PERRspectives: Supreme Court Archives

Supreme Court Archives

	The Bizarro World of the Bush Torture Apologists With each passing day, the apologists for the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture resemble more and more characters from an episode of Seinfeld. After narrowly escaping a recommendation of disbarment last month, its legal architect John Yoo offered what might be deemed the George Costanza defense: it's not a war crime if you believe it. Now, conservatives on both sides of the Liz Cheney "Al Qaeda 7" smear of the Obama Justice Department have entered Seinfeld's Bizarro World where... more Posted on March 13, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	The Very Troubling Partisanship of Chief Justice Roberts Speaking to students of the University of Alabama law school, Chief Justice John Roberts launched a blistering attack on President Obama's State of the Union criticism of the Court's Citizens United decision. Calling Obama's prime-time critique "very troubling," Roberts complained that the President's annual address to Congress "degenerated to a political pep rally." Of course, when Robert's political godfather Ronald Reagan or his sponsor George W. Bush used the State of the Union to berate, badger and batter the Supreme... more Posted on March 10, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	After Threatening Judges, Republicans Rush to Alito's Defense While legal analysts like Glenn Greenwald and Jonathan Turley lamented Justice Samuel Alito's "serious and substantive breach of protocol" during last night's State of the Union address, conservatives are predictably apoplectic about President Obama's temerity in questioning the Supreme Court's campaign finance decision in that setting. As it turns out, the right-wing hypocrisy in defense of Alito is double. After all, President Bush didn't just routinely use the State of the Union to castigate "activist judges." For years, Bush's amen... more Posted on January 28, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Three Strikes for John McCain Years ago, John McCain said of the Keating Five scandal that nearly ended his career, "The fact is, it was the wrong thing to do, and it will be on my tombstone and deservedly so." But if his new cause of campaign finance reform was the penance for his Keating "nightmare," the Supreme Court last week closed off that avenue for McCain's redemption. Which means that all that's left for John McCain's epitaph is a two word inscription: Sarah Palin.... more Posted on January 25, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Cornyn Not Threatening Judges After SCOTUS Ruling Apparently, judicial activism like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. On Sunday, Texas Senator John Cornyn told Fox News that the impact of the Supreme Court's Citizen United ruling, which erased decades of precedents on corporate political campaign financing, has "been overstated." Given the victory in Massachusetts this week that his National Republican Senatorial Committee (NSRC) helped manufacture, Cornyn is understandably pleased that the hyperactive Roberts Court decided to "open up resources that have not previously been available"... more Posted on January 24, 2010 \| Comments (0)

	Sotomayor v. the GOP's Post-9/11 Constitution As the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor predictably devolved into mindless Republican regurgitation about wise Latinas, empathy, judicial activism and New Haven firefighters, one revealing exchange about the impact of the September 11 attacks was largely overlooked. The 9/11 tragedy, Sotomayor insisted, "doesn't change" the Constitution. As it turns out, her claim that "the Constitution is a timeless document" is a far cry from the philosophy of Jeff Sessions, John Cornyn and other Republicans who brushed off... more Posted on July 16, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Michael Jackson and John Roberts' Reagan Flashback Week For the second time in five days, the tide of current events washed ashore Chief Justice John Roberts' Reagan-era past. On Monday, Roberts authored the Court's majority opinion in the Austin case which almost realized his 1980's goal of gutting the Voting Rights Act. And as the New York Times recalled Friday, back in 1984 then associate White House counsel Roberts didn't have very kind words for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. As Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage recounted,... more Posted on June 26, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Voting Rights Act Survives Roberts' Supreme Court Challenge - Barely In a highly anticipated ruling today, the United States Supreme Court preserved - for now - the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While its 8-1 decision enabled municipal governments to opt out of Section 5 federal "pre-clearance" requirements for 16 mostly Southern states, the majority opinion avoided the larger constitutional issue. Which means that the long conservative campaign to suppress the overwhelmingly Democratic minority vote is far from over. As the Washington Post reported this morning, the case (Northwest Austin... more Posted on June 22, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Liddy, Gingrich, Limbaugh and Supreme Menstruation Back in 1995, Newt Gingrich famously concluded menstruation rendered women unfit for combat roles in the military. Now just two days after Gingrich branded Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor "racist," convicted Watergate felon and right-wing radio host G. Gordon Liddy agreed that both of Newt's arguments disqualify Sotomayor. Period. After echoing Tom Tancredo's slander that the National Council of La Raza to which Sotomayor belongs is a "Latino KKK," Liddy Thursday recycled Gingrich's theory of menstrual disqualification: "Let's hope that... more Posted on May 29, 2009 \| Comments (7)

