As a student and critic of the art of public apologies, it’s always fun for me to have a new twist on the subject. Such as the completely unwarranted, out-of-the-blue, 20-years-after-the-fact demand for an apology from the woman your husband sexually harassed. That’s the new tactic invented by Virginia Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas and [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Supreme Court'
No, You Apologize!
October 27th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Politics, Supreme Court
Tags: Anita Hill·apologies·Clarence Thomas·Ginni Thomas·head stomping·I'm sorry if you were offended·Lauren Valle·Move On·Rand Paul·Tim Profitt·Virginia Thomas
More Anti-Immigrant Ordinances
June 24th, 2010 · 2 Comments · AS, Immigration, Supreme Court
This week, Fremont, Nebraska residents passed a local anti-immigrant measure that aims to ban hiring or renting to “illegal immigrants.” Unlike the laws passed in Hazleton, Pennsylvania and Farmers Branch, Texas, this law was enacted by voter referendum. Otherwise, though, the law is pretty similar to its predecessors — it requires local employers to use [...]
Tags: ACLU·anti-immigrant measures·anti-Latino measures·Ellis Island·Farmers Branch·Fremont·green card·Hazleton·illegal immigration·immigrants' rights·Immigration·immigration reform·Jim Crow·Latinos·local immigration enforcement·MALDEF·Nebraska·New York City·New York Times·Obama Administration·Pennsylvania·slavery·Texas·undocumented immigrants
Willing to Prevent the Downfall of Civilization, So Long As They Don’t Have to Leave the House
June 21st, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Law and Justice, Politics, Supreme Court
Over the weekend, Dahlia Lithwick posted an article on Slate about the lack of courage in today’s political debate. Specifically, she discussed the successful efforts of gay marriage opponents to keep cameras out of the courtroom in the trial over California’s Prop 8 and a recent Supreme Court case regarding whether the state of Washington [...]
Tags: civil rights·Dahlia Lithwick·gay marriage·gay rights·LGBT rights·Maggie Gallagher·political courage·Prop 8·Slate·Supreme Court·The New Republic·victims
Reason Number 14,538 To Miss John Paul Stevens
May 17th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Law and Justice, Supreme Court
In his brief (1.5 paragraph) concurrence to today’s ruling that life without parole is an unconstitutional sentence for minors for non-homicide offenses, Stevens gives about as perfect and concise a summary of a liberal view of Constitutional interpretation as one could ask for: Society changes. Knowledge accumulates. We learn, sometimes, from our mistakes. Punishments that [...]
Tags: constitutional law·Graham v. Florida·John Paul Stevens·juvenile justice·Supreme Court
She Is A Real American
May 15th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Law School, Law and Justice, Politics, Supreme Court
I could not support more strongly the idea that we need as much diversity as possible on the Supreme Court, and not just along the race/gender/religion/sexual orientation axes that we normally talk about. I understand that it’s difficult to get a cross-section of America on a nine-member body, but any time the president has an [...]
Tags: Bill O'Reilly·Dahlia Lithwick·diversity·Elena Kagan·Ivy League·Kathleen Parker·Paul Waldman·real America·Ruth Bader Ginsburg·Supreme Court·Tea Parties·white men
Another Dumb Birther Argument
April 6th, 2010 · No Comments · AS, Immigration, Politics, Supreme Court
George Will wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post last week called “An argument to be made about immigrant babies and citizenship.” How anyone got past that atrocious title to actually read the thing is beyond me. The article should more accurately be titled, “Every year someone makes the same argument about immigrant babies and [...]
Tags: 14th Amendment·African-Americans·birthright·Chinese·citizenship·Civil War·common sense·conservative logic·conservatives·Dred Scott v. Sanford·George Will·Immigration·Indians·jus soli·Mexicans·racism·slavery·Washington Post·welfare
And Now For Some Genuinely Good News
March 31st, 2010 · No Comments · AS, Immigration, Law and Justice, Politics, Supreme Court
No amount of oil drilling news can ruin my good mood today, not when there are so many shockingly reasonable federal court decisions being announced. The first, Padilla v. Kentucky, finds that bad legal advice about the immigration consequences of a criminal guilty plea constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. This is huge. As one immigrants’ [...]
Tags: Antonin Scalia·Clarence Thomas·criminal law·deportation·drugs·immigrants' rights·Immigration·ineffective assistance of counsel·John McCain·John Paul Stevens·Justice Department·justices·legal advice·N.S.A.·oil drilling·Padilla v. Kentucky·Sixth Amendment·U.S. Constitution·Vaughn Walker·warrantless wiretapping·Wonkette
Slippery Slope Alert!
March 25th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Politics, Supreme Court
In addition to campaigning on a pledge to repeal health care form, the other track opponents of the new law are taking is to challenge its constitutionality, particularly the constitutionality of the individual mandate. The argument is that the individual mandate exceeds the federal government’s authority to tax and to regulate interstate commerce, and if [...]
Tags: Commerce Clause·conservative logic·constitutional law·Glenn Beck·health care·health care reform·republican democracy·substantive due process