Category: Uncategorized

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, International, Military, Politics, Uncategorized

Holder Promises To Kill Citizens With Care

Attorney General Eric Holder was at Northwestern University Law School yesterday explaining President Barack Obama’s claimed authority to kill any American if he unilaterally determines them to be a threat to the nation. The choice of a law school was a curious place for discussion of authoritarian powers. Obama has replaced the constitutional protections afforded to citizens with a “trust me” pledge that Holder repeated yesterday at Northwestern. The good news is that Holder promised not to hunt citizens for sport.

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Justice, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized

Catholic Bishops and Religious Rights vs. Women’s Rights

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

There has been a lot of discussion in the media recently about the HHS contraception coverage mandate. Much of the talk has focused on women’s sex lives and the types of birth control that doctors prescribe for women in order to prevent pregnancy—as well as on the separation of church and state and the mandate’s infringement on religious freedom and the Catholic Church’s First Amendment rights. There has been much less talk about women’s health, women’s rights, and the use of birth control pills to treat certain female medical conditions, including polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis. Both of these conditions can cause severe pain and lead to other health problems. According to Bruce Nolan of The Times-Picayune, the Institute of Medicine—which is a non-profit advisory panel—recommended the contraception coverage because “those services are basic to individual health.”

Many Americans—especially women—think that contraceptive coverage and other “female-related” medical services ARE basic to women’s health.  Catholic bishops, however, believe that contraceptive coverage and some hospital services are in conflict with the church’s “moral conscience.” The bishops contend that the church has the right to deny certain types of health insurance coverage for women who work for Catholic institutions. It doesn’t matter to the bishops whether the female employees are members of other religions…are atheists or agnostics. The church’s position is that all female employees of Catholic institutions should be denied access to all forms of contraceptives and not be provided medical insurance that would cover the cost of certain medical procedures. The bishops also believe that certain types of treatment and procedures—including tubal ligations—should not be provided to women at Catholic hospitals.

When I was doing research on an earlier post, The National Women’s Law Center Takes a Position on Contraceptive Coverage & “Extreme” Legislation, I came across some information about Catholic hospitals that caused me great concern. The information left me with the belief that Catholic bishops and the Catholic Church do not seem to value the lives of women as much as they value the lives of men and the unborn. In this post, I will look at the “usurpation of female patients’ rights” at Catholic hospitals. I think after reading my post you will understand why I drew the conclusion that I did.

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Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

Contraception and Separation

By Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger

In Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man, Stephen Daedalus is asked by his friend Cranly whether, having forsaken Roman Catholicism, he will become a Protestant.  “I said I had lost the faith,” he replied, “but not that I had lost selfrespect.  What kind of liberation would that be to forsake an absurdity which is logical and coherent and to embrace one which is illogical and incoherent?”

But God works, as they say, in mysterious ways.  A black man, accused of being secretly a Muslim, a socialist and an illegitimate pretender to the presidential throne, has accomplished what all of the post-Vatican II reconciliation committees and joint worship services and inter-faith conferences could not.  Rev. Mike Huckabee has declared that Protestants will at last abandon illogic and incoherence.  No longer will the Pope be called the Antichrist, nor Holy Mother Church the Whore of Rome.  Once again, he says, we are all Catholics.  My late Irish grandmother’s faith has been vindicated.

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Congress, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

The National Women’s Law Center Takes a Position on Contraceptive Coverage & “Extreme” Legislation

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

It appears that the Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Republicans are not happy with the change that President Obama made to the health care contraceptive coverage requirement for religious employers. The President’s announcement about the change yesterday initially met with a “reserved response” from the bishops who said it was a “first step in the right direction.” Hours later, however, the bishops issued a statement “blasting the plan.” Along with others, the bishops are calling for Congressional legislation that would reverse the contraceptive policy.

In a blog post earlier today, Judy Waxman, who is Vice President for Health and Reproductive Right at the National Women’s Law Center, expressed her concern about some of the proposed legislation. Waxman wrote that “opponents of birth control in Congress are still focused on taking away access to contraception introducing extreme legislation that threatens health across the board. The pieces of legislation range from allowing any employer, regardless of whether it is a religious entity, to deny coverage of contraception to giving employers the right to refuse coverage of any health care service they find religiously or morally objectionable.”

Igor Volsky of ThinkProgress echoed Waxman’s concern. He reported that Senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, is expected to introduce an amendment next week “that would permit any employer or insurance plan to exclude any health service, no matter how essential, from coverage if they morally object to it.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court, Uncategorized

Prop 8 Decision: Ninth Circuit Rules Same-Sex Marriage Proposition Unconstitutional

The Ninth Circuit has ruled 2-1 in the long-awaited sex-sex marriage case and affirmed the lower court in finding the law unconstitutional. Eighteen months ago former Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the ban on same-sex marriage. Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote the lengthy opinion below upholding Walker and striking down the law. The Court ruled that “[b]y using their initiative power to target a minority group and withdraw a right that it possessed, without a legitimate reason for doing so, the People of California violated the Equal Protection Clause.”

