White Firefighters Win, Sotomayor Loses
By a slim 5-4 margin, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the white New Haven firefighters whose promotions were denied because not enough non-whites passed the promotion exam. Among those ruling the other way on the lower court was a certain wise Latina. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 29, 2009 11:06
Sonia Sotomayor and the Politics of Race
[caption id="attachment_36645" align="alignright" width="399" caption="President Barack Obama announces federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor, right, as his nominee for the Supreme Court, Tuesday, May 26, 2009, in an East Room ceremony of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)"][/caption] Kevin Drum notes that he's already tired of the "kabuki" that has emerged in reaction to the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 27, 2009 08:07
Supreme Court as a Voting Issue
Dahlia Lithwick takes to the pages of FireDogLake to explain why, in her view, liberals are much less excited about the Supreme Court than conservatives: My own impression, having covered the past two presidential elections is that most liberals simply don’t vote with the composition of the Supreme Court in mind at all, or that it ranks somewhere in their top ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 7, 2008 16:00
Supreme Court: Gitmo Detainees Have Habeus Rights
Terrorist suspects detained at Guantánamo Bay (and presumably, anyplace else under American jurisdiction) have the right to file habeus corpus petitions in U.S. civilian courts the Supreme Court ruled today in a 5-4 decision. Further, Congress could not pass a law waiving these protections absent rebellion or invasion. Justices Rule Terror Suspects Can Appeal in Civilian Courts (David Stout, NYT) “The ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 12, 2008 12:32
Supreme Court Upholds Voter ID Law
The Supreme Court today upheld Indiana's law requiring voters to show picture ID. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights, validating Republican-inspired voter ID laws. In a splintered 6-3 ruling, the court upheld Indiana's strict photo ID requirement, which Democrats and civil rights groups said would deter poor, older and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 28, 2008 12:53
Karl Rove Resigns, Effective August 31st
White House political adviser Karl Rove has announced his resignation, effective August 31st: "I just think it's time," Rove told the Wall Street Journal. "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family." He told the newspaper that he would leave Washington ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 13, 2007 06:35
Specter Investigating Roberts and Alito Testimony
Arlen Specter thinks he was hoodwinked by John Roberts and Samuel Alito during their confirmation hearings. Essentially, they told the Senate that they were very respectful of precedent and Specter thinks their actions on the Court have broken what amounts to a promise. Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who served as chairman during the hearings, said he ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 25, 2007 14:50
SCOTUS Weakens Pre-Election Ad Ban
The Supreme Court today severely weakened a key provision of the McCain-Feingold law. The Supreme Court loosened restrictions Monday on corporate- and union-funded television ads that air close to elections, weakening a key provision of a landmark campaign finance law. The court, split 5-4, upheld an appeals court ruling that an anti-abortion group should have been allowed to air ads during ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 25, 2007 14:56
Supreme Court Upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban
The Supreme Court has upheld a federal ban on partial birth abortions. The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench. The 5-4 ruling said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 18, 2007 11:35
Giuliani’s Left-Leaning Judges
Rudy Giuliani's judicial appointments while mayor of New York were mostly left-leaning Democrats who don't love Jesus, reports Ben Smith for The Politico. When Rudy Giuliani faces Republicans concerned about his support of gay rights and legal abortion, he reassures them that he is a conservative on the decisions that matter most. "I would want judges who are strict constructionists ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on March 1, 2007 07:11
Pat Robertson Predicts Major Terrorist Attack on U.S.
God has issued more predictions for the coming year, in the person of his messenger Pat Robertson. In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in "mass killing" late in 2007. "I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 3, 2007 09:05
Court Strikes Down Key McCain-Feingold Provision
A three judge panel yesterday struck down McCain-Feingold's restrictions on issue advocacy ads. A divided three-judge court ruled yesterday that ads advocating for an issue and mentioning candidates can run during an election, creating a loophole in the law that sought to control the power of big money in elections. In a 2 to 1 ruling, the court found that the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 22, 2006 12:43
Conservative Justices Might Make Conservative Rulings
USA Today's Joan Biskupic seems genuinely surprised that the appointment of a conservative Chief Justice and conservative Associate Justice to the Supreme Court by an ostensibly conservative president might shift the Court in a rightward direction. Now, granted, we don't really know because very few rulings have been handed down since Alito joined the court. But Biskupic can read the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 20, 2006 14:02
Wiretapping Judge and Conflict of Interest
Judicial Watch has investigated the financial records of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, who last week ruled the NSA electronic surveillance program unconstitutional, may have a conflict of interest. According to her 2003 and 2004 financial disclosure statements, Judge Diggs Taylor served as Secretary and Trustee for the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan (CFSEM). She was reelected to this position in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 23, 2006 07:58
Supremes Uphold Kansas Death Penalty Statute
The Supreme Court today upheld Kansas' death penalty law, affirming that states have substantial latitude in determining how to apply capital punishment. New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito broke a tie Monday to rule that Kansas' death penalty law is constitutional. By a 5-to-4 vote, the justices said the Kansas Supreme Court incorrectly interpreted the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 26, 2006 10:54
