campaign finance regulations, and will be the first heard since Justice Sotomayor joined the court....
Posted by armand at 02:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 03, 2009

Jonathan Turley's Picks for the Top 9 Justices

Several of these picks are predictable, but I like how he breaks down different categories of greatness. He also picks out a set of least impressive justices. Some of those stories, well, they remind one of just how out of...
Posted by armand at 06:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 17, 2009

A New Chief Judge of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals

A second recent surprise shift in the leadership of one of the nation's top courts (after the sudden change on the Fourth Circuit) has occurred. This appears timed solely to ensure that a "conservative" jurist remains at the top of...
Posted by armand at 05:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 06, 2009

Justice Sotomayor

She was confirmed this afternoon by a vote of 68-31, with 9 Republicans joining 59 Democrats in favor (as expected Sen. Kennedy was not present to vote). Out of the current justices, only Justices Thomas and Alito had more votes...
Posted by armand at 04:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 23, 2009

Obama's Judicial Nominees Aren't Exactly Elderly, But ...

Of course this piece is working off a small N. Obama's only begun nominating judges to the national's top federal courts. But so far his nominees are notably older than the appointees of previous presidents....
Posted by armand at 10:23 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

July 11, 2009

A "Scathing", "Not Unfair" Review of Robert Bork's Latest Book

David Bernstein highlights a "scathing" review by Richard Epstein of Robert Bork's latest book, and in the resulting thread Bork finds notably few defenders - with many criticizing him as a terrible example of originalism, and some saying his haphazard...
Posted by armand at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 09, 2009

Chief Judge Karen Williams Retires

Until a couple years ago people regularly described the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals - which covers Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas - as the nation's most conservative appeallate court. But then some of its jurists began retiring...
Posted by armand at 08:44 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

July 08, 2009

Massachusetts Sues the US Over DOMA

Well, it's finally happened. The AG of Massachusetts is suing the United States, arguing that DOMA's definition of marriage is discriminatory, and that the law steps into matters traditionally left to the states. Is this the right time to start...
Posted by armand at 03:11 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

June 29, 2009

The Big SCOTUS News of the Day - Will the Supremes Toss Austin?

Ricci will get all the press, but this seems a more startling move. And it could have far-reaching effects. If Republicans were wondering how their 2012 presidential candidate is going to compete against President Obama's $600 million fundraising juggernaut, the...
Posted by armand at 03:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 24, 2009

Minimalist? Deferential? As If

Linda Greenhouse reviews some of the latest handiwork of the Roberts Court. So much for judicial minimalism and justices merely serving as umpires. They look much more like baseball owners to me - writing the game's rules and deciding who...
Posted by armand at 01:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 23, 2009

Other Matters Relating to the SCOTUS Rulings Handed Down on June 22

TAPPED has a couple of good posts up. In one Bruce Cain and Daniel Tokaji "argue that states with low participation rates should be required to issue 'electoral impact statements,' which would discourage practices that suppress turnout among poor and...
Posted by armand at 02:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 18, 2009

The Obama Administration's Smelt Brief

"The Obama administration chose poorly." I'd say Professor Dorf's evaluation of the brief may be too complimentary....
Posted by armand at 12:14 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

June 10, 2009

When Supreme Court Seats Lurch to the Left - Scalia and Ginsburg

There are of course a variety of ways to measure the ideology of Supreme Court Justices, but if these scores are correct, in the 40-something years since Justice Thurgood Marshall joined the Supreme Court exactly 2 new members of the...
Posted by armand at 04:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 03, 2009

MySpace Cases Split PA Federal Judges, and Perhaps the 3rd Circuit

Two federal judges in PA issue notably different rulings, and 2 different 3-judge panels of the 3rd Circuit have different responses to the cases. What's at stake? Well, perhaps students' ability to criticize, insult or lampoon school administrators in the...
Posted by armand at 05:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 27, 2009

Kmeic Comes Out Strongly for Sotomayor

The well-known right-leaning (and Catholic) legal scholar attracted a great deal of criticism from some on the Right and some active in the Church for his endorsement of President Obama. It's interesting to see him come out strongly in support...
Posted by armand at 10:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 26, 2009

The Coming Attacks on Judge Sotomayor

Tom Goldstein lays out the paths of attack we will see against her....
Posted by armand at 09:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 19, 2009

A SCOTUS Interview for Deval Patrick?

I'll be surprised if the nominee to replace Souter isn't a woman, but Gov. Patrick (D-MA) would seem to be well-qualified for the position. And he's certainly got the diverse life experience that some people would like to see in...
Posted by armand at 10:40 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

May 14, 2009

Most Say It Doesn't Matter If Obama Appoints a Woman

According to a Gallup poll a big majority of Americans don't think it matters if Obama appoints a woman to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court. I haven't looked into the poli sci research on this question in at...
Posted by armand at 02:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Most Say It Doesn't Matter If Obama Appoints a Woman

According to a Gallup poll a big majority of Americans don't think it matters if Obama appoints a woman to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court. I haven't looked into the poli sci research on this question in at...
Posted by armand at 02:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 11, 2009

Marc Ambinder Clearly Thinks SCOTUS Nominees Should Be Sitting on a Court

How else to explain his dismissive comments about Jennifer Granholm and Janet Napolitano? People across DC read him, so his thoughts may matter in terms of the initial reaction to the nominee. And if he's well-informed, it looks like I...
Posted by armand at 04:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Your Sotomayor Links for This Monday

First, Mark Kernes at Adult Video News reports that Judge Sotomayor isn't likely to be a friend of students' free speech rights. At least that's what he draws from her involvement in a 3 judge panel's ruling in the Doninger...
Posted by armand at 02:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 08, 2009

Replacing Justice Souter

According to Jan Crawford Greenburg the list is down to 6 people. She lists 3 of them, all of whom have been listed on various lists of likely nominees....
Posted by armand at 02:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 04, 2009

Jeff Rosen and Stuart Taylor Gossip About Judge Sotomayor

That's really all there is to these early attacks on the 2nd Ciruit judge. We get blind quotes about potential this and possible that, and extraordinarily vague comments that rebut each other ... but mostly it comes off like they...
Posted by armand at 08:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 30, 2009

Justice Souter Is Retiring

It was expected, and yes, it is happening....
Posted by armand at 11:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 21, 2009

It Sounds Like the Justices Have Been Reading Too Much Caitlin Flanagan

I am so glad I'm not a student in the 21st century. Stephen Breyer and company who brought America's teens required drug tests (without any sort of cause) back in the 1990s appear to be just fine with strip-searching them...
Posted by armand at 01:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Antonin Scalia Is a Dirty Hippie

Well, at least compared to Roberts and Alito....
Posted by armand at 12:55 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

April 20, 2009

An Exception to the 1st Amendment for Depictions of Animal Cruelty?

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals declined to let such an exception stand. But the Supreme Court today announced that they would hear the case (U.S. v. Stevens).By the way, SCOTUSBlog's latest stat pack is out, looking at the cases...
Posted by armand at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 13, 2009

Justice Kennedy and the Exclusionary Rule

Vikram Amar has written this piece on two recent Supreme Court decisions dealing with the exclusionary rule, and the important role of Justice Kennedy, who was the only justice in the majority of each of these decisions. It appears that...
Posted by armand at 03:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Justice Thomas and the Miracle of the Dishwasher

The silent justice speaks. He thinks we focus to much on rights. But he loves loading the dishwasher.And apparently he wants a more martial, Christian country, one where the citizenry is more focused on its obligations than its rights, one...
Posted by armand at 03:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 18, 2009

Obama's First Nominee to One of the Federal Circuit Courts

He's nominated to the Seventh....
Posted by armand at 12:19 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 05, 2009

The California Supremes Hear the Challenge to Prop 8

A report. Supposedly it may turn on Justice Kennard....
Posted by armand at 03:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 10, 2009

Will the Poor Economy Lead to Prison Reform?

That seems to be what the Denver Post is hoping.One of my pet gripes about our legal system is that the lock-'em-away set is costing the states and the country a fortune through the costs of operating the prisons and...
Posted by armand at 01:58 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

February 07, 2009

MA High Court Rules on Gender Bias in Prosecution of Statutory Rape

An interesting 3-2 decision. A sharply divided Supreme Judicial Court said yesterday that a 14-year-old boy accused of statutory rape may have been a victim of gender discrimination because authorities charged him and not the three underage girls with whom...
Posted by armand at 04:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 05, 2009

Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized

Surgery for early-stage pancreatic cancer. Not good at all.And for you keeping track of the comings and goings of the Justices - as far as the gossip mavens know, Justice Souter hasn't hired any clerks for this fall's term....
Posted by armand at 01:17 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

January 24, 2009

January 15, 2009

Our Affirmative Obligation to Investigate Those Responsible for Torture

Hilzoy thinks Obama has to do it: It seems to me that these facts imply that if Barack Obama, or his administration, believe that there are reasonable grounds to believe that members of the Bush administration have committed torture, then...
Posted by armand at 09:10 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack

October 10, 2008

Connecticut Overturns Same-Sex Marriage Ban

The state's Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 that same-sex couple have the right to marry, citing the equal protection clause in the state's constitution....
Posted by armand at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Considering the Palin Hacking Indictment

Scott Horton raises a few topics related to the the decision to charge Mr. Kernell with a felony, and Sarah Palin's behavior. As governor of Alaska, she was obligated to maintain as public records her communications with respect to her...
Posted by armand at 09:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 04, 2008

The US Attorneys Firings: Do We Have an Independent Prosecutor?

