Columnist.
In a second loss in less than two weeks, a federal court has once again ruled *against* the Obama administration, this time in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) tussle with Judicial Watch over the Clinton email fiasco. Previously, on March 22, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Justice Department and the IRS to stop their "continuous resistance" and "meritless" objections to producing information and documentation sought in a lawsuit filed by a Tea Party organization in the IRS targeting scandal.
The plaza of the U.S. Supreme Court and the courtroom itself were full of people you don't normally see at the court — priests, ministers, and nuns of various religious orders. They were there Wednesday to hear the U.S. government argue that the Little Sisters of the Poor — an order of Catholic nuns who have served the elderly and the poor for 175 years — must violate their faith and assist in providing contraceptive drugs and devices (including abortifacients) for all of their nuns and any other employees — through their health care plans.
The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a congressional redistricting case that involves the complicated issues that arise under the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment when race intersects with politics. Experienced Supreme Court litigator Mike Carvin was up against Marc Elias, who is the attorney for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, although he was not acting in that capacity in this case. Virginia has eleven congressional districts. Eight are represented by Republicans and three by Democrats. One congressional district, District 3, is majority/minority district under the Voting Rights Act (i.e., it has a majority of black voters and is represented by a black Democrat, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va).
The free-for-all boxing match among the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, Kansas, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) resumed on Wednesday, March 9. They're tussling over the right of states to require proof of citizenship from people using the federal voter registration form.
Last week, over the dissent of Justice Samuel Alito, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving a prison's refusal to allow a Jewish man to study the Torah with others because of the prison official's erroneous interpretation of Jewish doctrine. Israel Ben-Levi, an inmate in the Hoke Correctional Institution in North Carolina, sought a quiet place to have a Jewish Bible Study one hour per week with two other Jewish prisoners. The prison denied his request, because in the prison official's interpretation of Jewish doctrine, a Jewish Bible Study requires a minyan — 10 adult Jews — or the presence of a rabbi.
"[T]his is ... reminiscent of the old Soviet Union."
In news that should shock and anger Americans, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that not only has she discussed internally the possibility of pursuing civil actions against so-called "climate change deniers," but she has "referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for which we could take action."
Many don't seem to appreciate something that other countries envy: The American experience includes no coup d'etat. For more than 200 years, after every election, each of elected leaders has peacefully turned over the reins of power. Few countries can claim such a record. Despite our divisions, we remain a stable democracy in which we are free to debate and argue — almost always without violence — the paths we should follow as a nation. Underpinning that stability is the First Amendment, which protects our right to advocate and contribute money to the candidates and causes we believe in.
Someone should remind President Obama and Juan Williams what the Constitution actually says about confirming nominees. They seem unaware of how the process works. They also appear ignorant of the facts regarding the many judicial nominees the president has had confirmed over the past seven years. First of all, the claim by Juan Williams that race "has something to do" with Republicans' supposedly not moving on President Obama's appointments is completely false — and the numbers prove it. The U.S. Senate has confirmed 321 individuals nominated to the federal bench during Obama's presidency: 264 district court judges, 55 appeals-court judges, and two Supreme Court justices. That represents more than one third of the entire federal judiciary.
We continue to get rapid developments in the noncitizen voter-registration lawsuit involving the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, and the U.S. Department of Justice. DOJ has been siding with the League and the NAACP instead of defending the EAC. The latest actions of the Justice Department (DOJ), which include filing a motion for a protective order, seek to shield from discovery potential government misbehavior that could affect election outcomes.
Wednesday, while a huge crowd of protesters stood in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building, the justices heard oral argument in the first major abortion case in nearly a decade. In Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court is considering whether Texas' H.B. 2 law — a commonsense reform intended to increase women's health and safety — has the purpose or effect of imposing an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions. The law requires abortion clinic doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic and clinics to meet the minimum health and safety standards that other ambulatory surgical centers have to meet.
The New York Post is reporting that some members of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus will be pushing for the New York City Council to pass a law allowing illegal aliens to vote in NYC elections for mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough president, and City Council. This is an anti-democratic policy driven by politics that dilutes what it means to be a citizen.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Gregory Scalia possessed one of the greatest legal minds of our generation. His unexpected death on Saturday was a tremendous loss for the nation that he loved, for the rule of law that he championed, and for the Constitution he strove to restore throughout his 30 years on the court.
The Justice Department's Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, has released a second report on Operation Fast and Furious that questions whether other law enforcement agencies within the Justice Department have implemented the Inspector General's recommendations that were intended to ensure they don't make the same mistakes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) made.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel vacated a ruling by a Maryland district court that had upheld the state's ban on so-called "assault weapons" and large-capacity magazines (holding more than 10 rounds). In Kolbe v. Hogan, the panel (in a 2-1 decision) sent the case back to the district court, holding that the district court judge had used the wrong standard to review the law. The district court had rejected the plaintiffs' Second Amendment claims, concluding that the Maryland restrictions passed constitutional muster under "intermediate scrutiny" review.
"[A] private individual whose only intent is to expose possibly illegal activity is under indictment."
In an astonishing bit of legerdemain, a local grand jury in Harris County, Texas, has refused to indict Planned Parenthood for violating a Texas statute that prohibits the attempted sale of human organs, despite the video evidence to the contrary showing Planned Parenthood doctors and executives discussing organ sales. But the very same grand jury *has* indicted David Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), who organized, filmed, and released the undercover "60 Minutes"-style videos, for supposedly violating *the very same Texas statute*, which also prohibits the attempted *purchase* of human organs.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris has joined New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in trying to prosecute ExxonMobil for supposedly lying to its shareholders and the public about climate change, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times reported that Harris is investigating what ExxonMobil "knew about global warming and what the company told investors."
In an odd coincidence, a federal district court on Tuesday issued a decision against President Barack Obama in the Operation Fast and Furious fiasco, at almost the same time that Fox News broke a story about Mexican authorities finding a Fast and Furious gun in the hideout of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in another free speech and association case, this time involving a police officer who was demoted for purportedly helping the challenger in his town's mayoral election. The First Amendment is supposed to protect the free speech and associational rights of individuals who work for the government. Yet, in Paterson, N.J., Jeffery Heffernan was subject to an adverse employment action because of his political speech and association.
