By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens demonstrated the importance of America's upcoming presidential choice as he spoke Monday to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Name the last nominee to the Supreme Court by a Democratic president who turned out to be a judicial conservative. Maybe Justice Byron White, appointed by John F. Kennedy, who dissented from Roe v. Wade, but one largely draws a blank. Ask the converse, and the list is long and disheartening.
Before she joined the high court, Justice Elena Kagan was President Obama's solicitor general. When the federal government is involved in litigation before the Supreme Court, the solicitor general's office is responsible for the government's side of the case. That means the solicitor general is essentially the president's top advocate before the Supreme Court.
Barry's mayoral hires now at peak seniority; Virginia Democrats make final push for today's elections; Chief Lanier to get tough on 'confrontational' protesters; Ex-Justice Stevens says recent Maryland redistricting is 'outrageously unconstitutional'; Unqualified support for Gray pick to run 911 call center; Judge: Huguely attorneys can see Love's entire autopsy-medical history; George Washington University professor cut class but gave 'A' grades; O'Malley joins national effort for same-sex marriage.
Twenty-six states press for a speedy ruling to questions surrounding President Obama's health care overhaul.
Raising prospects for a major election-year ruling, the Obama administration launched its Supreme Court defense of its landmark health care overhaul Wednesday, appealing what it called a "fundamentally flawed" appeals court decision that declared the law's central provision unconstitutional.
The Justice Department is joining calls by states and a business group for prompt Supreme Court review of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Laws requiring voters to present valid identification before casting their ballots are growing in popularity. Six states -Georgia, Indiana, Texas, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Kansas - have recently passed voter ID laws, and more have them under consideration.
The Supreme Court dealt Al Gore, the Environmental Protection Agency and other believers in alarmist climate science a surprising and severe blow this week. In its June 20 decision on American Electric Power v. Connecticut et al., the court ruled that the mere existence of EPA regulatory authority over greenhouse-gas regulations pre-empted lawsuits against coal-burning utilities on the grounds that the emissions constitute a public nuisance.
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is writing a memoir.
In recent years, Supreme Court justices have interjected international law into their rulings, creating an environment of disregard for national sovereignty and threatening the institutions put in place by our forefathers. The Constitution laid the foundation for our nation's judicial system, and allowing foreign law to supersede it in any capacity leads to its erosion. Not only is using international precedent a transparent disregard for the Constitution, but it could be used to advance a judge's personal political agenda over the best interests of the nation.
Once again, a major court has ruled that states have every right to fight voter fraud by requiring voters to show identification. The Obama Justice Department, however, is on the wrong side of the argument. Fortunately, the sanctity of the vote is being upheld against those undermining it.
The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition by several environmental groups to ban lead in fishing tackle. The decision comes two months after rejecting the groups' attempt to ban lead in hunting ammunition.
Sometimes, a Supreme Court justice will recuse himself from hearing a case. The justice may own stock in the company before the court, or a close relative will be arguing the case. The situations in which justices recuse themselves are infrequent, and rarer still are the situations in which the resulting eight-member court will split in a 4-4 tie - until now.
The Supreme Court's upcoming term will include the most emotionally charged freedom-of-speech case in recent history along with the usual assortment of high-profile challenges focusing on hot-button issues such as immigration and prosecutorial misconduct.
Justice Stevens told the assembled gun grabbers of the urgent need for Congress to adopt laws restricting the right to keep and bear arms.
As the author of the dissenting opinions in the Heller and McDonald cases, which affirmed the right of individuals to keep handguns in the home, Justice Stevens said the high court precedent still allows new laws rolling back our rights.