It sounds like the DOJ's Inspector General doubts that....
Posted by armand at 10:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 01, 2008

The OIG Report on the Firing of the US Attorneys

It appears the White House did it - with of course the assistance of various people in DoJ. I strongly support further investigations into this....
Posted by armand at 11:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 15, 2008

Marijuana Arrests Hit Another All-Time High

From the files of enormous wastes of public resources that breed a contempt for the law ... That's just a staggering number. And the graph is interesting. The giant spikes in arrests during the Nixon and Clinton administrations, and the...
Posted by armand at 11:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

This is why personal behavior and beliefs matter to public policy

From Shakesville: So, Alaska has a pretty serious sexual assault and domestic violence program.How serious? "Alaska leads the nation in reported forcible rapes per capita, according to the FBI, with a rate two and a half times the national average—a...
Posted by binky at 08:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 30, 2008

The DC Circuit Rules in the Mad Cow Case

Oh my. I'll be the first to admit I don't know as much as others about how to appropriately apply Chevron. But hey, I did watch the Boston Legal episode that referenced this issue, and not only do I feel...
Posted by armand at 07:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 22, 2008

Harsanyi - "Let's Chuck the Drinking Age"

I strongly agree with this. Sham indeed....
Posted by armand at 10:22 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

August 12, 2008

Compare the Sentences

Look at the length of the sentence Robert Chambers just got. Then look at the length of the sentence he got for killing Jennifer Levin. Anyone else think something seems out of whack? It's not surprising, but that sort of...
Posted by armand at 11:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 26, 2008

The Ever-Diminishing Insight of Stuart Taylor

So I realize that once one becomes a pundit it's virtually impossible to lose the status no matter how many inane things you say or write, but this is damn weak stuff. Quite apart from the fact that his ideological...
Posted by armand at 06:04 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

June 27, 2008

Problems With Giving the Death Penalty to Child Rapists

I've got to say that I agree with Matt Yglesias that as a matter of crime control policy, punishing child rapists with execution seems to be a bad idea if you actually want to save the lives of children. Additionally,...
Posted by armand at 03:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Scalia sighting

I'm most of the way through Nixonland, and happened upon this paragraph: (Part of a section describing Nixon's non-public actions to help secure his re-election in 1972) "Meanwhile there were the broadcast networks to flay - four of them, now...
Posted by baltar at 02:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 26, 2008

Rick Hasen on FEC v. Davis

His initial thoughts conclude with this observation: All in all, not a great day for those who believe, as I do, that "there is no good reason to allow disparities in wealth to be translated into disparities in political power....
Posted by armand at 11:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 25, 2008

Kennedy v. Louisiana

I know little about con law issues tied to the 8th Amendment, or variations in the historical application of the death penalty. But I agree with John Cole that the level of outrage over this decision is perplexing, and with...
Posted by armand at 05:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 23, 2008

Will Heller Come Down on Wednesday?

Following this morning's opinions Tom Goldstein noted the following: The only opinion remaining from the March sitting is Heller. The only Justice without a majority opinion from that sitting is Justice Scalia Is Morris smiling?Here's a handy reminder of what...
Posted by armand at 10:38 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack

June 12, 2008

Words Fail Me (Part 2,304,201): Supreme Court Rulings Edition

From the NYT story on the Supreme Court rulings that struck down most of the Bush Administration's attempts to keep Al Qaeda out of our courts, comes this wonderful quote by our fearless Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: And...
Posted by baltar at 04:54 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

May 20, 2008

Dale Carpenter on the California Marriage Decision

The Volokh Conspiracy's go-to guy on issues tied to same-sex marriage has weighed in on the California Supreme Court's recent marriage decision (here). I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv, but I'd agree that these...
Posted by armand at 11:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 14, 2008

A Game Changer for the November Election?

Marc Ambinder discusses the implications of the ruling California's Supreme Court is going to issue tomorrow relating to that state's anti-gay marriage initiative....
Posted by armand at 07:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 29, 2008

Torture Isn't Punishment So the Bill of Rights Doesn't Apply

Anyone else notice that a few years back Justice Scalia became a parody of himself?...
Posted by armand at 04:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 28, 2008

Scalia, Thomas and Alito on Absentee Voting

From their opinion in today's voter ID decision: That the State accommodates some voters by permitting (not requiring) the casting of absentee or provisional ballots, is an indulgence - not a constitutional imperative that falls short of what is required....
Posted by armand at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 25, 2008

Bush v. Gore - A Lasting National Disgrace

A reminder of why we shouldn't "get over it"....
Posted by armand at 07:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 21, 2008

Federal Action, "Rings"

Not that I am opposed to catching criminals, but I find it awfully interesting that suddenly Morgantown is a hotbed of federal investigation into two criminal rings, one for drugs and another for prostitution....
Posted by binky at 02:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 19, 2008

The Supreme Court and Heller

Dahlia Lithwick reviews the oral argument in the big gun case, and note the Humpty-Dumpty world it has produced: Today we have four liberals rediscovering the beauty of local government and judicial restraint and five conservatives poised to identify a...
Posted by armand at 02:14 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 25, 2008

And I Thought He Was Just Stupid

Noted without comment (source): Two years and 142 cases have passed since Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last spoke up at oral arguments. It is a period of unbroken silence that contrasts with the rest of the court's unceasing inquiries....
Posted by baltar at 08:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 13, 2008

A Federal Circuit Split on Sex Toys

So this issue doesn't strike me as one the Supreme Court would have much interest in diving into. And it seems all the more unlikely given how small the Court's docket is getting under Chief Justice Roberts. But wouldn't it...
Posted by armand at 09:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2008

Tyranny?

In a little-reported story yesterday, the Attorney General of the United States argued that if the Justice Department declares something to be legal, it cannot (later) be investigated to see if it is (in fact) legal or not: Testifying before...
Posted by baltar at 10:36 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 28, 2008

Right Wingers Will Actually Like This 9th Circuit Ruling

Yes the Court that the rightie hot-air-brigade regularly touts as all that is unholy, and a menace to America, has issued a ruling that you'd think the Dobsons, Hannitys, O'Reillys and maybe even Alan Keyes would love. Somehow though I...
Posted by armand at 05:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 25, 2008

Chief Judge Ginsburg Gives Us Chief Judge Sentelle

One of the most partisan and right-wing judges in the federal judiciary is taking over the country's "second highest court". Great. Or not....
Posted by armand at 01:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 14, 2008

The Best Justice Money Can Buy.

West Virginia produces lots of coal. Coal producers get lots of money from the coal they sell. Mining coal is destructive to the environment (mountaintop removal, valley fill, etc.) and people (black lung disease, etc.), so coal producers are always...
Posted by baltar at 11:34 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

January 10, 2008

The Indiana Voter ID Case (Crawford)

Yeah, oral argument was earlier this week, but I'd feel a bad blogger if I didn't link to something on the oral argument in Crawford. As is always the case in election law matters, Hasen's blog is a great place...
Posted by armand at 11:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 29, 2007

"The Bush Administration's Dumbest Legal Arguments of the Year"

This list compiled by Dahlia Lithwick might be my favorite Top 10 of the season. That these outrageouse acts haven't provoked more outrage is deeply depressing. Hard to say which is the worst of these, though I'm partial to numbers...
Posted by armand at 01:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 10, 2007

Kimbrough and Gall

Two big sentencing decisions were handed down by the Supreme Court today. The dissenters in each decision were Justices Thomas and Alito. The Supreme Court on Monday gave federal judges new authority to set sentences for crack cocaine crimes below...
Posted by armand at 11:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 06, 2007

Ed Lazarus - Let's Dial Back the Hatin' on Justice Kennedy

Sure he's flawed, but Ed Lazarus makes the case that Justice Kennedy doesn't deserve the vitriol thrown at him on a regular basis. And that some of the other justices merit as much (if not more) criticism. He ends by...
Posted by armand at 09:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 02, 2007

So Are the French or Chinese Allowed to Kidnap You and I?

The Bush administration is once again showing off its unique way of winning friends and influencing people:America has told Britain that it can "kidnap" British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States. A senior lawyer for...
Posted by armand at 07:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 30, 2007

O! Canada

Bring us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses, afraid of being tortured in the United States: The United States is not a safe country for refugees, the Federal Court said Thursday as it ruled that Canada will no longer...
Posted by binky at 07:22 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 28, 2007

Chief Judge Edith Hollan Jones and Sexual Harrassment

Should the Chief Judge of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals have been overseeing the sexual harrassment investigation of US District Judge Samuel Kent? I'd say no, given her past behavior. Consider her comments during Susan Waltman's suit against...
Posted by armand at 09:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 25, 2007

Aharon Barak on Israel and the US and the Security/Rights Balance

It's a sign of how far the US has moved in the last decade that the current and former heads of Israel's highest court are noting that Israel is much better at protecting human rights than the United States. Of...
Posted by armand at 10:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 20, 2007

Scalia Doesn't Only Hire White Male Catholics

If you follow who gets hired to clerk for Justice Scalia you'll have noted that it's often guys (yes, guys) who seem to be clones of himself demographically. But today Above the Law brings us word of his latest (and...
Posted by armand at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 19, 2007

Bush, Once Again Stickin' It to the Democrats Re: the 4th Circuit

Much like his recent nomination of a Virginian who wasn't backed by that state's senators, the president's nomination of Rod Rosenstein seems to do little more than ensure that the seat doesn't get filled (or at least make that a...
Posted by armand at 12:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 24, 2007

Leslie Southwick Confirmed to Serve on the 5th Circuit

Earlier this month the Senate voted to confirm 41 year old Jennifer Elrod to a lifetime seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, considered by many to be the most conservative federal appealate court in the United States. Now...
Posted by armand at 12:51 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

October 18, 2007

Fucking Democrats

I'm having trouble expressing my level of disdain for the Congressional Democrats in the English language. "Sniveling" might work, but doesn't have enough banal evilness in it. "Evil" gives them to much credit for actually doing something (takes effort to...
Posted by baltar at 09:31 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 11, 2007

Lithwick Discusses Medellin v. Texas

It's an interesting and complicated case. Medellin v. Texas could be a law-school exam unto itself. It touches on the separation of powers and the supremacy clause, international treaties and state criminal codes, federalism and the reach of the president's...
Posted by armand at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 09, 2007

Goldstein on Justice Thomas and "Stare Indecisis"

Tom Goldstein has this interesting post on the jurisprudence of Justice Thomas, the justice most willing to overturn Court precedents....
Posted by armand at 12:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 04, 2007

More From Justice Thomas on Race and Judges

I don't think Justice Thomas is doing himself any favors in these interviews he's doing, even when they are with Jan Crawford Greenburg who's about the most supportive audience and reporter he could find. He thinks that race is the...
Posted by armand at 04:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 03, 2007

Anita Hill Should Consider a Libel Suit

So says Mark Kleiman in a fun post that takes digs at David Bernstein, Straussians, Ayn Rand, Joe Biden ("competence and courage"), and most especially Justice Clarence Thomas....
Posted by armand at 10:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 01, 2007

Justice Thomas Thinks Very Little of White Folks

Under affirmative action, Thomas says, whites will forever believe blacks enroll in top schools or hold good jobs only because the institutions lowered their standards to accept them - regardless of whatever qualifications an individual may actually have. The assumption...
Posted by armand at 01:05 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Ben Wittes Mystified That John Roberts Is Staunchly Ideolgical

Apparently he really thought that Roberts would value turning the Court into a land of cuddly, buy-the-world-a-coke unanimity over pursuing his own ideological agenda. The chief justice's own work was mystifying. He knew what was at stake: In an interview...
Posted by armand at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 27, 2007

Jeffrey Rosen on Justice Stevens

I don't tend to be a fan of Jeffrey Rosen. His raging moderate stances and Very Serious Person persona are rather tedious and rarely enlightening. But if you haven't read it yet, his profile of Justice Stevens that was in...
Posted by armand at 09:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 26, 2007

The question...

