John Roberts Rumor Started To Prove Point Proves Point @9:00 AM
This is pretty great: Above the Law pegs yesterday's "John Roberts is Retiring" rumor to a Georgetown Law class about… rumors and trusted sources. Unfortunately, most of the professor's students were too busy sexting about the news to reflect upon the actual topic of the lecture: "on the credibility and reliability of informants," and when the professor, Peter Tague, revealed he was just teaching them a lesson, they had to re-sext all their friends that, no, John Roberts was not indeed going to retire yesterday. Love it. 12
Inconsistent Pleadings: Smith v. Spisak and Mumia's Three Decades of Appeals @4:20 PM
If you’ve ever spent any time on a college campus, chances are you’ve encountered a group of maybe-students with makeshift signs and ink-smeared pamphlets urging that you “Free Mumia.” And if you bothered to grab a pamphlet or engage one of these activists, you would have discovered that “Mumia” is Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of the fairly brutal 1981 shooting death of 25-year-old Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal has always claimed that he is innocent, and in the nearly thirty years since his conviction, his banner has been taken up by an array of frequent bedfellows: assorted civil rights groups, low-wattage celebrities, slices of the international community and college kids. READ MORE 31
"The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns." Campaign finance law supporters expect the 5-4 vote in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to result in "a flood of corporate and union money in federal campaigns as early as this year's midterm congressional elections." So that's exciting. @10:20 AM 31
The End of the 00s: Personal Statements, by Luke Mazur @12:30 PM
I have anxiety about not living in a place with food trucks. Their eclectic menus and their varied proprietors, for me, represent a sophisticated and cultured world. A diverse one. Buffalo, of course, has a few hot dog carts stationed downtown and a few more Mister Softee trucks circling neighborhoods during the summer months. When I see how people line up at taco trucks in Los Angeles or pickle carts in New York, I become envious. Back in the 1990s, Hannibal Lecter explained that we covet what we see every day. And in this decade, it seems that every day I read a story about food trucks. So I covet them. READ MORE 10
Here's a handy primer on how to argue before the Supreme Court. Lesson One: Don't mock Scalia, he's very thin-skinned. Lesson Two: Even though Clarence Thomas has not spoken since February 22, 2006, he's still listening. Probably. [Via] @11:00 AM 5
Sotomayor Approved With Just One Republican Yea @12:36 PM
Sonia Sotomayor (the activist Latina judge who adjudicates through the lens of her personal experience, unlike Clarence Thomas or the Italian judges, what's his name and what's his name, they're all black to me, since I live in the year 1910) has made it through the sort of grueling, sort of totally ridiculous Judicial Committee hearings with approval for a Senate vote on her elevation to Lord Queen Justice of NAFTA. That will be another boring spectacle. "Among the seven Republicans on the committee, only Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voted in favor," says the Times. It is sad that the Republican understanding of Sotomayor's deep-seated unfitness to serve, because she believes that judges interpret and therefore create law in the course of their work, law which actually circumscribes human and governmental behavior (instead of Baby God or the Giant Space Jesus Monkey doing so), will not be further heard because of things like democracy and voting and our attention span. 1
Court Rules For Firefighters In New Haven Case @10:07 AM
The Supreme Court has reversed the Second Circuit's ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano by 5-4, "on ideological lines." The case, in which a white firefighter claimed discrimination after being denied a promotion, will be at the center of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. The full decision is here. 6
Supreme Court Disallows Child's Strip Search @11:39 AM
In an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that an Arizona school violated the law when it strip searched a 13-year-old girl suspected of possessing prescription strength ibuprofen—"the equivalent of two Advils." 24
Court Keeps Voting Rights Act Alive @10:27 AM
The Supreme Court has voted 8-1 against striking down Section 5—the "preclearance" section requiring judicial or Justice Department approval of attempts to change voter qualifications in areas historically inhospitable to universal suffrage—of the Voting Rights Act. Voting to strike down the Section: Justice Clarence Thomas. Contain your surprise. 3
In The Courts @10:21 AM
SCOTUSblog: "Spitting 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an individual whose criminal conviction has become final does not have a constitutional right to gain access to evidence so that it can be subjected to DNA testing." Presumably they mean "splitting," but hahaha, it's funny either way, because DNA evidence can be found in spit, and five Justices just spit on justice itself. 4
