Archive for the ‘Government & Law’ Category
September 8th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
A pair of articles in the New York Times highlights the important role of clerks to Supreme Court justices, though how much influence the clerks have over their bosses is debatable. Adam Liptak writes that in recent years, justices have become more and more likely to hire clerks of their political stripe. Justices appointed by a Republican president tend to hire clerks who previously worked for appeals judges appointed by a Republican president, and vice-versa for those appointed by a Democratic president.
Elsewhere, Liptak notes that graduates of particular law schools have a near-monopoly on clerkships. About 50 percent of clerks since 2005 were graduates of either Harvard or Yale, and four other schools contributed another quarter of clerks. Justice Clarence Thomas alone prefers to hire clerks from other schools, saying he is not part of the “faux nobility” of the Ivy League.
Jason Mazzone of Brooklyn Law argues that Liptak gives too much weight to the partisan trend. Mazzone says that Liptak is pointedly criticizing the conservative members of the court, but misses the bigger reason for the trend: today there are far more Republican-appointed federal judges than there were 30 years ago, so there are bound to be more clerks who worked for them. Second, Mazzone doubts that clerks influence the justices as much as Liptak gives them credit for.
While there is some evidence (which Liptak discusses) that law clerks can influence a Justice’s position in certain cases, we should not overstate the effects, particularly in cases with strong political overtones. Supreme Court Justices are very smart and very experienced. It is naïve to think that a 20-something year-old law liberal clerk will be so persuasive that Justice Scalia will abandon originalism or vote to invalidate gay marriage and it is equally naïve to imagine that Justice Ginsburg will be persuaded by a conservative clerk to find gender classification should only be subject to rational review under the Equal Protection Clause. More likely is that a year in Justice Scalia’s chambers will turn a liberal clerk conservative.
Nevertheless, young Supreme Court clerks are important as they study cases, make recommendations about which cases the court should hear, discuss cases with the justices and help them prepare to hear oral arguments, and write large sections of opinions. Many of these clerks will later go on to prominent places in government, law, and academia, and some may even ascend to the high court themselves.
Tags: Clarence Thomas, Democrats, Harvard Law School, Ivy League, law clerks, Republicans, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court, Yale Law School
Posted in Government & Law, Washington, DC | No Comments »
August 30th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Sen. Tom Coburn says the Republican party will be dead if it fails to live up to expectations. (Photo: coburn.senate.gov)
As the November elections draw nearer, Republican hopes to gain seats in Congress–and maybe even a majority in the House–are rising. The Hill reports that the number of seats facing competitive races has grown substantially over the last two months, increasing the chances of a GOP takeover in November.
Some conservatives are issuing words of caution, however. Dan Whitfield writes in the Daily Caller that a GOP victory in November would hurt the party’s chances of winning the presidential election in 2012. If Republicans were to take control of Congress, they would forge a partnership of sorts with the White House, leaving them with little contrast in the presidential race.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) had a different warning for conservatives at a town hall meeting Friday. “If the conservatives in Congress gain control and don’t live up to expectations, the Republican Party will be dead,” Coburn said.
“The real problem is that America is asleep,” he continued. “America is not involved. I think this election they’ll be more involved than they ever have been, and the reason is they’re scared.”
Tags: Democrats, November elections, primary elections, Republicans, Tom Coburn
Posted in Church & Religion, Government & Law, Washington, DC | 1 Comment »
August 27th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
A Mexican drug cartel is believed to be responsible for the massacre of 72 migrants heading to the U.S. border, a tragic escalation of violence in the Mexican drug wars. The bodies of the Central and South American migrants were discovered on a ranch just south of the U.S. border in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
Cartels often try to kidnap migrants and either demand money or try to recruit them as foot soldiers. This may be the most violent event of a highly violent year in the drug wars along the border.
The massacre highlights violence along the border as illegal immigration becomes an increasingly divisive issue in the U.S. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is fighting back against the Obama administration’s lawsuit over Arizona’s strict immigration enforcement law, immigration reform has become a major issue for national election campaigns, and internal divisions have arisen in federal law enforcement agencies over how to implement current law.
Tags: Barack Obama, drug cartel, drug wars, illegal immigration, immigration, Jan Brewer, Mexico
Posted in Government & Law, Obama & Biden, Terrorism & Persecution | No Comments »
August 25th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion Monday that the state can hold abortion providers to hospital-type standards. Cuccinelli’s opinion would allow the state’s Board of Health to write new regulations requiring that doctors who perform abortions at the clinics hold hospital privileges, counselors have professional training and buildings undergo structural changes. The opinion does not force the board to act, and any new regulations are unlikely anytime soon. Eleven members of the 15-member board were appointed by previous Governor Tim Kaine (D), with four vacancies that current Governor Bob McDonnell (R) can fill.