...that this brings to my mind is, if a person used a taser to attack another person, say, a police officer, with what crime would that attacker be charged? So, it's a "firearm" when pointed at a police officer, but...
Posted by binky at 10:39 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack

The Defense of the LaSalle Parish DA (Supported by a Black Person!)

This is just sort of sad.I cannot overemphasize how abhorrent and stupid I find the placing of the nooses on the schoolyard tree in late August 2006. If those who committed that act considered it a prank, their sense of...
Posted by armand at 09:09 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

September 20, 2007

Cass Sunstein on the Supreme Court's Lurch to the Right

His point - what was once the center is now the left, and a right-wing that barely existed in 1980 now dominates the highest court in the land. Beyond that, it's the right that's driving the court intellectually. Predictably, this...
Posted by armand at 12:46 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

September 10, 2007

Duncan Getchell and Steve Matthews Are Nominated to the 4th

So let me get this straight, the noncontroversial nomintion made yesterday (to the US Court of Appeals that oversees our fair state) is the one who's a former president of the South Carolina chapter of the Federalist Society, and managing...
Posted by armand at 09:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 07, 2007

And There Goes Peter Keisler

Seriously, other than the SG/Acting AG is there anyone left at the Department of Justice? The head of the Civil Division, a conservative favorite (and DC Circuit Court of Appeals nominee) has added his resignation to a long, long, long...
Posted by armand at 03:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 05, 2007

The Next SCOTUS Retirment

Looks like it'll likely be Souter or Stevens, because Justice Ginsburg's already hired a clerk for the October '09 term....
Posted by armand at 05:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 18, 2007

Since Judges Create Law, Judging Them on Qualifications Isn't Enough

Publius explains why the Washington Post's endorsement of the Judge Leslie Southwick's nomination to the 5th Circuit is at best incomplete (and really, banal). Of course appeals court judges need to be qualified, but that's not the only matter by...
Posted by armand at 04:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 14, 2007

"The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act..."

Well, isn't that special: The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the...
Posted by binky at 08:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 07, 2007

Abigail Alliance

Today Jonathan Adler is highlighting the DC Circuit's en banc decision in Abigail Alliance. He's put up a number of posts on the topic at the Volokh Conspiracy. It's an interesting case, with an interesting dissent. If you want to...
Posted by armand at 04:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 01, 2007

July 24, 2007

Does WV's Promise Scholarship Discriminate Against Mormons?

A federal court will soon consider that issue....
Posted by armand at 02:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Goldstein on the Republicans' Not-So Short List for the Supreme Court

Recently I linked to his short list for a Democratic president who might be elected in 2008. Here's his list of potential nominees a Republican winner in 2008 might choose from. Orin Kerr responds here....
Posted by armand at 02:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 13, 2007

Last Term's Civil Rights Cases at the Supreme Court

SCOTUSBlog has a review - and the analysis may have Justices Brennan and Marshall spinning in their graves. Perhaps what is most notable about the civil rights subset of this term’s docket is that Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia,...
Posted by armand at 04:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Anti-Hindu Hecklers and Justice Scalia

Michael Dorf argues that those who disrupted a Hindu's attempt to offer the daily prayer in the Senate likely have more than one Supreme Court justice on their side: So fear not, you monotheists who worry that Hinduism may become...
Posted by armand at 04:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 12, 2007

Goldstein's Take on the Democratic (Not So) Supreme Court Short List

I love little more than discussions about who'll next be appointed to the Supreme Court, so if someone as thoughtful as Tom Goldstein chooses to address the topic, I'm definitely going to link to his thoughts. After all, he picked...
Posted by armand at 02:24 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

July 11, 2007

Justice Thomas's (Slippery) Originalism

Original meaning or original application ... or whichever one takes him to the result he wants? Jack Balkin has this post on how Justice Thomas's originalism, and how his readings of history shape his decisions....
Posted by armand at 10:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 03, 2007

Just Sayin': Britain's Terror Bombings

Has anyone noticed that Britain's response to the round/wave of bombings is to use the law, arrest people according to the law (technically, they can "hold" them for 28 days before arresting them or letting them go, but the law...
Posted by baltar at 09:21 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

June 29, 2007

I'm Supposed To Be Happy About This?

I see that the Supreme Court has decided to see if Congress can pass a law that forbids people (granted, non-citizens) from having access to our judicial system. I'll agree that, in theory, this is a question the Court should...
Posted by baltar at 11:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 26, 2007

On the Decision in Hein

Dahlia Lithwick and Walter Dellinger have some reasonable points about Justice Alito's executive branch-friendly opinion in Hein (Alito executive-branch friendly? who'd have thought that?!?):Lithwick: Justice Souter need barely put an oar in the water after Scalia's efforts. He merely notes...
Posted by armand at 06:52 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

June 25, 2007

A Dark Day at the Supreme Court

The next person who says a kind word about Robert C. Byrd, who voted for Justice Alito, risks geting slapped in the face. Morse, Hein ... you can follow the Court's actions today at SCOTUSBlog - if you have the...
Posted by armand at 10:53 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

June 18, 2007

And speaking of failed states...

What happens when a state can't - or won't - rely on a standing army to accomplish its security objectives? Privatization. In the case of the war in Iraq, it looks like the private sector has found new and improved...
Posted by binky at 01:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 17, 2007

Jeffrey Rosen on Justice Kennedy

I think it's fairly predictable that a cover story on Justice Kennedy is going to be negative. Why that's the case is an interesting question. But there's negative ... and then there's what Jeffrey Rosen has written for The New...
Posted by armand at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 11, 2007

Your "Culture of Corruption" for June 11, 2007

I suppose some new revelation about how low this administration has sunk shouldn't surprise anyone at this point. And, to be honest, I'm not really surprised by this. Still, what's one more scandal at the Justice Department at this point....
Posted by baltar at 08:54 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 08, 2007

Is Wyoming's Law Constraining the Governor's Choice on Who to Name to the Senate Unconstitutional?

Vikram Amar wrote this excellent column arguing that the much-discussed law that constrains who Wyoming's governor can name to the seat of the late senator Craig Thomas is quite possibly unconsitutional....
Posted by armand at 01:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 07, 2007

Robert Bork Likes Punitive Damages!

Well, you know, when he's the one who's filing suit....
Posted by armand at 07:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 02, 2007

Prepping for a Supreme Court Vacancy

Jan Crawford Greenburg lets us know that the White House is readying itself in case a member of the Supreme Court decides to step down when their current term ends this month. Justice Souter wouldn't really do that to the...
Posted by armand at 04:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 19, 2007

Goldstein on the Court and the 2008 Election

Tom Goldstein discusses how post-2008 retirements, and who has the power to choose the replacements for retiring justices, will affect the Supreme Court here. He expects the next president to replace Justice Stevens and Justice Souter, and possibly (if the...
Posted by armand at 09:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 26, 2007

Jan C. Greenburg is Obtuse: Religion and Judges Edition

Unlike former University of Chicago Law School Dean Geoff Stone, I am not particularly troubled by the fact that last week's abortion decision was written by five Roman Catholics. But at the same time I think that the manner in...
Posted by armand at 03:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 22, 2007

Needed: More Supreme Court Clerks from Liberty and Regent!

Do you ever run across a comment in a thread that you can't wait to see how people respond to? I think I just saw one that could be a classic in that regard. Why do even the most conservative...
Posted by armand at 03:25 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 23, 2007

For Moon

Reasons to love lawyers: Remember my previous post about an editorial in a student newspaper in Indiana that talked about how people should accept their gay friends when they came out of the closet? Believe it or not, the teacher...
Posted by binky at 12:14 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 19, 2007

The 8th Circuit Rules on Insurance Coverage for Contraception

And seems to get it jaw-droppingly wrong. I'll admit to not having read the opinions in this case, but great googly-moogly this sounds pretty open and shut if this analysis by Ann Friedman is accurate. The female employees and Planned...
Posted by armand at 10:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 15, 2007

If This Is True, Gonzalez is Toast.

Via TPM, the National Journal is reporting that Gonzalez asked Bush to end an internal Justice Department probe that was focusing on his own actions: Shortly before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush last year on whether to shut...
Posted by baltar at 12:51 PM | Comments (28) | TrackBack

March 09, 2007

Ah, Yes, Trusting The Government Is Always The Right Thing To Do (Part 2,494)

Via the Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI underreported how often it used the USA Patriot Act to force businesses to turn over customer information in suspected terrorism cases, according to a Justice Department audit. (snip) Justice Department Inspector...
Posted by baltar at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 07, 2007

Catfight at One First Street!?!

I can't be talking about one among the justices as there aren't two women on the Court any more, so I must be referring to a clash between two titans of reporting on the Court - Linda Greenhouse and...
Posted by armand at 01:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 04, 2007

Justice Breyer's Opinion in Philip Morris

Vikram David Amar discusses Supreme Court decision making, and specifically Justice Breyer's approach to Philip Morris, here. What is it with swing justices?...
Posted by armand at 09:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 02, 2007

Is Justice Stevens a Conservative?