	NY Times, McClatchy Parrot Rosen Attack on Sotomayor's Temperament Earlier this month, George Washington University professor and New Republic legal analyst Jeffrey Rosen turned to anonymous sources in a blistering - and controversial - attack on Judge Sonia Sotomayor's judicial temperament. Now just days after the raging right predictably made Rosen's smears a centerpiece in the battle against Sotomayor, the mainstream media is following their lead. As it turns out, 24 hours after McClatchy claimed, "Sotomayor's take-no-guff demeanor could alter court dynamics," Thursday's New York Times headline announced, "Sotomayor's... more Posted on May 29, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Judicial Intimidator Cornyn Defends Sotomayor from Rush You know things are bad for the conservative movement when John Cornyn comes to the defense of Sonia Sotomayor. On Thursday, the Texas Senator called rejected as "terrible" charges from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich that Sotomayor is a "racist." Coming from a man who casually condoned threats against American judges, Cornyn's statement is telling indeed. Speaking on NPR, Cornyn responded to Gingrich and Limbaugh's rush to the gutter: "I think it's terrible. This is not the... more Posted on May 29, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Bush, Rove Addressed La Raza, Deemed "Latino KKK" by Tancredo 48 hours after announcing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor "appears to be racist," Republican Tom Tancredo today blasted her association with the National Council of La Raza, deeming the organization "a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses." As it turns out, of course, the GOP itself has a long tradition of reaching out to La Raza, including appearances at the group's events by George W. Bush, Karl Rove and John McCain. In an apparent effort to top Newt... more Posted on May 28, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Justices, Not Umpires During his confirmation hearings in 2005, Chief Justice John Roberts introduced the sound bite that is now the predictable companion to Republican outrage over "judicial activism." "Judges are like umpires," Roberts analogized, adding, "Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them." Now as Senate Republicans seek to derail President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the GOP's judge-as-umpire canard is back. Of course, that tired analogy is just as untrue - and damaging - as it... more Posted on May 27, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	John Kyl: From "Up or Down Vote" to Filibuster Bluster Back in 1998, Arizona Senator John Kyl was one of 28 Republicans to oppose the nomination Sonia Sotomayor to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. But while he was one of the most ardent voices demanding an "up or down vote" for President Bush's judicial selections in 2005, since November Kyl has been threatening to filibuster President Obama's picks for the Supreme Court. The latest shot across the bow from Kyl, the Senate's #2 ranking Republican, came on Sunday, just... more Posted on May 26, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Will Jay Bybee Be Disbarred...Like Bill Clinton? As the controversy over the Bush administration's regime of detainee torture continues to fester, the fate of appeals court Judge Jay Bybee hangs in the balance. Even as the torture memo author lobbied his Nevada Congressional delegation to come to his defense, New York Republican Peter King declared, "Judge Bybee should be given a medal for what he did." And while many are calling for his impeachment and prosecution, a draft of an internal Justice Department report purportedly recommends that... more Posted on May 9, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Burned by Roberts, Rosen Smears Sotomayor On Monday, the New Republic's prominent legal analyst Jeffrey Rosen published a rumor-filled assessment of Obama Supreme Court short-lister, Sonia Sotomayor. And by Thursday, as ThinkProgress reported, what Glenn Greenwald deemed Rosen's "anonymous smears" and "a model of shoddy journalism" were being parroted throughout the media. But as to why Rosen took a tabloid approach to evaluating Sotomayor, his motivation may be simple. Jeffrey Rosen may be trying to compensate for his early cheerleading for - and subsequent buyer's remorse... more Posted on May 7, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	How Republicans Learned to Love the Judicial Filibuster The end of the Souter era on the U.S. Supreme Court also officially marks the beginning of the GOP's new found love of the judicial filibuster. After years in the majority insisting President Bush's picks for the bench deserved an "up or down vote," the same Republican Senators are now threatening to turn to the judicial filibuster they once promised to eviscerate with the so-called "nuclear option." Of course, Republicans made clear that their "up or down vote" talking point... more Posted on May 1, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Scalia Flips Off Media Again in Decency Case By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld new FCC fines against broadcasters who air "fleeting expletives" such as those used in recent years by Bono, Cher and Nicole Richie. In his majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia as usual missed no opportunity for a skirmish in the culture wars, blasting "foul-mouthed glitteratae from Hollywood." Of course, given his own penchant for flipping off reporters - in a church no less - Scalia could again run afoul of the standard... more Posted on April 29, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	After Death Threats, O'Connor Responds to GOP Attacks on Judges On Tuesday, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote OurCourts.org, her new online civics education project. But while O'Connor's goal is to counter alarming statistics including "only a third of Americans can name the three branches of government," her understandable motivation was the growing right-wing war on American judges. After all, amidst the incendiary rhetoric of John Cornyn, Tom Delay and other conservative leaders, Justice O'Connor was among those receiving... more Posted on March 6, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Obama Reverses Bush Course on Reproductive Rights When it comes to Americans' reproductive rights, it's amazing what a difference one week - and one new president - makes. On Sunday, President Bush offered a final parting gift to anti-abortion extremists in the form of "National Sanctity of Human Life Day." But by Thursday, President Barack Obama marked the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade by declaring "I remain committed to protecting a woman's right to choose." And on Friday, Obama will reverse... more Posted on January 23, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	New Study Refutes Justice Kennedy on Post-Abortion Syndrome In one of the most condescending and baseless Supreme Court opinions in recent memory, Justice Anthony Kennedy in April 2007 upheld a federal late term abortion ban on the grounds that "some women come to regret their choice." Now 18 months later, an exhaustive study of 20 years of research concluded that there is no evidence to support the mythical "post-abortion syndrome" hyped by anti-abortion forces - and regurgitated by Justice Kennedy in Gonzales v. Carhart. The new research from... more Posted on December 4, 2008 \| Comments (5)