Cuccinelli, a Catholic, has quickly earned a reputation for hitting tough issues head-on. In seven months in office, Cuccinelli has sued the federal government over the health care mandate, ruled that law enforcement can question immigration status, and investigated a former University of Virginia professor for allegedly manipulating data about climate change to obtain research grants.
Tags: abortion, abortion providers, climate change, Health Care, Health Care Reform, immigration, Ken Cuccinelli, pro-life, Virginia
Posted in Government & Law, Sanctity of Life | 2 Comments »
August 18th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Supporters of California’s Proposition 8, limiting marriage to one man and one woman, are preparing for their defense of the law following a federal court decision to keep same-sex marriage on hold.
Last week, the federal district judge who overturned Prop 8 ruled that the hold on same-sex marriages would expire Wednesday, but Monday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to extend the hold indefinitely while the ruling is appealed. Supporters of Prop 8 must convince the court that they have standing to defend the law in court, since both California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown declined to do so.
The 9th Circuit will expedite the case, putting it on track for oral arguments to begin in December. Whatever the 9th Circuit decision is, the losing side will likely appeal to the Supreme Court.
Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, homosexuality, Jerry Brown, Proposition 8, Same-sex marriage, Supreme Court, Vaughn Walker
Posted in Government & Law, Marriage & Family | No Comments »
August 17th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
The guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin performs a breakaway maneuver from a formation with the Chinese People's Liberation Army-Navy frigate Zhoushan in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 19, 2009 as part of a multinational task force established to conduct counterpiracy operations off the coast of Somalia. (Photo: U.S. Navy/Scott Taylor)
A Defense Department report released Monday says the Chinese government is rapidly expanding the military, developing long-range weapons to expand its global reach. The yearly report, which is required by Congress, was released five and a half months late.
U.S. officials express concern that China is being secretive about its military growth, and that it continues to reject military relations with the U.S. The Chinese government suspended those relations earlier this year, following the announcement that the U.S. would sell over $6 billion of weapons to Taiwan, an American ally that China considers part of its own territory.
Tags: Asia, China, Congress, Department of Defense, military
Posted in Government & Law, Military & Veterans, United Nations | No Comments »
August 16th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. (Photo:DoD/Cherie Cullen)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to retire next year, saying he wants to see through the current push in Afghanistan.
In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine published Monday, Gates said he wants to retire before the 2012 presidential election season gets underway. Gates has led the Pentagon through a major shift in overall strategy beginning near the end of the Bush administration and continuing when he agreed to stay on as the defense secretary under President Obama.
Gates says his strategy in Afghanistan was based on watching the Soviet Union fall apart fighting in Afghanistan. “Once the Afghans come to see you as an occupier, you’re toast,” Gates said. But he came to believe that the Soviets failed because they had killed 1 million Afghans and displaced 5 million more, turning the whole country against them. “Clearly,” Gates told FP, “none of that is what we were about in Afghanistan.”
Gates’s new strategy for Afghanistan, championed by former Afghan war commander Stanley McChrystal, is based on the idea of avoiding that fate. McChrystal wanted to add 40,00 troops, but use them as part of a strategy that emphasized building relationships with the locals and giving them control of the situation. That strategy is being carried on by Gen. David Petraeus, McChrystal’s successor.
The FP article continues:
In the end, Obama decided to send 30,000 extra troops (McChrystal had recommended 40,000) and adopt a somewhat scaled-down version of a counterinsurgency strategy, while also beginning to withdraw some of those troops by July 2011. What-if games are dubious enterprises, but it’s not unreasonable to infer that, had Gates come into those meetings as skeptical as he’d been before his summertime conversion, the emerging consensus — and Obama’s decision — might have tilted toward a smaller deployment and a less ambitious strategy.
Today, as the last 10,000 of the “surge” troops arrive in Afghanistan amid growing doubts in Washington and elsewhere about the war, Gates is optimistic that the strategy for Afghanistan will work. McChrystal’s firing did little to change the overall approach because Obama replaced him with Petraeus, who knew the plan and terrain well. “I see the process of transition in Afghanistan being similar to Iraq,” Gates said in our interview, “in which we’re in the lead, then we’re partners [with Afghan security forces], then they’re in the lead, then we’re in tactical overwatch, and then strategic overwatch. And that will take some time.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, David Petraeus, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal
Posted in Government & Law, Israel & Middle East, Military & Veterans, Obama & Biden | No Comments »
August 12th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
The federal judge who struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage issued an extension on Thursday of the hold he placed on enforcement of his ruling. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker gave supporters of the ban until August 18 to appeal the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If the 9th Circuit does not order a stay before then, marriages between same-sex couples will be allowed to proceed in California.
