Columnist.
Those of us concerned over President Barack Obama's excessive use of his power under Art. II, §2, Cl. 1 of the Constitution to grant pardons and commutations to hundreds of drug dealers, many of whom also were convicted of firearms offenses (and therefore, contrary to what the president said, not nonviolent offenders), should realize that he is not the first president to misuse that authority. When former President Bill Clinton was reminiscing this week in his prime-time speech to the nation at the Democratic National Convention, he forgot to mention the scandalous pardons he issued at the end of his administration.
Even the best intentions cannot reverse the insidious effects of a wrong policy. When those who advocate for assisted suicide cite a benevolent desire to relieve suffering, the horrifying results of such a practice still lie just beneath the surface. Recently, an elderly Vermont woman found herself repeatedly pressured to commit assisted suicide. Her grave ailment? Only a broken wrist. Nevertheless, staff at her rehab center "repeatedly asked the elderly woman if she was in pain or depressed; then they would remind her that she could commit doctor-prescribed suicide under the new law."
Some pundits, such as Leon Wolf at RedState, are urging Senate Republicans to quickly confirm President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the sudden passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Wolf argues that there's "absolutely no reason to drag this out any longer" because "Republicans must know that there is absolutely no chance that we will win the White House in 2016 now." With all due respect to Mr. Wolf, we have a different view of why Judge Garland's nomination should not be acted upon. The goal of the Senate Leadership's decision to provide their "Advice" to the president by sitting on the nomination was not to deny Mr. Obama another appointment to the Supreme Court. Rather, the goal was to give the American people the ability to weigh in on who should fill this crucial seat when they cast their votes this November and decide who will be the next president.
The Supreme Court issued its disappointing decision in Abigail Fisher's case on Thursday against the University of Texas at Austin. In an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, four members of the court ruled that the university's race-conscious admissions program does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wrote dissenting opinions (Chief Justice John Roberts joined the latter; Justice Elena Kagan was recused from the case).
In a 4-4 split vote, the Supreme Court has affirmed the judgment of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the preliminary injunction issued by federal district court Judge Andrew Hanen in the case brought by Texas and 25 other states challenging the Obama administration's attempt to give legal status and work authorizations to almost 5 million illegal immigrants. After Congress repeatedly refused to pass the DREAM Act, which would have enabled illegal aliens brought to the United States as children to receive relief from deportation or removal proceedings, President Barack Obama decided to take matters into his own hands.
If the news reports are correct, the latest "gun control" proposal being put forward by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is a "measure that would block people on the Transportation Security Administration's no–fly list from buying firearms," according to ABC News. There is one major problem with that proposal: It is potentially unconstitutional since it would take away a constitutional right — your Second Amendment right to bear arms — at the discretion of a government official in a secret, nontransparent process that has no adequate due process protections.
In the latest assault on the First Amendment right of Americans to freely exercise their religious beliefs, the Illinois Legislature has passed a bill that will force doctors to violate their religious convictions about the immorality of abortions. Illinois SB 1564 has passed both houses and is headed to the governor to sign or veto.
The Justice Department is resisting a judge's order to provide ethics training for its lawyers and is objecting to turning over to the court the names of illegal aliens who were granted what amounts to administrative amnesty ("deferrals") in stark violation of an injunction issued by the court.
On Thursday, five U.S. senators sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch demanding that she stop using Justice Department "law enforcement resources to stifle private debate on one of the most controversial public issues of our time — climate change." Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., David Perdue, R-Ga., and David Vitter, R-La., expressed their concern over the response that Lynch gave at an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March.
Hollywood has always loved making films about the walking dead, but in Southern California it appears they have a real life problem with "zombie" voters. An investigation by CBSLA2 and KCAL9 found that hundreds of deceased persons are still on voter registration rolls in the area, and that many of these names have been voting for years in Los Angeles.
"It should also be kept in mind that the November election could affect this litigation."
A federal district court in Washington, D.C., ruled Thursday in favor of the U.S. House of Representatives' challenge to the Obama administration's implementation of part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The act has been "revised" dozens of times by the administration since its passage in March 2010, leading the House to sue over the administration's payment out of the U.S. Treasury of subsidies to insurance providers for providing cost-sharing reductions to certain policyholders, even though Congress explicitly refused to appropriate funds for these subsidies.
In Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian novel, "Fahrenheit 451," a future society criminalizes the possession of books and burns them in order to suppress any dissenting ideas, opinions, and views. Today, we have state attorneys general trying to implement their own version of "Fahrenheit 451" to criminalize dissent over a disputed, unproven scientific theory: man-induced climate change. Recently, the attorney general of the Virgin Islands, Claude Walker, unleashed a subpoena on the Competitive Enterprise Institute seeking 10 years' worth of research and communications about climate change.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has launched a fierce counter-attack against Claude Walker, the attorney general for the Virgin Islands, who recently served a subpoena on CEI demanding documents related to CEI's research on global "climate change." On April 20, CEI's attorney, Andrew Grossman, filed a long and extensive objection to the subpoena and made it clear that CEI will not comply with it. Grossman, a lawyer at BakerHostetler and co-founder of the Free Speech in Science Project, told Walker in his cover letter that the attorney general's legal action targeting CEI is "a blatant attempt to intimidate and harass an organization for advancing views that you oppose."
There is no doubt that what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 12, 2012, was a horrible event and a terrible tragedy for the parents of the children murdered by Adam Lanza, a mentally disturbed young man. But the decision on April 14 by Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara N. Bellis refusing to dismiss the lawsuit filed against gun manufacturers by the parents is plainly wrong as a matter of law.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has been subpoenaed for questioning "settled science."
In a truly outrageous abuse of his authority and a misuse of the law, the attorney general of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Claude E. Walker, has served a subpoena on the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) demanding documents related to CEI's research on global "climate change." Walker is part of a network of state "AGs United for Clean Power" who have formed a grand inquisition to go after those they claim have lied about climate change — which is a contentious and unproven scientific *theory*.
"This strikes a serious blow against the free flow of ideas."
In a loss for voters, the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously against two residents of Texas who had argued that the Texas legislature diluted their votes when it used total population to redraw state Senate districts. In Evenwel v. Abbott, the Supreme Court allowed states to use total population in redrawing district lines, even though that this includes a large number of noncitizens (legal and illegal), felons, and others who are ineligible to vote.
Beginning in 1478, the Spanish Inquisition systematically silenced any citizen who held views that did not align with the king's. Using the powerful arm of the government, the grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, and his henchmen sought out all those who held religious, scientific, or moral views that conflicted with the monarch's, punishing the "heretics" with jail sentences; property confiscation; fines; and in severe cases, torture and execution.