	How the GOP Learned to Love the Judicial Filibuster Nothing focuses the mind, the expression goes, like the sight of the gallows. And so it is for beaten and battered Senate Republicans when it comes to the use of the filibuster to block the judicial nominees of President Barack Obama. After years of insisting President Bush's picks for the bench deserved an "up or down vote," Arizona Senator Jon Kyl and his allies in the GOP minority are now threatening to turn to the judicial filibuster. Of course, after... more Posted on November 14, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	More McCain-Palin Supreme Court Follies This week's revelation that Sarah Palin could not name a U.S. Supreme Court decision she opposed other than Roe v. Wade only served to confirm once again that she is the ideal running mate for John McCain. Clearly oblivious to Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson and other supreme stains on the nation, Palin reminded Americans about John McCain's furious reaction to the Court's Boumediene decision on habeas corpus rights for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. That, McCain fumed in June, was... more Posted on October 2, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Technicality May Keep Tom Delay Out of Jail Almost three years after his indictment on conspiracy and money laundering charges, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay may escape prosecution. Thanks to a technicality in Texas' money laundering statute, the man who once compared himself to Jesus may walk out of court, if not on water. The Austin Statesman reported this morning that the charges against Delay and his two co-conspirators John Colyandro and Jim Ellis "may be dismissed because the 2002 campaign finance case involved checks and not... more Posted on August 25, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	This Week in War Crimes It's been a very busy week for war crimes and war criminals. In some good news for the cause of justice and the upholding of international law, Bosnian Serb mass murder Radavan Karadzic was finally captured in Belgrade, just days after the International Criminal Court charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with crimes against humanity in Darfur. But for Americans, those positive developments were offset by news that the Bush administration's own war crimes trials - and potential pre-emptive pardons -... more Posted on July 23, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	New Report Demolishes "Gitmo 30" Talking Point Used by Scalia and McCain Earlier this week, I detailed how John McCain, John Yoo and Justice Antonin Scalia in the wake of the Court's Boumediene decision all continued to peddle the discredited Republican talking point about "30 former Guantanamo detainees" who had "returned to the fight." Now a devastating new report released Tuesday from Seton Hall professor Mark Denbeaux puts to rest the Scalia's "urban legend." That figure of 30 terror recidivists unleashing a bloodbath had been debunked by earlier studies from Denbeaux's team... more Posted on June 21, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain, Scalia and Yoo Peddle Discredited "Gitmo 30" Sound Bite In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, Bush administration torture architect John Yoo thundered against the Supreme Court's restoration of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees. Branding the Boumediene decision "judicial imperialism of the highest order," Yoo like Justice Scalia and John McCain raised the specter of those 30 released Gitmo terrorists as a warning of the carnage the Court's ruling is certain to produce. Alas, as with so much else passing over John Yoo's lips, it simply isn't true.... more Posted on June 17, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	GOPers Claim Court's Gitmo Decision "Worse Than Dred Scott" Just in case Republicans still wonder why the GOP routinely garners less than 10% of the African-American vote, the reactions of some of their leading lights to the Supreme Court's Guantanamo detainee decision should provide a quick reminder. While John McCain Friday simply called the Court's Boumediene ruling "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," right-wing legal analyst David Rivkin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were much more specific. The Court's restoration of habeas corpus,... more Posted on June 16, 2008 \| Comments (3)

