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Breaking: SCOTUS Makes The Money-In-Politics Problem Worse
Further loosening the reins on the role of money in politics, the U.S. Supreme Court today struck down restrictions on the grand total that any person can contribute to all federal candidates for office. Today's decision left intact the cap of $2,600 per election that a contributor to give to any single candidate for federal office, but it invalidated the … Read More
The Hobby Lobby Case
Justice Anthony Kennedy, on whose vote the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS case rests, seems very concerned about the government forcing corporations to cover abortion: WASHINGTON, DC — Justice Anthony Kennedy thinks gay people are fabulous. All three of the Supreme Court’s most important gay rights decisions were written by Justice Kennedy. So advocates for birth control had a simple task today: convince Kennedy … Read More
DOMA and Prop 8 Decisions
Pretty much like I predicted: DOMA overturned, and Prop 8 booted because plaintiffs lacked standing. What happens next: Since the Court ruled that the federal government cannot discriminate against same-sex marriages under the Equal Protection Clause, all the remains is for that same reasoning to be applied to the states. After all, states cannot violate the federal constitution either. So … Read More
That Didn’t Take Long
TPM: Texas is wasting no time capitalizing on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act. Shortly after the high court issued a sweeping 5-4 decision Tuesday striking down a centerpiece of the historic 1965 law, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott vowed to immediately implement a controversial voter ID law in the Lone Star State that was blocked last year by the now-gutted … Read More
Supreme Court Cuts Voting Rights Act of 1964
Today, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling, struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Basically, they eliminated the requirement that jurisdictions with a history of discrimination pre-clear election and voting law changes to ensure they do not disenfranchise minority voters. While the remaining provisions will still ban outright racial discrimination, those states and localities previously covered will now be … Read More
DOMA and Prop 8: A Prediction
This week — probably Thursday — the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will release its opinion on two cases dealing with same-sex marriage. One case challenges the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Section III of DOMA prevents the federal government from treating same-sex couples (those legally married under state law) as "married" for the purpose of … Read More
SCOTUS Punts on Changing Affirmative Action
Big week for SCOTUS this week, with most eyes awaiting the DOMA and Prop 8 decisions. Nothing happened with those today. The Court scheduled more opinions for tomorrow (although I suspect there will be one more day after tomorrow, and that's when we'll get the gay marriage cases). Interest was also high on what the Court would do regarding affirmative action in … Read More
Monday at 10
With the session coming to a close, some thought the Supreme Court might announce its opinions today in the Prop 8 and DOMA cases. It did not. So it looks like Monday at 10, the last scheduled opinion-reading of the Court for the term, and maybe not even then. There are still several outstanding opinions, and it is likely … Read More
Snowden Is A Dick
I have been following with interest the various leaks from Edward Snowden, although I have not been writing about them much. I write this post to officially say that the so-called whistleblower really is a self-aggrandizing a-hole, and not the 4th Amendment crusador that he envisions himself to be. I join with others who ask — if he was so … Read More
Jan Brewer Is Too Crazy Even For Scalia
In an opinion by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, a 7-2 Supreme Court held this morning that an Arizona law requiring voting officials to reject voter registration forms that are “not accompanied by concrete evidence of citizenship” conflicts with a federal law requiring states to use a uniform voter registration form for federal elections. Scalia once justified an anti-immigrant opinion with … Read More
Strange Bedfellows
Yes, it is very unusual for Justice Scalia to side with the liberal side of the court. But when he's right, he's right. And the Times is wrong.
Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Planned Parenthood Appeal
This is good news. Indiana passed a law attempting to strip Planned Parenthood of all of its Medicaid funding because it performs abortions among its medical services. The courts, including the Seventh Circuit, said this was unconstitutional because the federal-state Medicaid health program for the poor is for general health services including cancer screening. The state appealed to the U.S Supreme … Read More
A Little Late, Sandy
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the conservative retired justice who provided the fifth vote to install George W. Bush as president, is now having second thoughts about that decision: Looking back, O’Connor said, she isn’t sure the high court should have taken [Bush v. Gore]. “It took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue,” O’Connor … Read More
Who Cares About The Effects Of Same-Sex Marriage?
In the Wall Street Journal today, Nelson Lund opines: The Supreme Court is hearing two cases this week that represent a challenge to one of the oldest and most fundamental institutions of our civilization. In Hollingsworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor, the court is being asked to rule that constitutional equal protection requires the government to open marriage to same-sex couples. The … Read More