International

Rights Groups Claim Bush Canceled Trip to Switzerland Due to Threat of Torture Prosecution

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Story from Reuters

Rights groups are claiming that former President George W. Bush has canceled a planned trip to Switzerland because he feared legal action might be taken against him for alleged torture crimes that occurred during his administration.

Bush had been scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Keren Hayesgood (United Israel Appeal) annual dinner in Geneva on February 12th. Evidently, the Swiss government had been receiving pressure to arrest Bush and open a criminal investigation if he entered the country.

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Constitutional Law

A Tax By Any Other Name

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Jack M. Balkin

Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School, has a different perspective on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Professor Balkin argues that the individual mandate is a tax and the Constitution gives Congress the power to tax and spend money to promote the general welfare.

This necessarily and properly avoids the Commerce Clause.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Criminal Charges for a 7-Year-Old Who Brought a Nerf-Style Toy to Class

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

The 7-year-old boy was a student at Hammonton Early Childhood Education Center in Hammonton, NJ. The police were called after a report of “suspicious activity.” The “suspicious activity” involved a $5 toy gun, similar to a Nerf toy gun, that the child brought to school. The boy was charged with possession of an imitation firearm in or on an education institution, a misdemeanor offense.

The real offense is that the police took this incident seriously.

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Congress, Justice, Military, Politics

Brain Injured Vets vs. Tricare

Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger

 

I have previously written about certain politicians wanting to reduce Disabled Veteran’s disability payments in order to reduce the nation’s debt.  Now it seems that even the Military health care system called Tricare, is balking at providing the necessary, albeit expensive, cognitive rehabilitation therapy for brain injured military personnel.  Once again, wounded vets are being taken advantage of by the very system that is designed to provide them with medical care. 

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Justice, Military, Uncategorized

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…DON’T Pay!: On Dan Choi, Gays, and the Military

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

Since the implementation of the U. S. Military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in 1993, more than 14,000 gay and lesbian soldiers have been discharged from service. According to the GAO, of those discharged, more than 750 were mission-critical service members and more than 320 had skills in Arabic, Farsi, and Korean languages. Yet, while gays and lesbians with special knowledge and skills were being discharged from the military, the army increased its number of waivers for recruits. According to a 2007 article in the New York Times, military waivers increased 65% from 2003 to 2006. During those years, the Army accepted more applicants who were high school dropouts and applicants who obtained low scores on aptitude tests. The Army also increased its number of “moral waivers” for individuals with criminal pasts. The “sharpest increase” in waivers was for applicants who were guilty of serious misdemeanors—including burglary, robbery, vehicular homicide, and aggravated assault.

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Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

EMTALA

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

EMTALA is an acronym for Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act passed in 1986 and signed into law by then-President Ronald Reagan. It requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. Since there are no provisions for reimbursement, it’s often cited as an example of an unfunded mandate. EMTALA applies only to “participating hospitals”, those who accept funds under the Medicare program, which for practical purposes, is all hospitals. EMTALA was enacted to prevent the practice of “patient dumping”, where, because of the inability to pay or insufficient insurance, hospitals would discharge emergency patients. Hospitals and physicians can incur a $50,000 fine for each violation.

EMTALA provides access to the health care system for everyone.

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Courts, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Court: Judge Allowed To Speak Publicly Against Federal Law and “Institutionalized Racism”

Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski (left) has written an order (below) absolving a magistrate judge (believed to be Magistrate Judge Edward Chen) of ethical charges after he spoke out publicly against “institutionalized racism” and the criminalization of immigration laws.
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Congress, Constitutional Law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Cuccinelli To Seek Expedited Review By Supreme Court on Health Care — Bypassing The Fourth Circuit

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced this morning that he will file a Petition for Certiorari Before Judgment today requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court review the Commonwealth v. Sebelius decision without waiting for a ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

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