	Studies Refute McCain's 30 Gitmo Recidivists Talking Point In the wake of the Supreme Court's restoration of habeas corpus rights in its Boumediene decision Friday, John McCain and his allies on the right have predictably forecast an American bloodbath at the hands of terrorists unleashed from Guantanamo. While Justice Antonin Scalia claimed the ruling would "almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed," Newt Gingrich contended the Supreme Court "could cost us a city." As for McCain, he simply regurgitated a soon-to-be familiar GOP talking point, "30 of... more Posted on June 16, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	McCain to Call for New Gitmo Courts as McClatchy Documents Errors On the same day the McClatchy papers released the results of a devastating investigation into dozens of terrorism detainees wrongly imprisoned by the United States, Republican water carrier Bill Kristol reported that Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are planning to double-down on Gitmo. In the wake of Friday's Supreme Court ruling McCain branded "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," the Republican presidential nominee is planning to introduce legislation creating new "national security courts" designed... more Posted on June 15, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	McCain's Sins of Military Commission On the stump in New Jersey today, John McCain launched a thundering two-pronged assault on yesterday's Supreme Court decision on habeas corpus rights for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Again raising the specter of "unaccountable judges," McCain picked up on his earlier, right-wing handbook assault against so-called judicial activism. Then turning to fear-mongering, McCain proclaimed "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country" will lead to more attacks against the American people. But lost in McCain's red-faced... more Posted on June 13, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Meet the McCain Court. Same as the Bush Court. Speaking at Wake Forest University today, Republican presidential nominee John McCain reassured his party's conservative base that he has adopted George W. Bush's judicial philosophy hook, line and sinker. The same John McCain who once expressed doubts about judges in the mold of Samuel Alito today extolled him as a model for the Supreme Court, all the while chanting the right-wing battle cry against so-called judicial activism. Given his past flip-flop on Roe v. Wade (he now supports overturning the... more Posted on May 6, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Supreme Court OKs Indiana ID Law, GOP Vote Suppression Strategy Just one day after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told Americans to "get over" the 2000 decision that handed the presidency to George W. Bush, the Supreme Court today rubber stamped an essential tactic in the all-out Republican war to suppress the turnout of minority - and likely Democratic - voters. By a 6-3 vote, the Court upheld an Indiana voter identification law purportedly designed to address what most experts deem a non-existent problem. By so doing, the Roberts Court... more Posted on April 28, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	The Weekly Standard's Hypocritical Praise for John McCain With John McCain's return to the front of the Republican pack, the conservative Weekly Standard is reexamining the Arizona's vices and virtues. But while Dean Barnett bemoans McCain's "uncanny ability to drive virtually all conservatives nuts," Adam White and Kevin White praise McCain's record on the confirmation of right-wing judges. Not because McCain's position on the so-called "nuclear option" was right in principle. No, the Standard lauded McCain's success with the "Gang of 14" because it preserved the ability of... more Posted on January 19, 2008 \| Comments (1)

	Supreme Court Hears GOP Vote Suppression Case Today The Supreme Court today will hear a set of voter identification cases which could well determine the outcome of the 2008 election. In a narrow legal sense, the cases will address the constitutionality of new voter ID laws in Indiana and other states that purport to address what most experts deem a non-existent problem. But more important, the Roberts Court will decide whether to rubber stamp an essential tactic in the all-out Republican war to suppress the turnout of minority... more Posted on January 9, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Supreme Court Test for GOP Vote Suppression Strategy As the Washington Post detailed on Tuesday, the Supreme Court this term will decide a set of voter identification cases which could well determine the outcome of the 2008 election. In a narrow legal sense, the cases will address the constitutionality of new voter ID laws in Indiana and other states. But more important, the Roberts Court will decide whether to rubber stamp an essential tactic in the all-out Republican war to suppress the votes of minority - and likely... more Posted on December 26, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Supreme Irony: Frost Attacks Continue as Ex-Viacom Chief Wins Tuition Case While Republican politicians, conservative commentators and the right-wing blogosphere continued their jihad against the private school scholarship of 12 year old S-CHIP beneficiary Graeme Frost, the Supreme Court Wednesday quietly handed the son of multimillionaire former Viacom CEO Tom Freston private school tuition courtesy of New York taxpayers. Frost, as you'll recall, is the Maryland child who delivered the Democratic response on September 29th to President Bush's veto of the bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). Frost,... more Posted on October 11, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Equal Opportunity Executioner Bush Finds Mexican Exception If there is any area of public policy where George W. Bush has been consistently "dead certain," it is almost certainly in the application of the death penalty. As Texas Governor and later as President, Bush showed himself to be an equal opportunity executioner, content to condemn the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled, racist thugs and even born-again Christians alike. But today we learned even George W. Bush's apparent bloodlust has its limits, especially when it conflicts with his ongoing... more Posted on October 8, 2007 \| Comments (4)

	The Fall of John Roberts John Roberts' tumble today at his Maine vacation home might be the perfect metaphor for his tenure as Chief Justice. (Of course, I join all Americans in wishing Chief Justice Roberts a speedy recovery.) Advertised by even some of his detractors as a first-rate intellect with an ideal judicial temperament, Roberts' unsettling term is bringing a firestorm of criticism from friend and foes alike. Worst of all, he's losing the American people. One of the first indications of Roberts' fall... more Posted on July 30, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Up or Down Vote: Death of a GOP Talking Point On Thursday morning, July 19th, the beloved GOP talking point "up or down vote" was officially declared dead. Its demise was little noticed in the aftermath of the Senate Republicans' successful all-night filibuster to block the Reed-Levin bill seeking to begin U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq. "Up or down vote" was killed by a desperate Republican Party trying to obstruct Democratic accomplishments at any cost in advance of the 2008 elections. And so far, the GOP seems to be getting... more Posted on July 22, 2007 \| Comments (36)

