For a comedian-turned-politician with no formal legal training, the newest senator and Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor some of the most complex but elucidating questions about Supreme Court cases we’ve heard yet. After bonding with Sotomayor over their mutual love of the More…
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to know why the Justice Department’s David Kris thinks the military commissions need to withstand constitutional scrutiny by the courts. Does this mean the administration thinks the detainees might have constitutional rights, McCain asked. “Yes, they More…
In yet another 5-4 ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court denied a man imprisoned for a rape and attempted murder he says he didn’t commit the right to the DNA evidence that would prove his guilt or innocence.
Concluding that this is a matter for state legislatures, not the federal More…
The essential part of the California Supreme Court’s analysis in upholding Proposition 8‘s ban on same-sex marriage today is that the court decided that Prop 8 was an “amendment” to the state constitution, rather than a “revision” to the constitution. An amendment, under California law, can More…
It’s a familiar story that makes Pennsylvania conservative activists turn red when they tell it. Every six years, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) runs for re-election and he must quiet a Republican base angry with some of his moderate votes. Every six years, Specter briefly veers to the right to placate More…
Although Eric Holder has been careful not to say he made a mistake in recommending a pardon for the members of FALN, a Puerto Rican paramilitary group regarded by many as a terrorist organization, he’s used some pretty interesting terminology to walk around it.
As Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey busily works to bury the abuses of the Bush administration, the Supreme Court may be getting ready to hand President George W. Bush yet another repudiation of his handling of detainees in the so-called global war on terror.
The More…
There has been much debate about whether Sen. John McCain is a candidate of change. But in one area, McCain is unquestionably a reformer. He would almost certainly make fundamental changes in the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court.
McCain has said that, should he be president, Chief Justice John More…
As The Washington Post previewed this morning, Citizens for Responsibility for Ethics, a watchdog group, along with two historians and three historical organizations, filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court this afternoon against the office of Vice President Dick Cheney and Allen Weinstein, head of the National Archives. More…
Last night, at the Republican National Convention, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took a dig at Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, for what’s apparently become an embarrassing notion to Republicans: the American commitment to civil rights.
“Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America,” Palin pronounced in More…
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