Back when we were having the debate over Capital Punishment one of the areas that always comes up is whether it is just, and the fact that God has a bunch of rules in the Old Testament that have, as their sentence, death.
At that point, I hadn’t even realized that up until yesterday six states had the death penalty as the result of the rape of a minor.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The past few weeks has seen a flurry of activity in the area of same-sex marriage. Specifically, the Supreme Court of California ruled that same-sex couples should have equal protection rights under the California Constitution to marry, and have instructed the state to do so starting in the middle of June.
According to the California Supreme Court, it ain’t so.
Monday’s ruling from the California Supreme Court allows broad immunity from libel prosecution due to the Communications Decency Act of 1996. To briefly summarize the case, an email was sent to a health advocate (Ilena Rosenthal) who published the email on her website. The email contained language that was considered libelous by two doctors mentioned in the email. They sued the Rosenthal for knowingly publishing the information after being warned it was false and defamatory.
Read the rest of this entry »
This cross has quite the history:
The cross was erected on city property in the 1950s as a tribute to veterans from both world wars and the Korean War. It was uncontroversial until 1989, when Mr. Paulson and his supporters sued to have it removed from public land. In 1991, U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson ruled in their favor. So the city decided to sell the land to a private organization. In 1992 more than two-thirds of voters approved of the sale, and in 1998 it went to the highest bidder–a group that planned to keep the memorial intact.
Mr. Paulson, indicating that his beef is with the cross and not just its presence on public property, went back to court to block the sale. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals obligingly ruled that selling the memorial violated the state constitutional prohibition on state-sponsored religion because it unfairly discriminated against any potential buyers who would have had to bear the burden of pulling the cross down.
Frustrated local voters fought back, and last year 76% of them approved Proposition A, authorizing the city to donate the memorial to the federal government. They were shot down again, this time by Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Crowley, who invalidated the vote on the ground that it violated state law by showing preference for a particular religion.
…
The one judicial reprieve in this case came from Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who last month stayed a U.S. district court order fining San Diego $5,000 for each day that the cross remained standing–giving Congress time to pass the eminent-domain transfer. Mr. Paulson is now trying to block that transfer. If the case reaches the Supreme Court again, we hope that Justice Kennedy’s colleagues share the democratic view that the people of San Diego should be allowed to keep their cross.
Every time this issue has come before the voters, they overwhelmingly vote to keep it– and our challenged at the court level. The latest move by Congress to use eminent domain to buy the land and make it a federal memorial should be the final say– but we do not know what the courts will do. And that is the problem. We have become a nation that has a vote and a voice that is continually told that they are wrong by non-elected individuals.
If you’re long time readers, you will know that I’m definitely in the camp that we are a republic, not a democracy, but even a republic means that the people have representatives of their chosing– and the judges declare what our representatives pass. In this case, Mr. Paulson should be told to stop wasting his time and to find another route to wherever he is going that is causing him to see this cross and be offended.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Harriet Miers withdraws
Associated Press
Published October 27, 2005, 7:59 AM CDTWASHINGTON — Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice today in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications.Details to come.
*** Update ***
From FoxNews:
WASHINGTON — Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice Thursday in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications.
Bush said he reluctantly accepted her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down. He blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.
“It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House — disclosures that would undermine a president’s ability to receive candid counsel,” Bush said. “Harriet Miers’ decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers — and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her.”
This is by far the funniest pick for Supreme Court
yet. Back when we first got married and had TV, Virtuous Blonde and I
saw her and Judge Joe Brown on and off. Could you imagine Judge Judy
replacing Sandra Day O’Conner? Her original comment was “I prefer not
to rule by committee.” She said it was amazing that someone would put
her and “Supreme Court” in same sentence.
The natural next
question is, if Rehnquist also steps down does that mean there’s room
for Judge Joe Brown. He’d definitely be a PC nominee. Either that, or
that guy from Texas Justice. Surely a guy from Texas could have it in
good with the President?
It seems that this round goes to the Supreme Court against the
Constitution. In a set or rulings, the courts determined that
It’s crazy, and it’s not getting any better…
 | Rachel (37) |
| AG (12) | |
| Mary (8) | |
 | Leticia (6) |
| ChristianPF (6) |
Posting tweet...
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Comments from MInTheGap