Given the comments thread going on at the end of another post, I thought I'd link to this Q&A on Confirm Them in which Jan Crawford Greenburg is asked about Justice Stevens asserting that he is a conservative. The specific...
Posted by armand at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 26, 2007

Short-Sightedness

While we here at BloodlessCoup have covered the issue of the White House firing eight US Attorneys before, today's NYT Editorial brought it back to me again. In addition to looking clearly wrong (what good reason can there be for...
Posted by baltar at 09:42 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

February 25, 2007

Roman Catholics and the Federal Judiciary

My recent reading (and blogging) of Jan Crawford Greenburg's Supreme Conflict predictably led to me thumbing through Yalof's Pursuit of Justices. While doing so I came across a fascinating tidbit that says volumes about how the place of Roman Catholics...
Posted by armand at 01:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 23, 2007

Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Sandra Day O'Connor? National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, where she was inducted in 2002 In her secret heart she rides!...
Posted by binky at 02:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 12, 2007

Prison Rape

I found this on Ezra Klein's blog. Why this isn't a bigger deal in our society I'll never understand. That people regularly make jokes about it is nauseating. When I first came to prison, I had no idea what to...
Posted by armand at 12:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Supreme Conflict by Jan Crawford Greenburg

I've been eagerly awaiting reading this book. Greenburg might not be Dahlia Lithwick (the Court reporter Armand worships), but she's one of the top Court reporters in the country, and she had an astonishing level of access to executive branch...
Posted by armand at 11:19 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack

February 02, 2007

"Scalia: Bush's Victory Unoconstitutional"

Lemieux's title really says it all. This is pretty incredible, and yet also not that surprising. I don't know how that's possible. But given that we're talking about Scalia and Bush v. Gore ... well, somehow, that's how things have...
Posted by armand at 02:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 18, 2007

The "Logic" of Team Bush on the Role of the Judiciary in Security Affairs

I know this presidential administration loves to give power to those who aren't fit for their jobs, but ... this is ridiculous, public and just plain weird. How do you reconcile this: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says federal judges are...
Posted by armand at 10:05 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

January 12, 2007

Carol Lam Being Pushed Out as the US Attorney in San Diego

Sure she's competent, but apparently she's not subservient enough. Lam has had high-profile successes during her tenure, such as the Randy "Duke" Cunningham bribery case - but she alienated herself from bosses at the Justice Department because she is outspoken...
Posted by armand at 03:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 10, 2007

Antonin Scalia: The Best Friend of Mexican Criminals on the SCOTUS

You know it's ( sometimes lone) dissents like this that always made me clearly prefer Justice Scalia to the late Chief Justice. Sure, there's a good level of playground "I'm so right and you're so wrong" about his tone. But...
Posted by armand at 10:59 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Bush Relents on 3 Appeals Court Nominees

In the wake of withdrawing (the oddly poorly rated) nomination of Michael Wallace to the very conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the president has chosen not to resubmit the nominations of 3 of his most controversial nominees to the...
Posted by armand at 10:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 09, 2007

Michigan's Supreme Court Descends into The Real World: Lansing

I have no idea what the merits are in this dispute, but good golly miss molly, can you imagine being a justice on this Court and having to work with both Chief Justice Taylor and Justice Weaver (the "petulant 'only...
Posted by armand at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 06, 2007

Has Jan Crawford Greenburg Become the #1 Supreme Court Journalist?

True, Linda Greenhouse isn't dead, but Jan Crawford Greenburg has recently snagged several extremely high-profile gets, and if she's being compared to Eve Harrington ... She talks about her recent success in this interview . In it she also talks...
Posted by armand at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Senate Judiciary Changes Its Rules on Judicial Nominations

They are going back to the old system. U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this week that both senators from a state, regardless of party affiliation, will have to concur with a nomination before...
Posted by armand at 01:11 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 19, 2006

At least he wasn't a political scientist or we'd never hear the end...

...about commie professors: A psychology professor at Florida International University, Alvarez faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy to become an unregistered foreign agent. Elsa Alvarez, who also worked at the university, faces up to three years in...
Posted by binky at 11:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 18, 2006

The Libruls Are Taking the 4th Circuit?

I realize that people will from time to time write incendiary articles to try and sell newspapers. But there's sensationalizing and then there's just plainly being a little bit dishonest, and I'm afraid this story in the Washington Post on...
Posted by armand at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 16, 2006

Where are they?

Right now, where are the legal immigrants that were rounded up in Homeland Security operations this week? Where are they? What's next? Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign, since trying to engage habeus corpus isn't necessarily going to...
Posted by binky at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 15, 2006

The Evans-Novak Report Ponders Replacements for Justice Stevens

This is just silly, right? All things being equal, sure it's easier to get a senator through the confirmation process, so it makes some sense to consider senators in a 51-49 Senate. But several of these names would fly directly...
Posted by armand at 03:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 04, 2006

The Anthony Kennedy Blue-Plate Special

Looks like those school desegregation plans that were before the Supreme Court today are going to get knocked down - and hard - in a 5-4 vote.After relaying the blow-by-blow of this particular debate, Dahlia Lithwick launches into an analysis...
Posted by armand at 10:03 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Supreme Court Justices as Rock Stars: Is Antonin Scalia Meat Loaf, Bruce Dickinson, or ... Who?

This is hilarious. And some of the comments are pretty funny too. And scarily enough, some of these thoughts get at these justice's styles a little too well....
Posted by armand at 01:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 01, 2006

Democracy Marches On

Via Iraq Updates, a Reuters story: Iraq's parliament will bar the media from future sessions and began yesterday by refusing access to reporters and then cutting off television coverage as a debate on mounting sectarian violence became heated. Spokesmen for...
Posted by baltar at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 30, 2006

Dahlia's Take on Massachusetts v. EPA

Ms. Lithwick reviews yesterday's arguments at the Supreme Court, and the Bush administration's unusual "we're all going to die anyhow" position....
Posted by armand at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 09, 2006

More John Paul Stevens Retirement Rumors

Given that there are always John Paul Stevens retirement rumors, who knows if these should be taken seriously. Still, given the gravity of a Stevens retirement, I figured they merited a link....
Posted by armand at 10:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 20, 2006

Yet More Proof That John Yoo Doesn't Belong in Positions of Power, and Probably Shouldn't Be in the Classroom

Moron - mean-spirited, presumptuous and nasty too, but the key problem of course is that he seems to lack the slightest (accurate) understanding of one of the most important Supreme Court rulings in years....
Posted by armand at 09:48 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 28, 2006

Speechless

And so, it becomes official: The United States Senate voted the "compromise" detainee bill out this evening. The House of Representatives voted it out previously. It will become law within a matter of days. The bill establishes a legal foundation...
Posted by baltar at 11:01 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Chief Judge Boggs Knows 1453 Too

The answer to question 56 is 1453, as my trivia buddies know. As to the rest - wow. I think I'd do better on this test than a lot of people, but I really wonder how many of the correct...
Posted by armand at 01:17 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Lefties worse than McVeigh?

No? So then why is the left fringe, but not right, mentioned specifically in the NIE? The recently declassified NIE report on terrorism contains an interesting paragraph:"Anti-U.S. and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies. This...
Posted by binky at 07:26 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

September 13, 2006

While we're worrying about what Mickey Rat is up to...

...Congress is busy working to protect our rights. While refusing to give the president a blank check to prosecute the war on terrorism, Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee kept to the White House's condition that a bill giving legal...
Posted by binky at 06:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 01, 2006

Tonight's Hypothetical - What Kind of SCOTUS Nominee Would a Democrat Appoint?

Well I imagine a lot of people will be traveling over the weekend and not reading the blog. But I'm guessing that among our regular readers at least of couple of you who have (or are working on) law degrees...
Posted by armand at 10:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Is the Fourth Circuit Acting Inconsistently on Religious Speech?

Marci Hamilton argues that it is: In April of 2005, the Fourth Circuit held, in Simpson v. Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, that local government can intentionally and publicly discriminate against minority religious denominations. But this month, the Fourth Circuit...
Posted by armand at 07:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 28, 2006

The Fourth Amendment, Thermal Imaging, and Judges Doing Bad Science

Since I find Kyllo one of the more troubling things to come down from the country's highest court in the last decade, I tend to take an interest when discussions of it come up. And Orin Kerr notes an interesting...
Posted by armand at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Fourth Amendment, Thermal Imaging, and Judges Doing Bad Science

Since I find Kyllo one of the more troubling things to come down from the country's highest court in the last decade, I tend to take an interest when discussions of it come up. And Orin Kerr notes an interesting...
Posted by armand at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 23, 2006

Law Minded Folk (I'm talking to you, Moon)

Is this an accurate representation of what happened with the the recent decision? That is, is it accurate to suggest that because the US government didn't offer a rebuttal of certain points that they conceded them? And while we can't...
Posted by binky at 07:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 03, 2006

Dan Nexon Plays Legal Analyst

Well what do you know? I'm not the only IR guy who'd sometimes rather spend his time following what the country's appeals courts are up to. It seems he doesn't think much of the reasoning in the recent Washington state...
Posted by armand at 10:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 21, 2006

Judge Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Confirmed Without a Fuss

Look, maybe this guy will be a spectacular judge - but if you need evidence that Democrats aren't stalling the vast majority of President Bush's (oftn very conservative) appointees to the federal bench, I give you the case of Neil...
Posted by armand at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 17, 2006

Richard Epstein on Signing Statements

If you don't know, Epstein is one of the most highly respected law professors of the last few decades. As his approach tends to run toward (I mean race toward at the speed of light) an economic libertarianism that would...
Posted by armand at 11:14 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

July 12, 2006

Lindsey Graham and William Haynes

There are a lot of reasons Democrats should fear Sen. Lindsey Graham, even if the rabid right in South Carolina is unhappy with him. But I think Graham will be doing a considerable service to the nation if he permanently...
Posted by armand at 09:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 11, 2006

Major, major change in US Detainee Policy

It's all over the news, and I'm sure we're not the first blog to put it up, but the US government (specifically, the White House via a DoD memo) announced that all detainees worldwide will be treated according to the...
Posted by baltar at 10:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 10, 2006

Walter v. United States (1980)

Discussing the problems (or not) of splintered Supreme Court opinions, Orin Kerr gives us this description of a real doozy: The Court split 2-2-1-4, with the fifth vote a real doozy. Two Justices, Stevens and Stewart, said that the private...
Posted by armand at 04:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 08, 2006

On the Paucity of Female Clerks at the SCOTUS and New York's Anti-Gay Marriage Ruling

Checking out OrinKerr.com I noticed a couple of interesting posts/links. First, I think I learned more about the 4-2 anti-gay marriage decision by New York's top court in this short comments thread than I did in any of the reporting...
Posted by armand at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 05, 2006

A WSJ Graphic on Splits at the SCOTUS '05-'06

In case you wanted a quick refresher on who voted how on some of the big split decisions from last term. You can quibble with a few of the categorizations, but it's kind of interesting.Btw, I know nothing of Jones...
Posted by armand at 08:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 30, 2006

Clarence Thomas: Does he have a clue?

From Crooks and Liars (emphasis mine): Loyalty: [In the Hamdan decision,] Justice Thomas refers to Justice Stevens’ "unfamiliarity with the realities of warfare"; but Stevens served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1945, during World War II. Thomas’s official...
Posted by binky at 12:28 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

June 28, 2006

The Texas Redistricting Case Opinons Are Out!

Along with most of the other remaining decisions from this term at the Supreme Court (the decision in Hamdan comes out tomorrow, and Stevens appears sure to be writing it!) - a quick summary of the results can be found...
Posted by armand at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 27, 2006

No. Just, No.

