Archive for June, 2008
Supremes Death Penalty Case
Saturday, June 28th, 2008The Supreme Court has limited the death penalty for the third time in six years. Once again we have a five-to-four split. The court held that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute somebody for a crime in which the victim does not die.
This is a wise decision. The sooner we abandon the death [...]
Resisting FISA
Saturday, June 28th, 2008The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a draconian bill that will make all of us significantly less safe - from the prying eyes of our own government. Not only does this bill allow the government to record all international phone calls and data messages that cross the US border, it gives the big telecommunications companies [...]
Supreme Court Gun Case
Friday, June 27th, 2008Today Justice Scalia wrote a scholarly and persuasive majority opinion in one of the most widely-anticipated decisions of the current term. (This stands in stark contrast to his bizarre, fascist dissent in the recent Guantanamo case.)
I agree with both the reasoning and the result. Here’s a link to the decision and the dissent . The [...]
FISA v. 4th Amendment
Friday, June 20th, 2008In yet another craven act of political cowardace, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives has given the Bush Administration another huge victory over Traditional American Liberty.
President Bush claims that telecommunications companies that illegally conspired to conduct warrantless wiretaps and data searches should be immune from prosecution - because he told them it was [...]
Beyond Guantanamo
Thursday, June 19th, 2008Anybody who cares about the rule of law should take a stand against the so-called Global War on Terror. The legal and moral cesspool we are running at Guantanamo is only one tiny inlet into a pestilential ocean of evil.
U.S. tactics are shockingly parallel to those of Nazi Germany. Go study the case U.S. v. [...]
The Guantanamo Decision
Thursday, June 12th, 2008Today we consider another important Supreme Court case. The majority held that our prisoners at Guantanamo are entitled to the right of habeas corpus.
There are two dissents in this case. The dissent by Chief Justice Roberts argues that the practical consequences of the majority’s decision won’t really help any of the prisoners. Congress [...]
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008The First Circuit issued an important decision in Cook v. Gates. The plaintiffs challenged the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law on a number of constitutional grounds, including substantive due process, equal protection and the First Amendment’s right to free speech. The First Circuit decision was in favor of the military and against these plaintiffs.
This decision [...]
Baseball Fantasy League Case
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008It’s OK to run a for-profit fantasy baseball league without paying Major League Baseball for the right to use the names and statistics of big league ball players. The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case on this point, coming out of the 8th Circuit.
Read the 8th Circuit decision for yourself. Then go have [...]
Money Laundering Cases
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008The US Supreme Court gave the criminal defense bar a couple of significant victories this week. Not only will it be more difficult for prosecutors to win money laundering convictions, but prosecutors will have weaker bargaining power in plea negotiations.
Read the US Supreme Court decisions for Cuellar v. US and US v. Santos. For [...]