Category: Politics

Constitutional Law, Justice, Military, Politics, Society

Fear and Torture on the Campaign Trail 2011

Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

The GOP Debate on Foreign Policy was held at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina on Saturday night.  The debate was not on a topic the GOP Presidential hopefuls looked forward to as the Obama Administration – despite their many serious flaws – has had some success in the area of foreign policy.  This is not to say that the Obama Administration’s performance in the area of foreign policy hasn’t been realistically uneven, but they’ve had enough victories to make the topic less than easy pickings for the usual mud-slinging of the campaign trail.

What was more telling than the absence of effective smear or substantive criticism was when the subject of waterboarding came up.  Would you vote for a candidate that advocates breaking the laws and violating the Constitution of this country? Apparently politicians not only think you will, but now consider it a selling point if the laws they advocate breaking involve torture.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

How Much Privacy Do You Expect? The Death of Privacy In America

Below is my column today in The Washington Post. The article explores the famed Katz test and whether, in trying to save privacy in America, the Supreme Court may have laid the seeds for its destruction. The test ties our privacy protections to our privacy expectations. Thus, as our expectations falls, warrantless surveillance rises — causing our expectations again fall and in turn allowing warrantless surveillance to rise further. It becomes a face to the bottom of privacy. The terrible truth is that the death of privacy in America will not be accompanied by thunderous applause, but a collective yawn from an indifferent people. Here is the column.
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Lawyering, Politics

Thinking Twice About Mr. Wood

By Mike Appleton (Guest Blogger)

The sexual harassment controversy currently surrounding the Herman Cain campaign has produced the expected responses.  The candidate has vigorously denied all of the accusations and his defenders have hurled  a few of their own, alternately blaming both Republican rivals and Democrats for the scandal and questioning the motives and veracity of the alleged victims.  The accounts of the women who have come forward have been truly disturbing, but what is almost as disturbing are the public statements of Mr. Cain’s newly retained attorney, Lin Wood.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion

Malaysian States To Force Homosexuals To Appear Before Sharia Courts For Added Punishment

Two Malaysian states are moving to further increase the punishment of homosexuality in their enforcement of Sharia law. New laws in Pahang and Malacca would increase penalties beyond the current provisions allowing for up to 20 years in prison and caning. What is interesting is that the laws are designed to guarantee consecutive sentencing so that the local punishment would be in addition to the federal punishment.
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Politics, Religion, Society

Poll: Americans Want A Faithful President But The Right Faith

A new poll below shows just how wedded the American voters are to faith-based politics. Two-thirds of voters say that it is very important (39%) or somewhat important (28%) for a presidential candidate to have strong religious beliefs. However, it has to be the right religion. Forty-three percent admitted that they would be uncomfortable with a Mormon in the White House. The numbers are even greater in opposition to a Muslim (64%). However, it is an atheist that draws the most universal opposition. Sixty-seven percent say they would not want an atheist in the White House. It would indicate that the attacks on atheists (and here) in this country and abroad may be resonating with voters and that faith-based politics remains good politics for candidates.

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Bizarre, Politics

I’ll Have What She’s Subsidizing: Biden Staff Described as Orgasmic Over Solyndra

The investigation into the Solyndra debacle took an embarrassing turn for the White House after emails show Biden staff . . . well . . . passionate over the prospects of funding the company with more than a half billion dollars in government loans awarded to Solyndra. Not only do emails shows a powerful donor did heavily lobby the White House, but one email says “They about had an orgasm in Biden’s office when we mentioned Solyndra.”
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Bizarre, Politics, Society

A Lack of Education or Energy? Perry Gaps on Third Agency To Be Axed

Texas Governor Rick Perry appears to want to streamline government . . . if he can just remember which major agencies will be eliminated. I include this tape not to mock Perry — I have previously stated my disregard for politicians in both parties. Rather, in my classes, I have a policy that students cannot read from their notes or their computers in presenting a case. The reason is that I often see lawyers in court who read from notes out of habit. It is a habit formed in law school. What I have found is that students who are barred from using notes tend to develop excellent skills of presentation and quickly become comfortable with speaking without a crutch. I am not saying that this is Perry’s problem who simply appears to have the type of mental block that we all experience from time to time. However, for lawyers and law students, it is a familiar problem in oral presentations. It is a painful 53 second to watch, but it is not an uncommon problem for public speakers and lawyers alike.
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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Obama Administration Argues For “Orwellian” New Powers To Track U.S. Citizens

As discussed in a prior column, many civil libertarians view President Barack Obama as betraying core civil liberties in expanding on Bush-era surveillance programs, secrecy orders, and other measures. Now, even conservative justices are questioning the Administration’s demand to be able to engage in round-the-clock surveillance of citizens without a warrant using GPS technology. The sweeping new claim would gut the protections of the Fourth Amendment in the latest attack on civil liberties by Barack Obama.

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Bizarre, Politics, Religion, Society

Texas Will Not Revoke License of Bigot Gun Instructor Who Agrees To Train “The Enemy”

The Texas Dept. of Public Safety will not revoke or suspend the license of Crockett Keller, a handgun instructor who ran a radio ad telling Muslims and non-Christian Arabs that he would not teach them how to handle a firearm. Keller has agreed that he will train Muslims while adding that he views them as “the enemy.”

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Politics, Society

The Right of Citizens To Videotape Police

Below is my column today in The Los Angeles Times where I discuss the continuing trend of arrests of citizens videotaping police. We have followed many more cases but a couple are mentioned in the column. What is most disturbing is that prosecutors and police are continuing to fight court rulings upholding the right of citizens to videotape police.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Federal Judge Grants Injunction of New Tobacco Labels

We have previously discussed the new labeling rules for cigarette packages and I have not hidden my criticism of the graphic images from both a legal and policy perspective. This afternoon, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon handed down a major decision granting an injunction of the rules — a move based on his belief that the cigarette makers are likely to succeed in blocking the new packaging rules.

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Academia, Bizarre, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

ABA Journal Under Fire For Coverage Of Survey Of Legal Secretaries

I often read ABA Journal as a great source of legal stories. The journal however has been the center of controversy this month after reporting on the results of a study on the preference of secretaries vis-a-vis male and female partners. The study by Professor Felice Batlan interviewed 142 secretaries at larger law firms and produced a surprising result: not a single secretary preferred female partners. When the ABA Journal reported that surprising fact, professors accused it of fostering gender stereotypes, misrepresenting the results of the study, and displaying a sexist view of the work. Some demanded a retraction and apology from the ABA Journal.
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Bizarre, Military, Politics, Society

Obama Administration Fires General For Calling Karzai “Erratic” and “Divorced From Reality”

Reporters and columnists often wait until Friday for the White House to do things that it does not want covered extensively in the press. This Friday’s news dump was the firing of Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller for saying what most everyone is saying about our ally, Afghan President Hamid Karzai — he is nuts. Remarkably, Fuller said if much more nicely, expressing concern whether Karzai is “isolated from reality.” My own disappointment is that Fuller did not add that Karzai’s family is little more than a criminal enterprise fostering corruption and drug trafficking.
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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Politics, Society

A Decade of Misplaced Patriotism

Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

A milestone passed by most of us this past week.  It seems that the Patriot Act birthday cake added a 10th candle this week and there was no party!  The infamous Patriot Act turned 10 this week and a decade of attacks on our personal liberties went unnoticed by our Main Stream media.  You can probably remember that the act passed with little opposition in the House and with only 1 member of the Senate in opposition. Continue reading “A Decade of Misplaced Patriotism” →