Rich People Things: Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas And The Trouble With The "Up From Poverty" Narrative @11:15 AM
The thing with humble beginnings in American life is that one is supposed to leave them decorously as just that-the harrowing, Dickensian prologue to an adult life of implacable success and celebrity splendor. That's why the personal story of Sonia Sotomayor is being tirelessly rehearsed as a classic instance of the American Dream coming true-something that claims its significance on the basis of what the Bronx-bred jurist left behind, as opposed to her much-bruited views on how her ethnic heritage continues to shape her approach to her job. READ MORE 3
Supreme Court and Don't Ask Don't Tell @1:39 PM
The Supreme Court today chose not to review a case challenging the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring gays and lesbians from serving in the armed forces; here's a post explaining why the decision isn't the big deal that some are making it out to be. What is a big deal: the fact that we still have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. [Via] 2
Sonia Sotomayor's Reversal Record Explained @8:29 AM
Apart from how she is clearly an affirmative action pick (she has to be, because how else would a PUERTO RICAN end up on the Supreme Court?), and also how she is stupid and uses too many footnotes, and also how it's crazy that she defended Fendi against knockoff purses, and also she is a racist against whites, the real truth that everyone knows about Sonia Sotomayor is that she is always being overturned by higher courts and so she is a terrible, horrible judge who must be stopped. 7
This day is SO NOT HAPPENING FOR ME. @1:40 PM
The Supreme Court ruled that former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller cannot be sued by a Pakistani man who was detained in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks because they did not actually kick him in the stomach or drag him across the ground themselves The Court also announced that it will review the appeal of convicted swindler Conrad Black. Finally, a recent Fox News poll suggests that one in six Americans thinks Oprah Winfrey would make a good replacement for Justice Souter. If you can think of some amusing way to connect all three of these items you can have my job. 12
Will Obama Appoint A Socialiast College Senior To Supreme Court? @11:50 AM
Solicitor General Elena Kagan is one of the rumored replacements for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, so the Weekly Standard obtained the thesis she wrote as a Princeton undergraduate nearly thirty years ago when she was a TOTAL RADICAL SOCIALIST. The Standard charitably notes that perhaps her views have "evolved significantly over the last three decades." You know, just like the Republican party platform. 2
Will The Supreme Court Go Gay? @1:33 PM
Politico has a story today about how the gays want one of their own on the Supreme Court and a follow-up that suggests the gays may have already had one of their own on the Supreme Court. Soon there will be a story about the conservative campaign against Barack Obama's insistence on appointing a gay to the Supreme Court (the campaign will be based solely on the first two Politico posts). In any event, someone at Politico should just talk to Larry Kramer, who will inform them that every justice who ever served on the Supreme Court was gay and any idiot knows exactly what kind of signal former Chief Justice Rehnquist was trying to send when he added those yellow stripes to his robes blah blah blah. Eventually Obama will announce his appointment, who will be a non-gay. The End. 5
Possible Supreme Court Hispanic Lady Mouthy, Dumb @2:11 PM
Hopefully Barack Obama will move quickly to appoint a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, if only to put a halt to all the whining and carping and speculating and handicapping that's going on regarding the next nominee. Case in point: this absolutely bizarre attack on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who sits on the Second Circuit and is considered the favorite for the position because she's a Hispanic woman and Barack Obama has a secret edict to never give another white man a job again unless he works in the financial sector, in which case he's welcome to all the money he can grab. Anyway, TNR's Jeffrey Rosen presents "the case against" Sotomayor. READ MORE 6
Justice David Souter Retires @10:48 PM
According to NPR, David Souter is retiring from the Supreme Court. Rumors began when he didn't hire this season's clerks. According to Andy Cooper on the CNN, a "source close to Souter" confirms it. What can we say? Thanks for waiting beyond January 20, 2009! Also now you can please let us know if Clarence Thomas is actually still physically capable of speaking, or if he needs a Darth Vader helmet to manufacture his voice. 6
