Outside the Beltway

Ohio Congressman Steve Driehaus is suing a pro-life PAC for “defamation” and “loss of livelihood” over its role in his defeat in the 2010 Elections.

The new health care law’s individual mandate was the subject of another bruising court battle yesterday, but the real question in the room was what, if any, are the limits on Congressional authority?

A woman in California has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s because she is apparently unable to resist her child’s incessant demands for a Happy Meal.

Judicial activism doesn’t mean “reaching a decision I don’t like.”

The battle over the individual mandate is really just nothing more than the latest round in a batter that has been ongoing for 221 years.

A Federal Appeals Court in Ohio has handed down what could become a landmark ruling in the application of the 4th Amendment to the Internet.

Despite yesterday’s victory for opponents of the Affordable Care Act, the prospects in the Supreme Court are not good.

Joe Miller lost the Alaska Senate election by more than 10,000 votes but he’s still fighting.

A Federal Judge in Virginia has handed the first legal defeat to the President’s health care reform package.

The weekend arrest of a Columbia University Professor for an apparently consensual act raises some interesting questions about why precisely a specific act should be subject to criminal prosecution.

Inspired by the reaction to the Julian Assange case, a feminist writer proposes dangerous changes to American rape laws.

Is the West’s string of luck about to end?

Columbia political science professor David Epstein has been charged with a 3-year incestuous relationship with his adult daughter.

There’s been much talk recently about treason charges in the Wikileaks case, an most of it has been entirely wrong.

Given that Batman has quasi-official sanction from the Gotham Police, aren’t his tactics illegal?

WikiLeaks’ reveals that DynCorp, a government contractor, provided drugs and child sex slaves to Afghan police–and the State Department helped cover it up.

Julian Assange is a loathsome human being. Is he also a rapist? Under Swedish law, maybe.

California’s Proposition 8 faced another legal test in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, and the day didn’t seem to go well for opponents of same-sex marriage.

Would returning to indirect election of Senators really have a significant impact on the growth of the Federal Government? Probably not.

Viacom says a lower court ruling in favor of Google “would radically transform the functioning of the copyright system and severely impair, if not completely destroy, the value of many copyrighted creations.”

A document uncovered in a Freedom of Information Act request demonstrates the extent to which Federal law enforcement works outside the requirements of the Constitution.

Further thoughts on a rather radical proposed Amendment to the Constitution, prompted by a link from Instapundit.

Michael Yon provides a digital copy of PFC Bradley Manning’s Charge Sheet, dated 29 May. It makes for interesting reading.

Incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is speaking positively about an Amendment that would drastically alter the relationship between the Federal Government and the states, and a method of ratifying it that could do serious damage to the Constitution as a whole.

Another Federal Judge dismisses a Constitutional challenge to the health care reform law, and demonstrates just how unlikely it is that any of the lawsuits against the law will be successful.

The Feds famously got notorious mobster Al Capone on tax evasion charges. Will WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be done in by sex crimes?

After 1 1/2 years in office, President Obama has yet to grant a single request for a pardon or clemency, continuing a thirty year trend in which the Presidential pardon power has nearly fallen in to disuse.

Another FBI sting operation results in the arrest of a “terrorist,” or did it create a crime where none existed before?

Shocking Headline Of The Day: “Willie Nelson charged with pot possession in Texas.”

The American copyright system is broken. Cory Doctorow offers some useful suggestions for fixing it.

In an effort to combat illegal file sharing, the US Department of Homeland Security is seizing domain names.

Tom DeLay is a sleazebag and has been found guilty by an Austin jury for skirting the law. But it may in fact be a miscarriage of justice despite the victim being as unsympathetic as it gets.

federal judge on Saturday ordered the website Gawker to pull down unauthorized excerpts from Sarah Palin’s forthcoming book, “America By Heart.”

Would troops to Mexico help in the drug war?

Ron Paul has introduced a law (the “American Traveler Dignity Act”) that would punish TSA agents for groping and x-raying Americans.

Are the American people finally waking up to the absurdity of TSA security theater? One can only hope they are.

The first civilian trial of a Guantanamo detainee ends with the Defendant being acquitted on all but one charge, and shows us why the entire process is little more than a show trial.

A Florida courthouse illegally saved 35,000 images from security scanners.

Arianna Huffington has become an online mogul by convincing big donors to pay her for content others generate for free. Did she steal the idea?

A ten year old case out of Texas raises yet more doubts about the justice of the death penalty.