I wake this morning to discover, via the New York Times that the august US Senate (the deliberative, thoughtful half of our legislative branch) is within a single vote of amending the US constitution to ban the burning of the...
Posted by baltar at 09:53 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

June 26, 2006

Sam Alito

Pro-life....
Posted by binky at 06:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Vermont's Campaign Spending and Donation Limits Are Struck Down

I thought that would be the outcome - but I didn't think that their would be 6 opinions issued from the Court on that case. That should make for some interesting reading (and interpreting) - especially to see what Justice...
Posted by armand at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 25, 2006

The End of the 2005-2006 Term at the Supreme Court

Several major decisions are going to be announced in the coming week....
Posted by armand at 09:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 21, 2006

The Coming Turnover on New York's Top Court

Given that it's New York, that state's top court receives more than average attention. So it's probably worth noting that in the next seventeen months more than half of the membership of that court could change (either due to judges...
Posted by armand at 09:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 20, 2006

Justice Scalia Loves Webster's Dictionary

Oh, and judicial power too of course.Publius has a review of Scalia's Rapanos opinion here. It's worth a look. It cuts through some of the "complete and total crap", and includes some classic Publius language like "Last I checked, lynch...
Posted by armand at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 16, 2006

Orin Kerr on Hudson v. Michigan

Since Binky has shown an interest in this week's Supreme Court ruling on the knock-and-announce requirement (well, former requirement) I thought I'd mention that Orin Kerr has a few good posts on this, including one in which he asks what...
Posted by armand at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 15, 2006

Knock Knock

Oh, wait, nevermind. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that police armed with a warrant can barge into homes and seize evidence even if they don't knock, a huge government victory that was decided by President Bush's new justices. The 5-4...
Posted by binky at 11:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 14, 2006

Yet One More Negative Thing About Dallas, Texas

At the end of a post on crime trends (all of which are troubling - violent crime is up, the incarceration rate is weirdly high, and while this is going on, Bush's government is cutting aid to the nation's police...
Posted by armand at 01:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 01, 2006

Ceballos: Much Ado About Not Much?

Kermit Roosevelt thinks the fretting over the Ceballos opinion is excessive. He sees a very narrow opinion that's not a catastrophe, particularly given the morass of that section of the law. I think that it takes essentially the right view...
Posted by armand at 10:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 30, 2006

Justice O'Connor Please Come Back! The Ceballos Ruling

Yes, I regularly bashed her writing and her reasoning - but Alito?!?!? That's not really an improvement (and yes, I did say Alito was possibly the best choice the Bush administration could make - but I was saying that in...
Posted by armand at 10:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 26, 2006

Current Fights Over Controversial Appeals Court Nominees

Bloomberg has an update on where things stand. It looks like Judge Boyle might not get his promotion, and that the Haynes nomination might fail too. But the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh was approved today. The 41 year old former...
Posted by armand at 01:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 11, 2006

Who's Left?

Via Echidne, we find a link to an AP wire blurb indicating that the Justice Deparment has given up investigating the legality of the NSA wiretapping program. Why did Justice give up? "We have been unable to make any meaningful...
Posted by baltar at 12:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 25, 2006

Arlen Specter (R-PA) Wants Cameras at the Supreme Court

For ... inane reasons he can't possibly be serious about. I mean, c'mon: I agree that our constitutional system is best served by giving the Supreme Court the last word, but there is no doubt that congressional procedures and authority...
Posted by armand at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 15, 2006

Want a Job, Ladies? You'll Have to Buy Lipstick and Blush

Employers can set different dress codes and grooming standards for women than for men, as long as the rules aren't burdensome or based on sex stereotypes, a federal appeals court decided Friday in the case of a female casino bartender...
Posted by armand at 11:17 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 05, 2006

Judge Trott's Dissent in US v. Curtin

Howard Bashman provided this description of the a recent 9th Circuit ruling:"With the walls of our homes breached by the Internet, our next best defense is the law." So writes Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen S. Trott, at the outset of...
Posted by armand at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 30, 2006

MA High Court: Not All Gay Couples Can Marry Here

An interesting turn of events:The court that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize gay marriage ruled Thursday that same-sex couples from other states where gay marriage is prohibited, including Connecticut, cannot marry here....
Posted by armand at 11:19 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 29, 2006

Lithwick on Yesterday's Arguments in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

It's official. We are living in a Kafka novel. I strongly encourage you to read her whole article. But here is some of her report One of the most dramatic moments in today's oral argument in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld comes...
Posted by armand at 10:02 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 19, 2006

"A Few Rotten Apples" My Ass.

Long New York Times story today about the "secret" US prison/interrogation facility in Baghdad. Suffice it to say, the abuse their was on par with (or exceeded) the abuse at Abu Ghraib. It gets harder and harder to argue that...
Posted by baltar at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Guilty? Innocent? Throw Them In Jail And Sort It Out Later.

It's a few days old, but the first page of this New York Times story on anti-globalization protests in New York City in 2002 is worth reading. Long story short, the police arrested a number of people (the article says...
Posted by baltar at 02:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 09, 2006

Judge Kleinfeld on Computers and Privacy

Howard Bashman has a set of links and comments to an interesting case before an en banc panel of the (supposedly notoriously liberal) 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Their decision held "that an individual's subscription to web site offering both...
Posted by armand at 04:09 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Maybe I'll Go Back To Sleep

I realize I've had my head down recently (dissertation), but I surfaced just long enough to see this NYT story. Last I checked, the Administration was spying on Americans without even a FISA warrant. This violates both FISA and some...
Posted by baltar at 12:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 07, 2006

Secreterer

Uh, -er -er....
Posted by binky at 12:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 02, 2006

The Supreme Court Hears the DeLay/Texas Redistricting Case

All the country's major papers are running articles today on yesterday's arguments in the Supreme Court over the latest round of congressional redistricting in Texas (see this Dana Milbank article for an example). But, as you might as expect, for...
Posted by armand at 10:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 15, 2006

Mr. Justice Alito's Clerks

They might be a tad more diverse than the Scalia crew, but these names would seem to suggest that the impression that Alito bats from the right - maybe the far right - is accurate....
Posted by armand at 03:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 12, 2006

Shame on Yoo

This is hilarious - in a you've-got-to-be-fucking-kidding-me kind of a way. Is Yoo not only one of the most dangerous attorneys in the country, but also a hypocrite of jaw-dropping proportions? You be the judge....
Posted by armand at 07:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2006

Robert C. Byrd - 1 of the 11 Votes Against Justice Marshall

I came across that little bit of political trivia this morning. Lovely. Not. The senior Democrat in the US Senate voted against the first African-American nominee to our nation's highest court, one of the country's most prominent civil rights attorneys,...
Posted by armand at 01:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 06, 2006

Scalia's 06/07 Clerks: Nino Thinking Firmly Inside Box

Gosh they look an awful lot like this year's clerks. Once again, 4 men who have clerked for prominent right-leaning Circuit Court of Appeals judges. In fact, in the cases of the Wilkinson, Kozinski and Luttig clerks - they come...
Posted by armand at 01:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 03, 2006

Classifying Judge Posner

Responding to a comment by Kevin Drum, Professor Bainbridge has asserted that Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is not a conservative. Now at one level I find classifying judges as "liberals" or "conservatives" to be...
Posted by armand at 12:45 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

January 30, 2006

Filibuster Dead

From CNN: "The Senate kills off an attempt to filibuster Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination with a 72-25 vote to end debate."...
Posted by binky at 05:40 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

January 29, 2006

My last Alito post

Razza frazzin frickin frackin...ooh! ooh! stupid friggin' democrats! Yeah I know Kinsley was complaining about kicking Democrats being a pastime and all, but come on! If the Conservatives are saying things like these, what kind of crack do you have...
Posted by binky at 11:49 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

January 27, 2006

"Politics is about power, motherfuckers. Use it or lose it."

The Rude One has spoken: Then here's a brief list of reasons to filibuster Alito that have nothing to do with Savage Sammy:- Because President Bush authorizes spying on Americans without a warrant.- Because President Bush authorized torture by Americans...
Posted by binky at 02:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 26, 2006

Imperial Designs

And we're not talking Faberge eggs. The administration does not need Congress to extend the USA Patriot Act in order to keep using the law's investigative powers against terror suspects. That's from a Boston Globe story about domestic spying, and...
Posted by binky at 08:16 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Filibuster?

Kerry says he "will attempt a filibuster to block the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court." I just emailed Byrd and Rockefeller. Find your senator, and give 'em some feedback if you want them to join the...
Posted by binky at 08:00 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack

January 25, 2006

Lemieux, Alito, Casey and Pennacchio

Scott Lemieux notes here why Pennsylvania Democrats should vote for Chuck Pennacchio in the upcoming Senate primary - Bob Casey Jr. has endorsed Sam Alito....
Posted by armand at 10:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 18, 2006

How Justice Scalia Interprets the Commerce Clause

I used to really like Publius. Now I really *LIKE* Publius. I doubt I read another post this funny (in a crying multiple types of tears kind of way) this week - hell, maybe not for the rest of January....
Posted by armand at 09:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

O'Connor's Ayotte Opinion: Endangering Women?

Lyle Denniston on today's big (though short) Supreme Court ruling: Read most broadly, though, the opinion could be understood as laying down a new limit on lower court judges' authority to issue sweeping decisions that nullify new abortion laws, end...
Posted by armand at 12:14 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

January 16, 2006

Travesties of Justice

I'll make the assertion that Mohammed Yousry should not be in prison. Read the article yourself, and tell me what you think. I'll also assert that "juror 39" is a moral coward. I can't adequately express my feelings for people...
Posted by baltar at 11:07 AM | Comments (18) | TrackBack

January 13, 2006

Things learned from watching Alito's hearings

Or reading the NYT: We learned that Judge Alito had once declared that Judge Robert Bork - whose Supreme Court nomination was defeated because of his legal extremism - "was one of the most outstanding nominees" of the 20th century....
Posted by binky at 04:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 12, 2006

Substantive Thoughts on the Alito Hearings

In the comments section of another thread Moon has raised a reasonable point- while there is a good bit of posturing and theater in this thing (I'm looking right at you Senator Coburn) there have also been moments of honest...
Posted by armand at 11:12 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack

January 11, 2006

Too Old to Execute?

Oh please, give me a break. I'm not a fan of the death penalty. But if we are going to have it, let's have it. I thought the Supreme Court decision making it unconstitutional to execute people in their mid-teens...
Posted by armand at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 10, 2006

Alito

I haven't watch a single minute of the hearings. I haven't read a single story about them. What's the point? The first day was all prepared speeches - if anyone said anything surprising, let me know and I'll be glad...
Posted by baltar at 07:16 PM | Comments (24) | TrackBack

December 30, 2005

Transport Flour, Rot in Jail for 3 Weeks

I hope she gets every cent she's asking for. This story is so horrifying on so many levels - and of course a scary reminder of the fact that we might be putting people in prison on the basis of...
Posted by armand at 12:32 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Why Alito Should Not Be Confirmed

Or, I suppose more accurately the post should be titled: Why Alito Should Be Very Closely Questioned About Issues Related to Executive Branch Legal and Constitutional Limits of Power During War, Non-War, and Peace; And If He Answers The Questions...
Posted by baltar at 11:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 21, 2005

Is That One of Bush's Arms On The Floor?

