Samuel Alito
VIDEO: Justice Samuel Alito has a judicial activist moment during the State of the Union address
Last year it was Joe Wilson screaming "you lie" to Obama. This year it's none other than allegedly impartial and free of bias Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
The example of strict constructionist judicial unbias shows his true colors to the whole world by disagreeing with Obama's criticism of the Supreme Court's decision to lift the limits on corporate political contributions by expanding the definition of corporate personhood.
Watch it!
(h/t Talking Points Memo)
People for the American Way's statement on Sarah Palin and the Supreme Court
I just received this on an email from People for the American Way on the matter of Sarah Palin and her comments about the Supreme Court :
Sarah Palin may not have been able to think of a single Supreme Court case beyond Roe v. Wade that she disagrees with, but that's not true for John McCain and his panel of right-wing judicial advisors. Here are just a few of the cases on their hit list:
· Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran—reversal would invalidate important state laws protecting HMO patients’ rights in more than 40 states
· Grutter v. Bollinger— reversal would forbid affirmative action aimed at promoting educational diversity in higher education
· Nevada v. Hibbs—reversal would prevent state employees from obtaining effective relief for violations of their rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act
· Davis v. Bandemer—reversal would allow even blatant partisan gerrymandering in redistricting
· Lawrence v. Texas—reversal would authorize criminal prosecution of private, consensual sex by adult same-sex couples
· Tennessee v. Lane—reversal would allow states to deny physical access to the courts to the disabled
· Massachusetts v. EPA—reversal would permit the EPA to refuse to regulate the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from new carsJohn McCain's plan for the Supreme Court is as simple as it is dangerous. He has promised to nominate “clones of Roberts and Alito”.
The Supreme Court is on the ballot this election. McCain would hand the court over to the Right for the next 40 years.
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Sandra Day O'Connor: You can't say I didn't Warn You
Dear Sandra,
I don't mean to rub it in, but I bet you're wishing you had paid attention to that open letter I wrote you a few years ago. This week, a report on channel KPNX leaked that your Alzheimer's-stricken husband John is living, happily, with a new girlfriend in an old age home. Their video exposé even contains hard-core shots of your husband John holding hands with Kay, the local hooch of the Huger Mercy Living Center. Far from being jealous or upset, you, according to your own son, are a bit of a voyeur who likes to watch: "For Mom to visit when he's happy ... visiting with his girlfriend, sitting on the porch swing holding hands... No stress on mom. No guilt laid on mom."
Well I'm glad you enjoy watching your husband and his lady friend "exchange oxygen masks" and play footsie under the Bingo table. And I'm glad that you don't feel guilty about your John. But I still haven't forgiven you for what you did to me and, more importantly, what you did to America. And that is something to feel guilty about.
Liberals were so busy pointing their fingers at Alito and Roberts for shifting the court to the right they forget to look at the bigger question: How did Alito and Roberts get there? By replacing Rehnquist and O'Connor, respectively, on the bench. We can hardly blame Rehnquist, or as Nixon liked to call him, " Renchburg" the "Jewish clown". I mean Rehnquist could barely walk, couldn't talk, and had a gaping hole in his throat, which he covered ingeniously with his signature "tracheo-scarf." And yet this judge chugged away on decision after decision until the day he died at the age of 81.
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The curse of politainment
I have been inundated with these annoying, anonymous chain e-mails stating that Whitefolk are trying to sabotage Jamie Foxx's upcoming music show because he refused to put token white performers on the roster. And to foil the success of his show due to his insolent Black pride, they've purposely put him up against 'American Idol'. Is this true? Was Foxx acting with conviction or with racial malice? And regardless, so what? After all, of all the things to clog up my inbox with, why moral outrage regarding a televised music show, of the kind that Blackfolk have been disproportionately visible for years? Why is this what people have chosen to be up in arms about and leveraging the Internet to advocate for versus, say, Darfur, Haiti, Katrina, political corruption, corporate greed, the fight for a living wage, etc., etc.?
Regardless of where you come down on any of these issues, it is quite revealing how and why people respond to media-amplified and -skewed issues -- particularly when laced with race.
Do I think folks are kinda missing the point when they choose to carelessly and thoughtlessly forward unsubstantiated information about something as benign as a televised music show? Absolutely.
The Vichy Ten
Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico
Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia
Maria Cantwell, Washington
Thomas Carper, Delaware
Kent Conrad, North Dakota
Herb Kohl, Wisconsin
Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut
Bill Nelson, Florida
Benjamin Nelson, Nebraska
These are ten particular Democratic senators who made odd choices on Monday and Tuesday. While some were opposed to Samuel Alito, they still chose to vote for cloture on Monday afternoon, effectively confirming him. Cloture went through on a 75-25 vote; Alito was confirmed by a vote of 58-42. If the 42 senators who had opposed Alito had put up a real fight, there would still be some debate going on in the Senate, and those of us who cherish our civil liberties might be feeling a little less threatened.
Why am I focusing on these ten when other Democrats made the same choice? Well, because each of the ten are up for re-election this year. Which means, each of them will face a Democratic primary opponent. Which means, voters in each of those states has an opportunity to send a message to their incumbent Democratic senator that we cherish the ideals of the Democratic party--the former values--and that "same bullshit, different day" is not cutting it as the current platform.
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The pregnacists won the Supreme Court war with these four Democrats in tow
Robert C. Byrd, Ben Nelson, Kent Conrad and Tim Johnson are the four Democrats who would not think twice of legalizing the reproductive enslavement of women for forced human harvesting in the United States.
 Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia |
 Ben Nelson of Nebraska |
 Tim Johnson of South Dakota |
 Kent Conrad of North Dakota |
On This Day
