Common Cause has sent the letter below to Justice Clarence Thomas raising concerns over his failure to report his wife’s income in prior years. For full disclosure, I have conferred with Common Cause on this nondisclosure issue and participated as an independent expert in the press conference yesterday on the absence of binding ethics rules for the members of the Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Justice Thomas Accused of Reporting Violations”
I just participated in a press conference (with Stanford Professor Deborah Rhode) dealing with Common Cause’s letter (below) asking the Justice Department to look into alleged conflicts of interest related to Justices Scalia and Thomas in the Citizens United case. Common Cause identified extremely serious issues related to the participation of Scalia and Thomas in events organized by Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch as well as Ginny Thomas’ involvement in Liberty Central.
Continue reading “Should Scalia and Thomas Be Retroactively Recused From Citizens United?”
Justice Gerard Hogan of Ireland’s High Court held a novel hearing on December 27th in his own home. Hogan ordered that the government give a lie-saving blood transfusion to a baby boy born in August 2010. His parents are both Jehovah Witnesses and had refused the procedure to save their son.
Continue reading “Irish Justice Orders Baby Saved Over Objections of Religious Parents”
As many of us expected, President Obama’s decision to block any investigation or prosecution of war crimes has led Republicans to rehabilitate George Bush’s legacy. The latest claim came from former Vice President Dick Cheney who previously boasted about the torture program in public — unconcerned about any prosecution from Attorney General Eric Holder. Now, Cheney is boasting that Obama has “learned from experience” that some of the Bush administration’s decisions on terrorism issues.
Continue reading “Cheney: Obama Has Adopted Bush Policies on Torture and Gitmo”
Hugo Chávez continues his assault on political and legal protections in Venezuela. In a move that has been denounced internationally, including by Amnesty International, Chávez demanded the arrest of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni after she granted bail to an accused banker. He is demanding 30 years in prison even though his prosecutors could find no bribe (as he originally alleged on the radio). Instead, they found “spiritual corruption” and threw her in jail with many convicts that she previously incarcerated.
Continue reading ““Spiritual Corruption”: Chávez Jails Judge Who Granted Bail To Banker”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Few words have sparked as much emotion on the blog –and may have even cost it a victory lap in the ABA blog voting this year — as the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Seems the history of the Amendment was just as jumbled and ferociously fought, or so contends Law Professor David E. Vandercoy, in his short history of the Second Amendment.
Continue reading “Their Rights As Englishmen: A Brief History of the Second Amendment-Part I”
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty(rafflaw), Guest Blogger
We have seen and heard on many occasions the Tea Party claim that it desires Congress and the Federal Government to follow the letter of the Constitution instead of reaching beyond the four corners of the document. With that thought in mind, I was intrigued by a recent article on the Think Progress site that reviewed the You Tube video claims made by U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, that Congress’ passage of laws outlawing and restricting Child Labor, was unconstitutional. http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/14/lee-child-labor/?wpmp_switcher=desktop
Continue reading “Are Child Labor Laws Unconstitutional in The Tea Party World?”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
I thought I’d do a follow-up to my Let Civil Liberties & Freedom Ring! post about the erosion of civil liberties in Britain—which, in my opinion, is akin to what
has been happening here in the United States in the past decade. My inspiration for a second post on the subject was Glenn Greenwald’s most recent piece at Salon—Homeland Security’s laptop seizures: Interview with Rep. Sanchez.
I have been reading about the seizures of cell phones and laptop computers by the DHS. I have found it troubling that our government has no compunction about confiscating the personal property of some of its own citizens without any warrant, probable cause, or suspicion that the citizens may have been involved in a criminal activity.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The U.S. Army is using the mandatory Soldier Fitness Tracker to measure the “spiritual” fitness of soldiers as part of the $125 million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program. Soldiers are required to answer if they pray, if they attend religious services, and if they find comfort in religious beliefs. Non-believers are guaranteed to score poorly.
While homosexuals can serve openly since the repeal of DADT, atheists are spiritually unfit.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Oral arguments will be presented next week in a case involving the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment. The idea behind the exigent circumstances exception is to relieve the police from the necessity of getting a warrant in cases involving emergencies. Emergencies such as when a suspect is destroying evidence or when police are in hot pursuit of a suspect.
The facts of the case:
While the legal profession debates the propriety of his decision to participate in the educational sessions for conservative new members of Congress, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is also causing a stir over his public statement that the 14th Amendment does not prohibit discrimination against women or gays.
Continue reading “Scalia Publicly Rejects the Use of the 14th Amendment to Bar Discrimination Against Women and Gays”
While academics and commentators line up to denounce the plan of New South publishers to edit out the n-word from Huckleberry Finn, a federal jury is set to decide whether there is a different standard for a white person as opposed to a black person in using the n-word in the work place. Former Fox29 reporter-anchor Tom Burlington has sued his former station alleging that he was the victim of racial discrimination and a hostile work environment over the use of the n-word.
Continue reading “Federal Court Clears Way For Jury Trial on Whether There Is A Different Standard for Blacks and Whites In The Use of the N-Word”
In a ruling that could reach the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit has held that San Diego’s Mount Soledad cross is unconstitutional. The 43-foot cross was erected to honor veterans of the Korean war. The case is Trunk v. City of San Diego, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 53 (January 2011), and the case could well be on its way to the United States Supreme Court where at least four justices are likely to question this analysis.
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit Declares Mount Soledad Cross To Be Unconstitutional”
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is again in the midst of controversy with his decision to accept an invitation from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to speak to incoming conservative members about the Constitution as part of their training. Bachmann, the founder of the House’s Tea Party Caucus, is leading efforts to repeal health care and seek new legislation based on a more conservative view of the Constitution. The decision to participate in such an event shows exceedingly poor judgment.
Continue reading “Scalia Agrees To Speak To New Conservative Members on the Constitution”
The California Supreme Court has handed down an important ruling that allows police to search an arrested person’s cellphone without a warrant — a ruling that will allow police access to a wide array of information now kept on modern cellphones.
Continue reading “California Supreme Court Allows Warrantless Searches of Cell Phones”