Bunch of Conservative Federal Judges to President Bush: Bite Me: A federal appeals court delivered a stunning rebuke to the Bush administration today, refusing to allow the transfer of Jose Padilla from military custody to civilian law enforcement authorities to...
Posted by baltar at 09:31 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 19, 2005

Supreme Court Ruling on Warrantless Surveillance

Maybe someone who knows more about this than I might weigh in? (Moon, cough, Moon, cough cough): In a 1972 case, the Supremes held that even in the face of great harm, the President is not allowed to authorize warrantless...
Posted by binky at 01:49 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

December 18, 2005

Why Morris Is Wrong

Morris, in comments to a previous post, chided me for not taking the threat of terrorism seriously: That's essentially the argument you're making, saying that we shouldn't adapt to this threat until it's stronger than we are. And that is...
Posted by baltar at 03:57 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack

December 17, 2005

Thank God I Have My Own Copy

Although, I was considering titling this post "We're Fucked," since amongst the three of us who study war, revolution, authoritarianism, political leadership and the middle east, our book list is a lot more scary that some undergrad at UMass-Darmouth working...
Posted by binky at 05:02 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

New Appointees for the PA Supreme Court and 9th Circuit

It looks like the unexpectedly open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is going to be filled without much controversy. Governor Rendell is going to nominate Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Cynthia Baldwin to fill that vacancy. Judge Trott's seat...
Posted by armand at 02:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 16, 2005

Sheep

Another day, another Constitutional atrocity by the Bush Administration. It's a good one this time: the National Security Agency has been spying on Americans, without a court-approved warrant. A few selected highlights from the long article: Months after the Sept....
Posted by baltar at 12:03 PM | Comments (46) | TrackBack

December 04, 2005

More Reasons to Fear Judge Alito?

I continue to become more and more worried....
Posted by armand at 02:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 02, 2005

Just How "Probable" Must Probable Cause Be?

" ... probable cause can exist so long as there is more than a five- to ten-percent chance that evidence will be present in the place to be searched."Those are Howard Bashman's words describing a recent position taken by Sixth...
Posted by armand at 12:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 26, 2005

Don't hate the playa...

Two links on Alito, for you to read while I continue to enjoy my vacation. First, Americablog describes an Alito flip-flop, in which he first said he would recuse himself from certain cases that would be conflcts of interest, but...
Posted by binky at 08:17 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 16, 2005

Voting Rights and the Support Thereof

Treading on Armand's turf of law and courts, and likely inviting disaster in the form of a Moon corrective, I submit this post by Nathan Newman which I have seen referenced at a few sites. But what is most striking...
Posted by binky at 09:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Fables of Activist Judges

You don't really need to mourn the loss of Underneath Their Robes, not when you have Scott Lemieux keeping you busy with the real, political science view of all you need to know about Alito: As a follow-up to my...
Posted by binky at 06:14 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 14, 2005

Alito on Abortion, When He Interviewed for Ed Meese

This is from an interview Judge Alito had with Attorney General Ed Meese in 1985:Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, wrote that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion" in a 1985 document...
Posted by armand at 10:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Lessons of History

In addition to being big on IR around here, we are also big on history. It seems like the last couple of years have given us ample opportunity to quote Santayana: "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to...
Posted by binky at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 08, 2005

Professor Murphy on Judge Alito and Justice Thomas

For what it's worth, here is how Walter Murphy, the McCormick Professor in Jurisprudence Emeritus at Princeton University, evaluates Judge Alito, and his comments on comparing him to Justice Clarence Thomas.Murphy, who has kept in touch with Alito over the...
Posted by armand at 10:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 04, 2005

"Try Telling the Virgin Mary ..."

This post on Pandagon features what I think has to be the best post title of the week....
Posted by armand at 11:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Kerr's 7 Varieties of Judicial Conservatives

Orin Kerr reminds me why there are few words I find more infuriating and less helpful to engaging in clear discourse than "conservative" and "liberal". Kerr sees at least 7 distinct types of judicial "conservatives"....
Posted by armand at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 03, 2005

Alito's Faves - Rehnquist, Brennan, Harlan II and White

I'm sure a lot of eyebrows have gone up on the news that William Brennan is one of Judge Samuel Alito's four favorite Supreme Court justices of the past. I'd say that the inclusion of White should raise far more...
Posted by armand at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Analyzing What Alito's Actually Written, Not Just Yelling

Our buddy Moon has written an impressively researched piece analyzing several of the opinions that leftist bloggers have been using in their attacks against Judge Alito this week. He concludes that many of these attacks are unfair, and that 1)...
Posted by armand at 10:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 31, 2005

My First Three Thoughts on the Alito Nomination

First, it could have been worse (Luttig, Garza, Jones ...). And as you keep reading about Judge Alito in the weeks to come, keep that in mind. Sure, that's scary (hell, terrifying) and probably hard for some of my leftist...
Posted by armand at 01:08 PM | Comments (33) | TrackBack

5 Catholics and 2 Jews

David Bernstein and I were thinking alike this morning (talk about something that's rarer than a blue moon ...). The degree to which anti-Catholic prejudice has declined in this country in the last generation or two is quite remarkable....
Posted by armand at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 30, 2005

"An incredible moment of mind-shattering bad taste"

I agree with Ann Althouse - this would be a horrifyingly tacky spectacle. But we are rarely treated to something so hilariously awful. So, since we've been denied the gruesome fun of the Harriet Miers hearings, I really hope the...
Posted by armand at 03:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 28, 2005

Goldstein Predicts Judge Alito

Tom Goldstein, who saw the John Roberts nomination coming long before anyone else, notes that Jan Crawford Greenburg (who appears to have had the best reporting in the days and weeks leading up to that pick) is saying that the...
Posted by armand at 11:27 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 27, 2005

Miers Withdraws

Holy moly kids! Harriet's out! Both the NYT and CNN have a breaking news banner....
Posted by binky at 08:58 AM | Comments (18) | TrackBack

October 20, 2005

Pop Quiz!

Midterms continue, so I provide you with more links to other people who are funnier than I feel like whilst grading. Today's pick of the litter? Billmon. A short excerpt (but go read it all): SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY...
Posted by binky at 09:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 18, 2005

Those Left Wing Radicals...

...at the Wall Street Journal think something might be fishy with the (now not so) secret conference call about Harriet Miers' position on Roe v. Wade. Mr. Dobson quelled the controversy by saying that Karl Rove, the White House's deputy...
Posted by binky at 05:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 17, 2005

Kevin Drum Wants Supreme Court Term Limits

Yay! Another blogger backing a cause I strongly agree with....
Posted by armand at 07:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 16, 2005

Scalia or Thomas - Which One Do the "Conservatives" Really Want?

Everything you've been hearing from the outraged radical right (say, those like Manny Miranda who I can't believe that anyone, Republican or Democrat, really takes seriously, or Robert Bork) who's up in arms over the Miers nomination sounds a lot...
Posted by armand at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 13, 2005

An Exercise in Transitive Logic

Now follow me here: The President says that Miers got the nod for the Supreme Court in part because of her religion: "People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers," Mr. Bush said. "They want to know Harriet...
Posted by baltar at 01:01 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

October 10, 2005

They'll Always Have Denny's

A3G provides more dishy gossip into the loves of Harriet Miers. I swear, I really am inching closer and closer to a personal endorsement of her nomination. Her story really is the most bizarre thing I've seen this side of...
Posted by armand at 08:08 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

"No More Souters" and the Gang of Fourteen

Put them together, these self-imposed and outside constraints on the administration's choices for the US Supreme Court, and you'll understand why Bush nominated Roberts and Miers. Or so says Michael E. Levine in this interesting post....
Posted by armand at 09:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 03, 2005

And She's 60!

We've all got our own little things that irk us about the Miers nomination (or two, or six, or ten of them), but one that's really irritating me by this point in the day is the constant harping about how...
Posted by armand at 07:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Right Really Wants Unprincipled Partisan Judges

While some of today's criticisms of Harriet Miers may be well deserved, they are also shedding light on the kinds of justice many on the far right would prefer - a judge who actually doesn't have any respect for the...
Posted by armand at 01:28 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Loyalty Versus Experience (We Lose)

As just about everyone who wakes up this morning will soon realize, Bush has chosen a new nominee to the Supreme Court: Harriet Miers. I'm not a relentless court-watcher, so this name was new to me. I have no idea...
Posted by baltar at 08:13 AM | Comments (20) | TrackBack

October 02, 2005

The "Second-String" Women on the Supreme Court Short List

Slate has this profile of three federal appeals court judges who are increasingly being discussed as possible replacements for Justice O'Connor - Judges Karen Williams, Alice Batchelder and Consuela Callahan. I find the idea of a Williams or Batchelder appointment...
Posted by armand at 02:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 27, 2005

Wasn't That A Movie With Bruce Willis and Bad Aerosmith Songs?

"It's Armageddon," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah....
Posted by binky at 02:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Where the Roberts Vote Stands on 9/27

On Thursday Judge John Roberts of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will be confirmed as the new Chief Justice of the United States. All that's unknown now is the final vote tally. It's looking increasingly likely that Roberts will...
Posted by armand at 12:55 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Election and First Amendment Cases Coming Before the SCOTUS

Rick Hasen has these posts on election law cases that the SCOTUS has scheduled on its calendar for the coming term. As he notes, this is one area in which the changing composition of the Court could have a major...
Posted by armand at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 22, 2005

13-5 Vote for Roberts in the Judiciary Committee

The talking is almost (finally) over, and when it ends the Senate Judiciary Committee will recommend the confirmation of Judge John Roberts as the next Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. Three Democrats (Leahy, Kohl and Feingold) will join...
Posted by armand at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 20, 2005

Madame Justice Callahan?

