The USDA just released a statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defending his decision to demand the resignation of Shirley Sherrod, the Georgia director of rural development, over a video posted on Big Government. The statement: Yesterday, I asked for and accepted Ms. Sherrod’s resignation for two reasons. First, for the past 18 months, we have been working to turn the page on the sordid civil rights record at USDA and this controversy could make it more difficult to move forward on correcting injustices. Second, state rural development directors make many decisions and are often called to use their discretion. The controversy surrounding her comments would create situations where her decisions, rightly or wrongly, would be called into question making …
[Guest post by DRJ] In my opinion, this American Spectator essay by Angelo M. Codevilla , a former U.S. foreign service officer and a professor of international relations at Boston University, is a must read for every American. Codevilla defines America’s ruling class and country class, and reviews the decisions we Americans have made that will decide our and our children’s futures. Implicit in Codevilla’s essay is the following question: Will Americans choose to be governed …
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Another recent addition to Supreme Court confirmation hearings is a focus on the role of foreign law. Last year, Justice Sotomayor got many questions on whether she would cite foreign law. What’s the problem? Some Justices have cited international law in ruling in favor of parties challenging government action on constitutional grounds, particularly in cases based on the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Many legal conservatives are outraged by this practice, arguing that …
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During the 1980s and 1990s, confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees focused to a considerable degree on the Roe v. Wade and the Court’s other decisions relating to constitutional limitations no state laws restriction the availability of abortion. Democrats pressed nominees to express support for Roe and its progeny; Republicans pressed for expressions of skepticism. The nominees had to chart a difficult course between these demands. These days, Roe makes …
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One notable difference from last year’s confirmation hearings is Democrats’ aggressiveness today is putting forth their own (different) view of the role of a judge. After the Sotomayor hearings, many progressive-oriented legal groups were angry that Democrats failed to use the hearing to criticize conservative legal principles and explain to Americans the real-world impact of the Court’s decisions. That message came…
(Jonathan H. Adler) The Supreme Court issued seven decisions in argued cases this morning. SCOTUSBlog has the details. This leaves four big cases yet to be decided: Bilski v. Kappos (business method patents), McDonald v. Chicago (incorporation of Second Amendment), Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB (appointments clause challenge to Sarbanes-Oxley), and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (state university funding of religious group). All four decisions should be handed down on Monday, which is also when the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan begin.
(Jonathan H. Adler) The Supreme Court issued seven decisions in argued cases this morning. SCOTUSBlog has the details. This leaves four big cases yet to be decided: Bilski v. Kappos (business method patents), McDonald v. Chicago (incorporation of Second Amendment), Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB (appointments clause challenge to Sarbanes-Oxley), and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (state university funding of religious group). All four decisions should be handed down on Monday, which is also when the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan begin.
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Main Justice in an interview yesterday that he’s looking for donations to cover his extensive legal bills — and that he still hasn’t found a book publisher. “We need to do a better effort raising additional money, and so we’re going to try to do that as soon as the last investigation [ends],” the ex-attorney general said. “That investigation has been out there going on forever. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but we’re waiting for that to be completed.” Once it’s over, Gonzales said, “that will again raise some interest in raising additional money.” As for the book…. Gonzales — under whose tenure the Justice Department often appeared to…
The thesis Elena Kagan wrote in 1983 as a graduate student at Oxford is now publicly available. The Washington Post touts it as being “critical of the Warren court” because Kagan argued that the Supreme Court’s development of the exclusionary rule during the Warren years was not based on a “coherent theory” and thus “assured the rule’s eventual demise.” Kagan was probably correct on her descriptive point – the Warren court did not provide a particularly coherent theory for its approach to the exclusionary rule. Contrary to her prediction, however, the rule has not met its demise. The …
but it’ll do: Asked about his shortcomings, Obama said he needs to better explain to the American people why he makes the decisions he does. You know the only way he can correct that single defect, right? You got it:…
