This week, the Georgia state House of Representatives voted 96-66 to adopt a bill allowing for people to legally adopt as parents embryos that can be implanted in in vitro fertilization procedures. The legislation is defended by Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel of Americans United for Life, as responsive to “the need to humanize the embryonic human at a time when at the federal level embryonic stem cell research is being promoted.”
Category: Constitutional Law
It was only recently that many of us put away our Square Root Day decorations. Yet, it is now time to celebrate Pi day in all of its irrational glory. The irrational number is rounded off to 3.14, making March 14th the special day for all math geeks — and circle circumference fanatics.
Continue reading “HAPPY Pi DAY!!!”
Australian Glenn Phillip McGuire, 28, has pleaded guilty of possession of child pornography after downloading six images of cartoon characters from The Simpsons and Pokemon in sexual scenes.
Continue reading “Man Guilty of Possession of Child Pornography For Downloading Sexual Cartoons of Simpson and Pokemon Characters”
In a new filing, President Barack Obama has dropped “enemy combatant” status as an express standard for holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay. In the press release below, Attorney General Eric Holder has also informed a federal court in Washington, D.C. that it will no longer rely on the President’s independent authority as Commander-in-Chief — the basis for many of former President Bush’s most extreme claims. I discussed the change on this segment of the Rachel Maddow Show.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Drops Enemy Combatant Status as Basis for Holding Detainees”
United States District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. has granted a preliminary injunction to force Nassau County school officials to allow from Yulee High School near Jacksonville, Florida to hold meetings for a club promoting tolerance for gays.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Orders Florida School to Allow Gay Club to Meet”
Literally days after proclaiming that change had come to “signing statements” with a new policy, President Obama has issued a very Bush-like signing statement with his signing of the appropriations bill. The signing statement reserves the right to treat literally dozens of provisions as presumptively unconstitutional.
Continue reading “Obama Issues Signing Statement — Only Days After Negating Such Bush Statements”
- Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is under federal investigation for possible constitutional violations and discrimination. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is looking into whether his office is engaging in “patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures.” Arpaio bills himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” though he may be the country’s most expensive sheriff. The people of the county will now have to pay from additional legal costs as Arpaio again defends himself against allegations of abuse. In the meantime, a recent report indicates that Arpaio is too busy to serve felony warrants in his county.
Continue reading “Sheriff Joe Arpaio Under Federal Investigation”
For those people who agree with Groucho Marx that they would never want to be in a club that would have someone like them for a member, your wishes have been answered. Utah has made a major change that has beer drinkers raising a glass around the world. Utah has long required that anyone who wants a drink would have to fill out an application to join a bar as a “private club.” This is a bit of an barrier for casual drinkers and certainly a barrier for inebriates. Now, bars will be open their doors to the drinking public, admittedly a small percentage in Morman-dominated state.
Continue reading “Utah Embraces Marxism: Utah To Allow Citizens Simply to Walk Into Bars and Order Drinks”
England’s Crown Prosecution Service will now criminally charge people who say bad things about Scientology, which is viewed by some people as a dangerous cult. Anyone can be arrested if they ‘abuse’ or ‘threaten’ the Church of Scientology under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.
This week, the Supreme Court delivered a decision was as brief as it was significant. The Court vacated the recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that the President can detain Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar who was lawfully in the United States as a student when he was arrested in 2001. The ruling will relieve the Obama Administration of the necessity of having to choose whether to support or oppose the Bush Administration’s arguments.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Vacates Fourth Circuit’s Ruling on Al-Marri”
In another blow for same-sex marriage advocates, the oral arguments before the California Supreme Court yesterday indicated that the majority will uphold controversial Proposition 8 and its ban on same-sex marriage.
The constitutional fish tale from Clearwater, Florida is getting more difficult to believe with the appearance of city officials in court over their crackdown on the posting of the first amendment on the side of a fish and bait shop. As discussed earlier, Complete Angler and its owner Herb Quintero was first fined for simply painting a mural of fish on the side of the building. They were told that it constituted a “sign.” When he covered the mural with a copy of the first amendment, he was hit with another threatened fine. Now, the city has said that they would not fine him for handing the American flag but not the first amendment.
In Wyeth v. Levine (06-1249), the Supreme Court has rendered an important decision on the right of patients to sue drug manufacturers. The tragic case of Diana Levine has been discussed on this blog earlier. Now the court has ruled 6-3 in favor of Levine, a musician from Vermont, who lost her right arm after being given a anti-nausea drug by Wyeth.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Patients Against Drug Manufacturers”
Here is today’s column from USA Today. Yesterday, the D.C. Vote bill was temporarily pulled from the floor due to the threat of an gun rights amendment. The NRA has threatened to “score” the vote — meaning that members who vote against it would be given a lower score in the annual rankings. This is only a temporary withdrawal as Democrats scramble to deal with the challenge. A similar amendment passed in the Senate after being introduced by Sen. John Ensign of Nevada by a comfortable margin.
Continue reading “D.C.’s Speed Bump: The Constitution”
A man is appealing a recent loss before the United States Court of Appeals in a very disturbing decision. In the video below, Deputy Jonathan Rackard of the Washington County Florida repeated uses of a taser on Jesse Buckley who is merely sitting and crying next to a road. The Eleventh Circuit voted 2-1 that the Eighth Amendment was not violated in the case, reversing a decision from the trial court.
Continue reading “Eleventh Circuit Rules that Video of Officer Repeatedly Tasering a Sobbing Man Sitting By the Road is Not a Constitutional Violation”