Article III Groupie has another post that's both hilarious and insightful, noting that her prediction that 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Consuelo Callahan would enter the mix of those considered to replace Justice O'Connor has been vindicated by the...
Posted by armand at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Acosta, Gonzalez, and the War on Porn

It's reports like this that leave me dumbfounded that large numbers of people feel safe with Republicans in charge of the country. These are the people that make you feel safe? The people who want to prioritize a War on...
Posted by armand at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 14, 2005

More Proposed Questions for John Roberts

Since he's avoided answering most direct questions I'm sure judge Roberts would decline to answer these questions too - but I think that the questions proposed by Eric Muller and Mark Kleiman (I have question #3 in mind) are well...
Posted by armand at 10:27 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

September 13, 2005

Jon Kyl and Joe Biden Talk and Talk and Talk

I love this. One of Tom Goldstein's recent posts: "2:28 - Kyl is the Joe Biden of the right. His point is that the job of judges is not to advance progress and freedom. There are competing values, no absolutes."Ah,...
Posted by armand at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What I Learned From the Roberts Hearings: Day 1

From NPR I learned that, earlier in her career in government, Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) took part in sentencing women to jail for having abortions. And in college Feinstein saw a plate passed around so that one of her classmates could...
Posted by armand at 08:27 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 12, 2005

Is It Down to Owen or Gonzalez?

So who's going to replace Justice O'Connor on the Supreme Court? Today Robert Novak is playing up the chances of Fifth Circuit Court Judge Priscilla Owen."According to White House sources, Bush met secretly with Owen last week. While not decisive...
Posted by armand at 01:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

John Roberts and the Fourth Amendment

I've been troubled for some time about the degree to which our Fourth Amendment protections seem to be be falling away in the wake of recent Supreme Court opinions. A study by Professor Thomas Clancy (analyzed and discussed at Grits...
Posted by armand at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Harvard Law, Yale Law, and the SCOTUS

Why are there so many Harvard Law graduates (as opposed to only one Yale Law graduate) on the SCOTUS? Here's a perspective from Yale....
Posted by armand at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 06, 2005

Should Anyone Be Chief Justice?

This essay notes the many roles that the Chief Justice plays - several of which give him a vast amount of power over many different different kinds of government policy. His personnel powers alone are enormous. It is extremely important...
Posted by armand at 11:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 05, 2005

An Edith Brown Clement Nomination After All?

It seems that in light of Hurricane Katrina some people think it might make good political sense to name a woman from Louisiana to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the US Supreme Court. UPDATE: Todd Zywicki offers another reason...
Posted by armand at 02:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 30, 2005

What a Difference an "H" Makes

My initial reaction to this post by Publius on the importance of rhetoric was considerable puzzlement - and then I finally realized, oh, the Roman guy, not Mr. J. Lo. Thankfully, I was in a rather more focused state when...
Posted by armand at 12:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 10, 2005

Roberts Would Uphold the Assisted Suicide Law?

That's what Sen. Ron Wyden seems to think. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts declared that, in cases dealing with end-of-life care, he would "start with the supposition that one has the right to be left alone," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.,...
Posted by armand at 11:19 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

August 07, 2005

If Article III Groupie Ran the Judiciary Committee

While I am deeply interested in many matters related to the US Supreme Court and its justices, after having read a raft of stories about the upcoming hearings for John Roberts I fear that a lot of the questions that...
Posted by armand at 02:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 06, 2005

This is Real?!

Via Pandagon, a story about a woman in Washington state who cannot get a divorce because she is pregnant. Her husband is in jail on domestic violence charges. Lovely....
Posted by binky at 03:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 27, 2005

The Highest Law

Where do you look for the highest law? The Constitution? The Ten Commandments? The Light of Reason puts the nomination of John Roberts and his answer to that question under a bright light: Roberts said that he might have to...
Posted by binky at 07:16 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

July 22, 2005

What Should John Roberts Be Questioned About?

Apparently Orrin Hatch, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and someone who will no doubt be a leader in the Roberts nomination process, said the following on Fox News: "I think senators can ask any questions they want. I've...
Posted by armand at 11:34 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

July 21, 2005

Shared Surnames on the US Supreme Court

Marshall, Jackson, White, Harlan and (probably) Roberts - learn more about some of the greats and definitely not greats of US legal history here....
Posted by armand at 02:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Hogan & Hartson Summer Associate's View of John Roberts

"I am proud that a citizen of John Roberts’s ability and character has been honored by our President in a way that, in a sense, he so richly deserves. But at the same time, I harbor some deep reservations."This post...
Posted by armand at 11:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 20, 2005

Ronnie Paris Jr. Is Going to Jail

I'd say a life term without parole is appropriate, though I realize he won't get that. And, honestly, given the way they apparently view the world - I'd feel better if his parents, wife and public defender were behind bars...
Posted by armand at 02:47 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

The Roberts Media Whirlwind

OK, so this is my favorite line that I've read on the nomination of John Roberts this morning:``I don't see ideological underpinnings,'' said A.E. Dick Howard, a law professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. ``Conservative, yes, but ideology,...
Posted by armand at 11:11 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

July 19, 2005

The Supremes

Surely Armand will have a brilliant analysis when the announcement is made (especially if it is Judge Clement, as CNN is predicting), however, the timing of this whole thing is driving me nuts. No doubt it is supposed to. I...
Posted by binky at 01:42 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

July 06, 2005

Activist 5th Ciruict Judges Soon to Join the Supremes?

"I am amazed that our en banc court would have the audacity to turn around and reach the same result the Supreme Court just vacated," 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Harold DeMoss Jr. One reason that the Supreme...
Posted by armand at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 27, 2005

Madison on Religious Liberty, and the Future of the Establishment Clause

If I was going to bet on who would next be named to the US Supreme Court, I wouldn’t put money on 10th Circuit Judge Michael McConnell. While he’s extremely bright, affable, and a nominee who could split liberals and...
Posted by armand at 11:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

The Times Examines Justice Kennedy

Since today is the last day of the current Supreme Court term, I expect to write a number of posts tied to that today. So I will begin by noting this profile of Justice Kennedy in today's New York Times....
Posted by armand at 09:38 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 23, 2005

How the SCOTUS Split in Today's Decisions

SCOTUSBlog has this handy graphic showing who was and who wasn't in the majority in the six decisions handed down this morning by the US Supreme Court (the remaining seven decisions from this term will be handed down on Monday)....
Posted by armand at 12:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 21, 2005

A Judge Who Brings on "Whamo" Responses

Sean Sirrine gets at part of why I often wish Alex Kozinski would be the next conservative nominee to the US Supreme Court. He's not only brilliant, he's straightforward and funny. Sadly though, those last two traits alone are probably...
Posted by armand at 12:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 08, 2005

Dorf on Raich

If there are any of you out there who still haven't gotten your fill of reading about Raich and its implications I recommend this piece by Michael Dorf. It lays out the various arguments and the historical context in a...
Posted by armand at 01:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 07, 2005

Janice Rogers Brown

Today's the day this justice of the Supreme Court of California will likely be elevated to fill a seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. I have mixed feelings about this, and if I were a senator this vote...
Posted by armand at 12:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 06, 2005

Orin Kerr on the Raich Decision

Orin Kerr has the first lengthy review I've seen of today's decision in Raich (the medical marijuana/federalism case). The vote was 6-3 to reverse the 9th Circuit and uphold the federal government's power to regulate marijuana - and in the...
Posted by armand at 12:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 31, 2005

Evaluating Rehnquist

Stuart Taylor wrote this recent cover story in the National Journal. It strikes me as a fair evaluation of CJ Rehnquist's service on the Supreme Court. It also reminds us that what makes a good Chief Justice is somewhat different...
Posted by armand at 11:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 30, 2005

Justice Thomas: A Results Driven Originalist

Publius is in fine form in this critique of Justice Thomas' dissent in Deck v. Missouri. He uses this opinion to illustrate the holes in originalism, and the related notion that certain judges like him who follow this doctrine are...
Posted by armand at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 25, 2005

Judge Owen of the Fifth Circuit

It's happened. The first of the federal appeals court judges that had been blocked by a Democratic filibuster has been confirmed. She will leave the Supreme Court in Texas and join the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals which is...
Posted by armand at 07:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 16, 2005

The Wine Shipment Cases Are Decided

And the state laws in Michigan and New York are found to be unconstitutional.In soaring rhetoric, Kennedy said that preserving cross-country access to consumers was "essential to the foundations of the Union," citing the Federalist Papers, and the work of...
Posted by armand at 11:51 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

May 13, 2005

Going to Jail for Drug Trafficking When You Clearly Haven't Trafficked

Jacob Sullum notes some of the latest appalling follies that are being perpetrated by those in power....
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Why is Raich Taking So Long?

Ann Althouse has some ideas as to why it is taking the Supreme Court so long to come up with an opinion in the Raich case. While I think that her piece is generally quite insightful, I find the end...
Posted by armand at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 02, 2005

Child 1: Judge 0

While the case of the 13 year old Floridian's struggle against DCF efforts to block the abortion she wants has received plenty of attention, and sparked some insightful discussion around the web, this article from the Sun Sentinel shows the...
Posted by binky at 02:44 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

May 01, 2005

Next Term's Clerks at the SCOTUS

Underneath Their Robes is running a series on the men and women who will be serving as Supreme Court clerks in the coming term. Here is the run-down on the four men who'll be clerking for Justice Scalia. You can...
Posted by armand at 04:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 27, 2005

Guns, Foreign Courts and the US Supremes

This ruling is just the kind of thing that must send the results-oriented activists on both the left and right screaming about how "their" justices could do such a thing. In Small, if you only look at the results and...
Posted by armand at 12:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 21, 2005

Comey's Out at the DOJ

This appears to be significant loss to the country and the government. From all accounts I've read the Deputy Attorney General is a talented leader who is serious about the law. And, in fact, that seriousness might have blocked him...
Posted by armand at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 17, 2005

Just What Is a Constitution in Exile Movement?

Jeffrey Rosen's piece in The New York Times Magazine is something I hope to get around to reading in the next day or two. On Saturday it prompted two critical posts by David Bernstein dealing with a variety of issues....
Posted by armand at 10:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 13, 2005

We Must Impeach Nino!

I hereby declare Orin Kerr the Volokh conspirator with the best sense of humor. I love clever - and this is both clever and really funny....
Posted by armand at 12:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 08, 2005

The Uncanny Similarities Between a Supreme Court Appointment and an Oscar Contest

This post at Underneath Their Robes is really pretty clever. How do you tell who are the real players who are in the running for the next opening on the US Supreme Court? How can one hope to systematicly rate...
Posted by armand at 11:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 06, 2005

Now we're arresting children...