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Justice, Politics, Uncategorized

Blocking the Vote: A Look at Who Is Behind Republican Efforts to Erect Voting Barriers in America

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

Last December, the NAACP released a report titled Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America. The report reveals “direct connections between the trend of increasing, unprecedented African American and Latino voter turnout and an onslaught of restrictive measures across the country designed to stem electoral strength among communities of color.”

Benjamin Jealous, NAACP President and CEO, said, “It’s been more than a century since we’ve seen such a tidal wave of assaults on the right to vote. Historically, when voting rights are attacked, it’s done to facilitate attacks on other rights. It is no mistake that the groups who are behind this are simultaneously attacking very basic women’s rights, environmental protections, labor rights, and educational access for working people and minorities.” He added, “Voting rights attacks are the flip side of buying a democracy. First you buy all the leaders you can, and then you suppress as many votes as possible of the people who might object.”

I should add that African American and Latino voters aren’t the only people who are being targeted by the “block the vote” effort. Young people and the elderly in some states may also face hurdles if they hope to exercise their right to vote in the November elections.

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Uncategorized

When Immunity Becomes Impunity: German Police Stop North Korean Ambassador From Fishing Without License . . . Ambassador Invokes Diplomatic Immunity and Keeps On Fishing As Police Watch

German police recently thought that they had just another illegal fishing incident at the Havel River in Berlin when they stopped a man and demanded his license. The man immediately informed them that he had no license and continued to fish. When they told him it was illegal, he promptly identified himself as Si Hong Ri, North Korea’s ambassador to Germany and apologized. He then continued to fish. Si Hong Ri had no identification on him, so the police were forced to call for their office to produce a picture of the ambassador and then stood there as Si Hong Ri continued to fish with immunity and impunity.
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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Politics, Society, Supreme Court, Uncategorized

The DHS Wants to Know Who’s Spreading the News (or Expressing an Opinion), Your Rights Optional

Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

Freedom of speech is a well established right in this country and rooted in the 1st Amendment.  “Congress shall make no law [. . .] abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”.  The U.N.’s  Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19 reads, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”  Within the United States and our jurisprudence there are some exceptions to this freedom, but by in large (up to this point in history) the restrictions are both reasonable and necessary: the Miller test for obscenity, child pornography laws, laws prohibiting speech that incites imminent lawless action, restrictions on fighting words, regulation of commercial speech such as advertising, copyright and patent laws protecting authors and inventors control over their work, and the prohibition of slander and defamation.

Let’s be clear here that the subject isn’t just free speech, but anonymous political free speech.

Here at Res Ipsa Loqitur, there is a long standing policy of allowing anonymous posting to comments and protecting poster’s anonymity.   The decision to post under your own name or not is entirely yours.  This policy encourages free speech while allowing that having an unpopular or minority point of view should not have negative political consequences for the speaker or unnecessarily complicate their lives simply for expressing their views.  Many political insiders and Washington professionals have told Professor Turley that they enjoy reading this blog and have enjoyed posting anonymously.  The only posters here required to use their real identities are the guest bloggers and the requirement is voluntary.  None of us were coerced into using our real names.  When offered the honor of being a guest blogger, it was simply (and I think I speak for all the guest bloggers when I say fairly) a requirement in assuming editorial responsibilities.  However, all of this raises an important question.

Do you have a right to anonymous political free speech?

According to the Supreme Court, you do.  According to the Department of Homeland Security, you don’t.  They’ve hired General Dynamics to track U.S. citizens exercising this critical civil right.

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Uncategorized

Dog Sniff Case Granted Cert

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

This case has everything a Fourth Amendment nerd could want, it’s got curtilage, sniff tests, and unreasonable searches. The case is Jardines v. State in which Miami, Florida, police, supported by DEA agents, conducted a “sniff test” by a detection dog, a chocolate lab named Franky (left). The warrentless sniff test, based on an anonymous tip, occurred at the front door of Jardines’ private residence. Franky alerted to the odor of narcotics and a search warrant was obtained. The search found marijuana was being grown inside the home.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized

The Day Happy Died: New Year To Bring End To Happy Hours In Utah

The New Year brings a host of new laws that kick in on the first. For citizens in Utah, the New Year will bring an end to Happy Hours. That’s right, the heavily Mormon state has continued its harassment of citizens who drink and outlawed “drink specials.”
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