	Libby Court's Walton Latest Target of Right-Wing Threats to Judges In a Washington court room today, Americans learned that the growing conservative campaign of judicial intimidation reached the Scooter Libby case. Judge Reggie Walton, recently appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts to the FISA Court and who last week sentenced former Cheney aide Libby to 30 months in prison, announced that he had received threatening phone calls and letters. Apparently, threatening judges is now business as usual for the American conservative movement. Walton, noting that the threats would have no... more Posted on June 14, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Marketing the Partial Birth Abortion Ban On its face, today's Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Carhart is a victory for abortion foes seeking to ban one rarely used but seemingly horrific procedure. But in the bigger picture, the Court's validation of the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Act is a landscape-changing triumph for conservatives' slippery slope campaign to chip away at the reproductive and privacy rights of American women. That's because anti-abortion forces never really cared about intact dilation and extraction, a rare practice used in... more Posted on April 18, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Partial Responsibility: Democrats & the Court's Abortion Ruling In a calamitous setback for the reproductive rights of American women, the Supreme Court upheld the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Act. In its 5-4 ruling, the Court handed Republican conservatives a major victory in their "slippery slope" campaign against choice. Sadly, the history shows that many Congressional Democrats were complicit in today's disastrous outcome. As I wrote back in 2004, significant numbers of Democrats in the House and Senate wavered when it came to protecting the health and safety of... more Posted on April 18, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	U.S. Attorneys and the Visible Hand of the Federalist Society Among the revelations contained in the latest DOJ document dump is the central role of the Federalist Society in entrenching the permanent Republican majority among the ranks of the U.S. attorneys. As FireDogLake, ThinkProgress and others have reported, membership in the Federalist Society was crucial to a favorable ranking by the Gonzales team entrusted with purging the USAs ranks of those not "loyal Bushies." But as Perrspectives detailed back in the spring of 2005, the conservative Federalist Society is the... more Posted on April 13, 2007 \| Comments (0)

	Gonzales, Doan and the Republican Diversity Defense "Diversity" is one word that is rarely associated with the conservative movement in general and the Republican Party in particular. From immigration and affirmative action to redistricting and minority voting rights, the lily-white GOP and its amen corner advocate a monotone, melanin-free vision for America. But when it comes to efforts by Republicans Alberto Gonzales and Lurita Doan to convert their federal agencies into entrenched partisan redoubts of the GOP, the right has been very quick indeed to turn to... more Posted on April 1, 2007 \| Comments (1)

	Bush's Voting Rights Act In Washington today, President Bush signed a bill extending by 25 years the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In so doing, Bush once again succeeded in having it both ways. While publicly proclaiming his support for the Voting Rights in public, the Bush Justice Department has blocked its enforcement at every turn. The President's rhetoric, of course, is designed to establish Bush's civil rights credentials and aid the Republican Party's outreach to moderate and African-American voters. On Martin Luther King's... more Posted on July 27, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Specter's Op-Ed: Cowardice He Can Live With In a bizarre Washington Post op-ed ("Surveillance We Can Live With") pitching his ill-conceived NSA eavesdropping compromise, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) shows all of the hallmarks of a man in the throes of severe cognitive dissonance. While essentially pronouncing the illegality of George Bush's illegal domestic surveillance program, he cannot bring himself to harm his President or his party. As we've come to expect, the battle between Specter's inner demons yields only frustration and cowardice. Specter gets... more Posted on July 23, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Hamdan Deals Blow to Bush Domestic Spying The Supreme Court's ruling today in the Hamdan case wasn't merely a defeat for the Bush administration's system of military tribunals for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. As ThinkProgress describes, the majority's explicit rejection of broad presidential powers claimed by the White House to be inherent in the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) also imperils Bush's dubious arguments for the illegal NSA domestic spying program. The challenge for President Bush and his allies is clear. As... more Posted on June 29, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Supreme Win for GOP, Delay in Texas Redistricting Case Tom Delay may have left Congress in disgrace, but the U.S. Supreme Court presented the former Majority Leader with a parting gift on Wednesday. By a 7-2 vote, the Court essentially endorsed Delay's unprecedented Texas Congressional redistricting plan that delivered six new House seats to the Republicans in 2004. The only minor setback for the GOP came in a separate 5-4 ruling that Texas' new 23rd district violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act with its suspicious gerrymandering shifting 100,000 Hispanic... more Posted on June 28, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Republicans' Constitutional Crisis When it comes to President Bush's illegal domestic spying program, his Republican allies over the last several days have shown that discretion is indeed the better part of valor. From the beginning, the administration's amen corner has aggressive claimed that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the wartime Commander-in-Chief powers give President Bush the statutory and constitutional basis for sidestepping the FISA process for domestic electronic surveillance. But most in the GOP are downright sheepish... more Posted on February 20, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Top 10 State of the Union Highlights Faced with negative polls and a pessimistic American nation, President Bush's just completed 2006 State of the Union Address naturally focused on the theme of "the Hopeful Society." But like the stillborn "Ownership Society" vision before it, Bush's 2006 SOTU will be remembered not for its policy program, but for its partisan political purposes. The top 10 highlights: 1. Demonize the Democrats The President continued Karl Rove's 2006 electoral strategy to once again run on national security and brand the... more Posted on January 31, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	The Sad Symbolism of Samuel Alito and Coretta Scott King There are days when the convergence of events can't help but deliver a larger message, to augur change or signal the passing of one era and the start of another. With the coincident confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito and the death of Coretta Scott King, today is one of those days of historical - and symbolic - significance. In Washington, the U.S. Senate confirmed Alito by 58 to 42, possibly changing the the direction of the Supreme Court for a... more Posted on January 31, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Alito Files The Perrspectives Supreme Court Resource Center has assembled a host of resources providing the background and proceedings of the confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito. In addition to links to the daily hearing transcripts, the Resource Center includes Alito libraries from the New York Times, Washington Post, FindLaw and others. Essential documents are also provided, including Alito's responses to the confirmation questionnaire, released papers from the Reagan-era, and his infamous 1985 memo laying out a strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade.... more Posted on January 10, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The NSA Scandal Resource Center The Perrspectives Resource Center has just been expanded to include a new document library for the exploding Bush-NSA Spying Scandal. The NSA Scandal Document Library includes the latest Bush spying scandal news, essential Department of Justice memos and key laws such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the War Powers Resolution, the 2001 Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) and more. Key Supreme Court decisions involving presidential war powers, such as the 1952 Youngstown v. Sawyer and 2004's Hamdi v.... more Posted on January 1, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Yoo Da Man Karl Rove is widely credited with being "Bush's brain." But when it comes to the administration's dangerous and unprecedented expansion of presidential war powers, John Yoo is the President's mouthpiece. Only 34, Yoo, formerly of the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel and now a professor at the University of California Boalt Hall School of Law, joins Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney as one of the preeminent if unlikely policy architects in the Bush pantheon. Wolfowitz, the former Defense Undersecretary, was... more Posted on December 23, 2005 \| Comments (3)