This piece in the New York Times doesn't begin to delve into the certain complexities of this case, but it is one more in a series of recent articles I have read that basically suggest that any teenager - perhaps...
Posted by binky at 11:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 30, 2005

The Draft is Unconstitutional - So Says Chief Justice Taney

True, he never made such a ruling in a case that came before him. And some would argue that if you are looking for allies to make your case, well, invoking Taney's name dredges up a fair amount of historical...
Posted by armand at 09:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 29, 2005

Medellin v. Dretke

This is one of those cases in which traditional conservative/liberal or pragmatist/non-pragmatist divides on the Court would seem to be thrown out the window because there is just soooooo much going on. There are so many different topics that the...
Posted by armand at 09:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 23, 2005

Margaret Talbot on Justice Scalia

Margaret Talbot’s article on Justice Scalia in the March 28, 2005 issue of The New Yorker brings several points to mind. Of course some of these deal with Scalia’s actions as a member of the Supreme Court. While Justice Scalia...
Posted by armand at 06:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 22, 2005

Jean Jaques Rousseau Was a Terrorist-Loving, Commie Sodomite!

Well, no, he wasn't. But he was a foreigner after all. And apparently foreigners are not to be trusted. They are horrible people, trying to wreck all that is noble and godly in the world. And the US must be...
Posted by armand at 11:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 15, 2005

Gay Marriage in California: Judge Kramer and Strict Scrutiny

Julian Sanchez notes a key point in yesterday's decision. Banning gay marriage isn't simply problematic because of the ban takes away a fundamental right without a rational basis - there's also the problem of gender discrimination. After carrying out his...
Posted by armand at 03:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Cabello v. Fernandez-Larios

Where can victims of Chile's 1973 coup go to seek justice? The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed that one place is the US judicial system....
Posted by armand at 02:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 12, 2005

Rehnquist the Great?

Jeffrey Rosen makes the case for viewing William H. Rehnquist as one of the Supreme Court's greatest Chiefs in this article in The Atlantic. The gist of it is that Rehnquist has done a remarkably good job at melding his...
Posted by armand at 04:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 09, 2005

Publius Makes a "Linguistic Case Against Scalia"

"Scalia looks at the Constitution and sees 'understandings' – I look at the Constitution and see words. " This is yet another great post by Publius. While it starts with some interesting points about last week's decision in Roper, in...
Posted by armand at 01:07 PM | Comments (29) | TrackBack

February 25, 2005

Jane Mayer on Extraordinary Rendition

If you haven't gotten around to reading Jane Mayer's article in the New Yorker (the February 14 & 21 issue), you should. It's been out for a little while now, but before it fades from discussions entirely, I want to...
Posted by armand at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 24, 2005

Sandra Day O'Connor as the Court's Weather Vane

Jack Balkin has this to say about Justice O'Connor's position in Johnson v. California: "In saying that Thomas and Scalia aren't being consistent, I do not mean to suggest that O'Connor is. As Thomas correctly points out, her refusal to...
Posted by armand at 09:10 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 18, 2005

Jamie Gorelick on Secret Prisoners and Extraordinary Rendition

This is from Jane Mayer's article in The New Yorker: "In criminal justice, you either prosecute the suspects or let them go. But if you've treated then in ways that won't allow you to prosecute them you're in this no...
Posted by armand at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 31, 2005

Intra-Court Hijinks at the DC District Court: Green Smacks Leon

Senior Judge Joyce Hens Green has ruled that the "enemy combatants" held at Gitmo have "enforceable consitutional rights". Of course this puts her directly at odds with a judge in the same court who's heard similar cases. Who could have...
Posted by armand at 12:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 25, 2005

The Shifting Nature of the 4th Amendment

This post by Orin Kerr is realy interesting. He discusses how recent decisions, including yesterday's in Illinois v. Caballes, are moving 4th Amendment questions from being the nature of the search or surveillance employed to the government, to the nature...
Posted by armand at 11:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 24, 2005

Illinois v. Caballes

If I was forced to pick my two favorite Supreme Court justices Ginsburg and Souter would probably top the list, so any case in which they stand together as the only dissenters will catch my eye - and that happened...
Posted by armand at 12:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 20, 2005

To Filibuster or Not? To Go "Nuclear" or Not?

This article on Law.com does an excellent job of explaining what's going on with the appelate judicial nominees that the Senate refused to approve in the last Congress (or the ones out of that set that the president has resubmitted...
Posted by armand at 01:08 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

January 10, 2005

Chief Justice McConnell?

That's a possible nomination that makes a lot of sense to me. His is certainly a name to watch....
Posted by armand at 04:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 04, 2005

Jesperson Doesn't Face Gender Discrimination

This editorial in the Sacramento Bee strongly disagress with the 9th Circuit's recent ruling in Jesperson v. Harrah's. What was the case about?"Harrah's Casino in Reno fired a bartender with a stellar 20-year work record because she refused to follow...
Posted by armand at 03:36 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

The Supreme Court Forecasting Project

The latest issue of Perspectives on Politics (sorry, I don’t know how to link to it) features a symposium on the Supreme Court Forecasting Project. This project is built with the goal of creating a statistical model that can predict...
Posted by armand at 03:23 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

December 30, 2004

Military Lawyers Versus Civilian Lawyers

Andrew Rosenthal discusses the marginalization of the military lawyers in the Bush administration. Normally, the civilian policy makers would have asked the military lawyers to draft the rules for a military prison in wartime. The lawyers for the service secretaries...
Posted by armand at 05:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 23, 2004

The Conservative Case for Outrage

Publius passionately, but succinctly, notes why conservatives should take off their partisan blinders and see the incredible damage the prisoner abuse and torture issues related to the war in Iraq are doing to the causes they believe in....
Posted by armand at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 22, 2004

The Office of Legal Counsel on War and Torture

Phil Carter brings us up to date on some of the latest reports on the Bush administration's sweeping assertions of its powers - where they came from, and the effects they've had on US foreign policy. Carter thinks that John...
Posted by armand at 04:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 09, 2004

Justice Clarence Thomas: Principled and Wrong

Publius has an interesting post on Clarence Thomas. Thomas has a perfectly coherent jurisprudence that would (1) unfetter the executive in wartime; (2) allow state-established religion; (3) invalidate much of the administrative state; and (4) toss out all precedent that...
Posted by armand at 11:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 07, 2004

Why Democrats Might Support a Scalia Nomination

Risk Hasen has some pretty good reasons. And he doesn't even touch on the areas of law in which many Democrats would actually agree with Scalia's views....
Posted by armand at 03:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 05, 2004

The Supreme Court vs. The Fifth Circuit

While the general impression of the US Supreme Court is that it's not friendly to complaints brought by people convicted of violent crimes, it's also clearly not friendly to appeals courts that appear to repeatedly violate its holdings. Adam Liptak...
Posted by armand at 02:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 02, 2004

Orin Kerr on What Dale Means for the Solomon Amendment Case

Since I know the Third Circuit's recent ruling on the Solomon Amendment interested Binky, I'm going to link to this post by Orin Kerr on how it relates to the Dale (Boy Scouts) case. The more I read about the...
Posted by armand at 03:23 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

November 30, 2004

Judge Leon, Judge Green and a Recipe for a Legal Mess

What can one say about this? Couldn't the Chief Judge of the District Court have sorted this out? I probably should just let it go before I start proposing how it's all part of a White House conspiracy to draw...
Posted by armand at 01:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 26, 2004

Next Week at the Supreme Court

I've been waiting for Ashcroft v. Raich for months, and to my eyes it's quite possibly the most important case of the year. But there will, of course, be other business before the Court next week and this gender-equity case...
Posted by armand at 03:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 23, 2004

Federal Drug Courts

Last week Senior Judge Donald Lay of the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals had an op-ed in The New York Times on the need for federal drug courts. Considering that 1) such courts have a great record of improving...
Posted by armand at 04:29 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

November 16, 2004

Yet Another Reason Not to Miss John Ashcroft

How dare puny judges question my power! The AG has basically accused the US Court system of being in league with the terrorists. Lovely. You know, if you're watching Seinfeld and see "No soup for you!" it's kind of funny....
Posted by armand at 01:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 12, 2004

Why the Ninth Circuit Is "Somewhat Quirky"

I think Orin Kerr is probably right - the practice he discusses here may have a lot to do with it....
Posted by armand at 02:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 06, 2004

Michael McConnell for Chief Justice

That's the name being pitched by Mike Rappaport. Eugene Volokh thinks that's a fine idea. His nomination would make a great deal of sense, and I'm rather surprised his name isn't on more of the lists of possible nominees. UPDATE:...
Posted by armand at 04:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 05, 2004

Edith H. Jones for Chief Justice?

I can't wait to read Howard Bashman's article that he discusses here. My initial reaction is that I'd be stunned if the White House actually nominated Jones for Chief Justice. She'd seem relatively easy to defeat. Which isn't to say...
Posted by armand at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 26, 2004

A Recess Appointment to the Supreme Court?

If Chief Justice Rehnquist steps down while the Senate is in recess, President Bush could name an appointee to fill his seat for the duration of the NEXT Congress. Yes - even if the president is defeated on Tuesday. Lyle...
Posted by armand at 12:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 22, 2004

The Next Justice(s)

Stuart Taylor has a run-down on possible nominees. This piece in The National Journal is better than the usual prospective nominees article. While most of the names are familiar, there are a few new ones, and Taylor offers brief but...
Posted by armand at 11:44 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack

September 15, 2004

Bruce Fein is a Moron

A well-educated moron I'll grant you. A serious moron. A plain moron who dresses in such boring attire that it's obvious you're supposed to look at him for deep, insightful, solid thoughts. He's possibly even at some level a very...
Posted by armand at 04:26 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 13, 2004

Mandatory Minimums

One of the other good things in yesterday's Times was this story by Adam Liptak that points out that the Federal Sentencing Guidelines themselves may not be as big a problem in today's legal system as our continual adoption of...
Posted by armand at 10:51 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 25, 2004

Describing Mr. Justice Breyer

I have to say that Mark Tushnet's description of Mr. Justice Breyer as a "statist" "resembling Byron White" has certianly done nothing to lessen my considerable level of ambivalence for Bill Clinton's second appointee to the US Supreme Court....
Posted by armand at 10:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 24, 2004

Nominees to Canada's Supreme Court

If two women were simultaneously nominated to the US Supreme Court it would probably be a major news story for months. But given US disinterest in all things Canadian I figured I should alert you to a story you might...
Posted by armand at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 22, 2004

Justice Blackmun on Roe's Near-Death Experience

Jack Balkin has this interesting historical review, drawn from Justice Blackmun's notes, of how Casey did, and then did not, over-rule Roe v. Wade....
Posted by armand at 05:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 31, 2004

The Myths of Finger Prints

This story in the New York Times and this one in the Washington Post show that there are some deeply troubling holes in our justice system, holes than can lead to horrifying results for those who are wrongly accused. If...
Posted by armand at 10:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack