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The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

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Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

So next Monday is the last day to release decisions. The Chicago gun case should be decided, along with a couple other big ones.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

Kepler said:
9-nil.
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Call me crazy, but when you can get scalia/thomas AND ruth bader ginsburg to agree on something, there must be something behind it.

I'm not saying it's the right decision or the wrong one since I haven't really read the law or the opinions. I'm just saying that when both of those camps agree on something, it's worth a look beyond face value.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

dxmnkd316 said:
Call me crazy, but when you can get scalia/thomas AND ruth bader ginsburg to agree on something, there must be something behind it.

I'm not saying it's the right decision or the wrong one since I haven't really read the law or the opinions. I'm just saying that when both of those camps agree on something, it's worth a look beyond face value.
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Considering Ginsberg authored the decision and limited "honest services" to fraud and kickback issues, I would agree with your assessment. There are ton of white collar statutes in Title 18, and the honest services statute was bastardized by lazy DOJ careerists and political hacks. If you want to prosecute someone for wire fraud, securities violations or insider trading use the appropriate statutes you lazy ****s.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

As expected, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of McDonald in McDonald v. Chicago.
 
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Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

Part of Sarbanes-Oxley just got knocked out on "separation of powers" grounds. 5-4 again.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

We'll talk again if Obama has the opportunity to name Scalia's replacement. :p

I don't know if constant 5-4's is necessarily terrible -- fundamental ideological disagreements can't just be ignored -- though it may indicate poor leadership, and it means none of these issues are really "solved." This is either a transitional Court on the way somewhere, or a placeholder Court waiting for a new generation of intellectually serious jurists.

We'll find out.
 
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Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

Kepler said:
intellectually serious jurists.
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We'll see about that. That's like saying a centrist or moderate politician. It's like a unicorn or a leprechaun. Myth and legend.

O'Connor may have been one of the last real "intellectually serious jurists". It was a sad day for me when she retired.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

dxmnkd316 said:
We'll see about that. That's like saying a centrist or moderate politician. It's like a unicorn or a leprechaun. Myth and legend.

O'Connor may have been one of the last real "intellectually serious jurists". It was a sad day for me when she retired.
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O'Connor was criticized by both sides for not being a "dependable vote." It drives ideologues up a wall when you don't fit into the us or them camps, but actually consider the case before you. :)

I think there's hope -- that there are thousands of intellectually serious people out there who could improve the Court. We could start by compiling a list of the ideal nominees of the major political think tanks on both sides, and DQ'ing them. Of the current Court, that would probably knock out all but Kennedy.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

Interesting Supreme Court ruling in the Hastings law school case, where the Court, by 5-4 ruled against the Christian student group which wished to exclude students who wouldn't meet the group's membership requirements. The court ruled that the school was within its rights to not recognize the Christian student group and let the group receive benefits a recognized student group on campus receives. Depending on your view, this is a victory against attempted discrimination, or a potentially serious undermining of freedom of religion and association. I lean toward the latter, though hopefully this ruling is very specific to Hastings' circumstances and not construed broadly or a sign of further things to come. Kennedy was the swing vote, siding with the court's liberals, as he does at times.

A couple interesting views from Forbes and The Atlantic:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/28/religion-speech-legal-supreme-court-opinions-columnists-richard-a-epstein.html?boxes=financechannelforbes

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/06/christian-group-denied-recognition/58860/
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

It is a really interesting case, and I'll enjoy reading various scholarly responses to it. I'm in the process of reading Stanley Fish's The Trouble with Principle, and this is right up that same alley. Fish, interestingly, rejects the concept of "reverse discrimination" as the very sort of relativism that conservatives usually decry. It's a thoughtful argument I'd recommend to people interested in these sort of ethical dilemmas.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

Jeff Sessions has to be the biggest idiot in the Senate ... and that says a lot.
 
Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

ScottM said:
Jeff Sessions has to be the biggest idiot in the Senate ... and that says a lot.
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That's intellectually dishonest.

I guess what I'm saying is the overall picture that you portray of Jeff Sessions seems to me to be disconnected to the reality of it.

I feel like that you were not rigorously accurate in describing the whole nature of this circumstance and so I'm disappointed in it.
 
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Re: The Power of the SCOTUS II: "Release the Kagan!"

Kepler said:
Unless Coburn and DeMint retired, he's still only got the bronze.
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I was listening to his questioning of Kagan, and felt myself having a "Lewis Black Moment" ... :D
 
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