	Bush's Premature Withdrawal In one of the least surprising announcements to come of out Washington in recent years, President Bush bowed to the inevitable and pulled the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. Positioned as a principled withdrawal by a stalwart White House counsel concerned with preserving executive privilege, in reality the Miers collapse was both a total defeat for the President and a potent symbol of his political cowardice. The Bush nomination of Miers was stillborn. She was cannibalized by movement conservatives,... more Posted on October 27, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	No Judge of Character President Bush has tried to reassure anxious conservatives over his choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, testifying to her good character by saying " I know her heart. I know what she believes." They are not buying it. The conservative punditocracy and blogosphere are enraged with the Miers selection. George Will said that Bush "has forfeited his right to be trusted as a custodian of the Constitution." The President's amen corner is in full rebellion, with Charles Krauthammer... more Posted on October 7, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Miers Fails the Three Strikes Test The judicial philosophy of Harriet Miers, President Bush's surprise choice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, remains a mystery. But what little is known about Miers suggests she is a political operative with some extreme views if not extreme qualifications. In a nutshell, Miers fails Perrspectives' "Three Strikes Test" for the Supreme Court. Back in July, I urged Democrats to hold their fire on John Roberts and focus instead on Bush's second nominee, taken for granted to... more Posted on October 4, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Harriet Miers' Supreme Opportunism The nomination of Harriet Miers as the replacement for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has united liberals and conservatives in ways few thought possible. Democrats fear she is a stealth arch-conservative. But it is Republicans fellow-travelers like Michelle Malkin, Bill Kristol and David Frum who seem most horrified. They are simply astounded that Bush confirmed Americans' worst fears that he values cronyism over qualification. Given her complete lack of a track record on the bench, it's virtually impossible to... more Posted on October 3, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	John Roberts, Chief Umpire? Among the rhetorical flourishes that characterized his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, none perhaps will prove to be as lasting or strategic as John Roberts' "umpire" analogy. Designed to disarm both conservative opponents of so-called "judicial activism" and liberal foes of right-wing ideology on the bench, the eloquent Roberts offered the soothing platitude, "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them." Roberts� umpire approach was warmly received by fawning Republicans on the Committee. Democratic members, though,... more Posted on September 21, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Justice Sunday II: This Time It's Biblical For those of you who missed the "Justice Sunday" protest against the judicial filibuster, Tony Perkins, the Family Research Council and American Taliban friends are back with Justice Sunday II. Justice Sunday II, to be held on Sunday, August 14th in Nashville, Tennessee, brings together some of the leading lights of the American reactionary right in support of Bush SCOTUS nominee John Roberts. The FRC's own Perkins will be joined by convicted Watergate felon turned prison minister Chuck Colson. Colson,... more Posted on August 10, 2005 \| Comments (6)