Supporters of Proposition 8, the ballot measure defining marriage as between one man and one woman, said they would immediately appeal the decision. Alliance Defense Fund Litigation Staff Counsel Jim Campbell said, “The Protectmarriage.com legal team will appeal immediately to the 9th Circuit to stay the trial court’s decision until this case is concluded. This case has just begun, and ADF and the rest of the legal team are confident that the right of Americans to protect marriage in their state constitutions will ultimately be upheld. It makes no sense to impose a radical change in marriage on the people of California before all appeals on their behalf are heard. If the trial court’s decision is eventually reversed, refusing to stay the decision will senselessly create legal uncertainty surrounding any same-sex unions entered while the appeal is pending.”
Tags: Proposition 8, Same-sex marriage, Vaughn Walker
Posted in Government & Law, Marriage & Family | No Comments »
August 12th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
Linda McMahon, the winner of Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary election in Connecticut, is best known as the CEO of her family’s professional wrestling enterprise, World Wrestling Entertainment. The WWE has long attracted criticism from Christians and social conservatives for its peddling of bawdy and violent shows for “entertainment.” But now, McMahon is receiving the support of some of those Christians and social conservatives.
WORLD Magazine reports:
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., speaking with Fox’s Greta van Susteren Tuesday night, complimented McMahon. “She is one tough businesswoman, and she is no-nonsense, and I really respect her,” he said. “Obviously, she’s in a business that is entertainment, and edgy entertainment, but she’s the business side of that relationship. Her husband, Vince, was the showman side of the business, and she’ll be a very serious candidate. I think she’ll be an excellent candidate. She fits Connecticut very, very well.”
Businesswoman McMahon has also been in the ring — participating in the cheesy and sometimes more debasing wrestlings acts. One broadcast depicts Linda McMahon fake-kicking a man in the groin in the wrestling ring while her husband Vince and daughter stand by cheering. “My wife, Linda McMahon!” he proclaims, holding her arm up in victory, as the man pretends to writhe on the floor. In another match she pretends to slap her grown daughter Stephanie to the ground.
In campaign ads McMahon describes World Wrestling Entertainment as a vehicle of job creation. The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. John Cornyn, called WWE a “successful international corporation” in a committee memo hailing her nomination.
But should Christians support a candidate known for promoting “edgy entertainment” just because she made a successful business out of it? Does it make a difference that, though she is pro-choice, her opponent is more so?
Politics and party victories should not be the primary focus for Christians. Politics are a means to affect lawmaking, and lawmaking is a way for us to love our neighbors as ourselves. But does it benefit our neighbors when we reward people who draw our culture further away from biblical principles of morality?
Tags: abortion, culture, John Cornyn, Linda McMahon, morality, politics, primary elections, professional wrestling, Republicans, Rick Santorum, Senate, WWE
Posted in Arts & Entertainment, Church & Religion, Government & Law, Media & Communications | 1 Comment »
August 11th, 2010 by Nathan Curby
President Obama signs Elena Kagan's commission in the Oval Office following her confirmation to the Supreme Court, Aug. 6, 2010. (Photo: White House/Pete Souza)
The Senate voted last week to confirm Elena Kagan as the successor to Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. Kagan was confirmed by a near-party line vote of 63-37 as only 5 Republicans and all but one Democrat voted to approve her appointment.
Kagan’s appointment for the first time puts three women on the court at the same time. She joins Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Obama’s first appointment to the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Kagan’s rise to the court also marks probably the first time in American history that the Supreme Court does not have a single Protestant member. Kagan is the third Jewish member, joining the court’s six Catholic members.
Tags: Barack Obama, Catholicism, Elena Kagan, John Paul Stevens, Judaism, Protestantism, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court
Posted in Church & Religion, Government & Law, Obama & Biden | No Comments »
A pair of articles in the New York Times highlights the important role of clerks to Supreme Court justices, though how much influence the clerks have over their bosses is debatable. Adam Liptak writes that in recent years, justices have become more and more likely to hire clerks of their political stripe. Justices appointed by a Republican president tend to hire clerks who previously worked for appeals judges appointed by a Republican president, and vice-versa for those appointed by a Democratic president.