	Roberts, Poppy and Attorney-Client Privilege With Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on John Roberts still over a month away, a battle royale over the nominee's paper trail is rapidly developing. But despite White House protests to the contrary, the conflict may be less about protecting attorney-client privilege, and more about protecting the President's father. First, a little background. As part of the confirmation process, Senate Democrats have requested documents from Judge Roberts' time in both the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses. Yesterday, the Bush team... more Posted on July 29, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Holding Fire on Roberts In yesterday's piece "Supreme Limitations on Democrats", I argued that liberals and progressives of all stripes should not reflexively oppose the nomination of Judge John Roberts to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. (Admittedly, when I wrote the piece, it was Judge Edith Brown Clement I had in mind.) The argument for restraint in the confirmation process is straight-forward. It's not just that Roberts is clearly a first-rate legal talent, unlike a Clarence Thomas. He simply does not cross the threshhold of... more Posted on July 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Supreme Limitations for Democrats With rumors swirling that President Bush has selected Edith Brown Clement of the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to be replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Democrats can get to down the business of planning their response. Their response should be to vote to confirm Judge Clement. Why? In a nutshell, Democrats should grudgingly accept Clement because she simply does not cross the threshhold of unsuitability. 1. Anti-Choice History Not Sufficient for a No Vote Democrats cannot... more Posted on July 19, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	O'Connor Steps Down, The Heat Turns Up Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her resignation today, surprising most of the media that had been maintaining its vigil over the ailing, octagenarian Chief Justice. While President Bush in his statement this morning said he would not nominate a successor today, his choice will come soon, likely after his upcoming European trip. But the President already fired a shot across the bow of Senate Democrats, signaling his willingness to test the filibuster compromise: The nation deserves, and I... more Posted on July 1, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Sharpening Their Clause: The Coming Bush Judges Only days after the Senate reached a tenuous compromise to preserve the judicial filibuster, it appears the first Supreme Court vacancy of the Bush era may be imminent. AP reports that Chief Justice Rehnquist is preparing to step down and that the White House is already preparing to nominate his successor. There is an emerging consensus regarding the leading contenders for Bush's first Supreme. (Jeffrey Rosen in The New Republic provided a thorough run down last fall.) More important than... more Posted on May 30, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Nuclear Freeze and Bipolar Disorder AP has reported that the Senate 12 have brokered an 11th hour deal to avert a showdown over the nuclear option. The deal announced by Senator John McCain preserves the Democrats right to filibuster, but gives Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor a vote on the Senate floor. If the early blogosphere feedback is any indication, the Right and Left share a common sense of rage and betrayal at the outcome: "Cowards. A Bunch of M-Fing Cowards!!!! "Trust"?... more Posted on May 23, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Judicial Filibuster Documents and Resources The Perrspectives Document Library has been expanded to include materials and resources for the Senate showdown over the judicial filibuster. The Judicial Filibuster Resource Center includes resource guides from the Center for American Progress and Media Matters, key background articles on the origins of the Nuclear Option, and background on key GOP players like Bill Frist and Manuel Miranda. The Judicial Filibuster Document Library also includes comparisons and archives of judicial vacancies under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. For... more Posted on May 19, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	A Conservative Theory of Evolution On Sunday, April 24th, Senate Majority Leader Bill First will join James Dobson, Tony Perkins and assorted members of the conservative American Taliban for "Justice Sunday." This made-for-TV event is part of the Right's ongoing war against Senate Democrats' use of the filibuster to block a handful of Bush judicial nominees. As Frist prepares to implement the nuclear option, it is worth noting the subtle irony at the center of the Justice Sunday event. As their flyer states: "THE FILIBUSTER... more Posted on April 21, 2005 \| Comments (7)

	Gay Time in the Old Town Tonight On Monday, San Francisco County Superior Judge Richard Cramer ruled in favor of the city of San Francisco and a dozen same-sex couples, stating that withholding marriage licenses from gays and lesbians is unconstitutional. While this is but one positive step forward in the struggle for equal marriage rights for all Americans, it is clear one all the same. Echoing the reasoning in Supreme Court cases from Loving v. Virginia (striking down bans on interracial marriage), Romer v. Evans (ending... more Posted on March 14, 2005 \| Comments (0)

	Fresh Air and Gray Skies: An Even Hand at NPR For the raging right, National Public Radio is the poster child for liberal bias in the media. From Accuracy in Media and the Media Research Center to the National Review and Bill O'Reilly, NPR (or "National Palestine Radio" to its detractors), is the bete noir. How very surprised, then, they must have all been while listening last week to NPR's Terry Gross on the Fresh Air program. Over three days last week, Gross brought in some of the heaviest hitters... more Posted on February 20, 2005 \| Comments (2)

	Not That There's Anything Wrong with It Two recent news developments highlight once again the fallacy of "rational rejection" of the rights of gay Americans by social conservatives. In their ongoing quest to mask theology as social science, they have once run into the dual brick walls of the academy and the Supreme Court. The first instance of conservatives being "mugged by reality" (to appropriate neocon Irving Kristol's phrase) comes from the University of Virginia, where a study led by Dr. Charlotte J. Patterson showed that teenagers... more Posted on November 29, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	American Taliban The �War on Terror� has provided Americans with a helpful introduction to theocracy. The fight against Al Qaeda, the war on the Taliban, and the growing tensions with the regime in Iran has offered a quick primer on the hallmarks of the religious state. First is the rule of religious authorities, whether it be Bin Laden�s new Caliphate, Mullah Omar�s Taliban regime, or the mullahs in Tehran. Second is the imposition of the faith�s sacred texts as law, in these... more Posted on November 25, 2004 \| Comments (19)

	Red America: Coming to a Body Near You Sometimes, a single day of news tells you everything to know about what is or what is to come. On April 2, 2004, for example, the New York Times featured no fewer than seven stories covering different scandals, deceptions, stone-walling and perversions of science by the Bush administration. November 9, 2004 is another one of those days. Today's headlines provide a chilling preview of what life will be like over the next four years in George W. Bush's Red America:... more Posted on November 9, 2004 \| Comments (22)

	Cleveland Blues One of the sad stories of the Vice Presidential Debate in Cleveland is that of Cleveland itself. While the debate hype pushed my hometown into the spotlight, other recent developments have not been so kind: America's Poorest Big City The Census Bureau reported that Cleveland is the now the poorest major city in the United States, with a staggering poverty rate of 31%, two and a half times the national average. The Incredible Shrinking City In two generations, Cleveland has... more Posted on October 6, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	States' Blights As the past week�s Democratic debates in Los Angeles and New York showed once again, there are generally very few substantive policy disagreements between John Kerry and John Edwards. On the issue of same-sex marriage in particular, there is very little difference in their approach: play it safe. That may be politically expedient and even politically necessary, but unfortunately, it also dangerous to the cause of personal liberty. Unlike abortion rights, which enjoy consensus support nationwide, same-sex marriage is still... more Posted on March 2, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Slippery Slope Here we go again. Once again, the anti-choice movement, with support from congressional conservatives and President Bush, is pushing legislation that chips away at women�s reproductive rights. Once again, squeamish Democrats in the House and Senate are going along for the ride. And once again, they are playing directly into their opponents� hands, helping to bring about the gradual undermining of abortion rights... Continue reading "Slippery Slope"...... more Posted on February 25, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	Miranda Warning Oliver North is living proof that crime does pay. The Fox analyst and host of �War Stories�, North was a central figure in the Reagan era Iran-Contra scandal, clandestinely funneling money and arms to the Nicaraguan contras in clear violation of the 1984 Bolland Amendment. North, of course, is also a convicted felon, though his 1989 conviction was later overturned on appeal by none other than Laurence Silberman, the newly named chairman of President�s Bush WMD panel. Enter Manuel Miranda,... more Posted on February 22, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part VI: The Democrats' New American Bargain in Action In 2004, Democrats must answer the GOP assault on national unity with a program based on reciprocity, responsibility and opportunity that calls on the best in Americans and their government. On national security, Democrats must not only pass the threshold of credibility, they must demonstrate clear leadership compared to the GOP. There is no better way to do this, substantively and symbolically, than through national service. While the volunteer army currently seems sufficient to fight foes abroad such as Afghanistan... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part V: A New American Bargain Democrats need a new, revitalized public philosophy and politics not only to achieve victory in 2004, but also to have any hope of attaining majority status in the next decade. In contrast to a conservative Opt Out ideology increasingly at odds with the best American civic traditions, Democrats should seek to usher in the "Reciprocity Society." Characterized by shared national identity and values, commitment to common goals and public institutions, national service, mutual responsibility, and universal opportunity, the Reciprocity Society... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part IV: Identity Politics and the Threat from the Left Unfortunately, Democrats cannot credibly speak of a politics of national unity and common American interest unless they make a clear break with the identity politics, multi-culturalism, and group privileges of the party's left. Democrats during the Clinton reign in the 1990's made great progress overcoming two of the three barriers to the party gaining majority status: being trusted on national defense and to provide economic growth. On cultural issues, however, the Clinton program of "100,000 cops" and welfare reform (not... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part II: On Your Own The impact of the Opt Out Society can be seen across the policies the Bush administration has pursued since coming to office. These are consistently defined by three characteristics. First is market idolatry; all public policy issues are framed in terms of market choice, competition, and privatization. From school vouchers to a market for pollution credits, any outcome that results is by definition the right one, since it was freely decided by the market. Second, the politics of the Opt... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)

	The Opt Out Society, Part I: Introduction There's an old saying that says, "don't bring a knife to a gun fight." Another old saw goes "know your enemy." Truer words were never spoken as Democrats approach the 2004 elections. President Bush, fresh off his victory in Iraq, the staged performance on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, and the capture of Saddam, has maintained strong approval ratings. But while the president wraps himself in the flag and the banner of unity in the American war against terror, the... more Posted on February 9, 2004 \| Comments (0)