Day 1 is done in Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s hearings to become the 112th Supreme Court justice. Thus far there has been relatively little about Kagan herself. In between memorials for Senator Bobby Byrd and Sandra Day O’Connor’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s husband, Republicans griped that no matter what Kagan says, they don’t think …
Supreme Court
The Kagan Chatter Gets Another Boost
Mike Madden, at Salon, uncovers another sign that the White House seems awfully interested in protecting the good name of Elena Kagan, one of the front runners for the open Supreme Court seat.
In the last couple of weeks, after Salon’s Glenn Greenwald linked to this post by Duke University law professor Guy-Uriel Charles raising
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SCOTUS Gets an Education in PDA In More Ways Than One
Listening to arguements today on The City of Ontario v. Quon — a case about whether police officers sexting each other on city-given pagers had an expectation of privacy — the Supreme were struggling a bit with the technology. You know you’re in trouble when the youngest guy on the court, Chief Justice John Roberts, asks: “What’s the …
Quote of the Day
From the Supreme Court’s oral arguments in a sexting case earlier today (via the NYT):
Chief Justice Roberts warned against devising a legal rule that “would require people basically to have two of these things with them, two of whatever they are — the text messager or the BlackBerrys or whatever.”
Since when did Supreme Court …
Wag the SCOTUS
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts last week lashed out at President Obama for his State of the Union criticism of the court’s Citizens United ruling — the line where Associate Justice Samuel Alito shook his head and mouthed the words “No true.” Roberts, speaking at the University of Alabama, called Obama’s remarks “very …
Justice Samuel Alito Objects To President Obama’s Supreme Court Criticism
The most surprising moment in the House Chamber Tuesday night came not from House Minority Leader John Boehner’s frequent gesticulation, but from the subtle exchange between Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and President Obama.
It started when Obama offered a surprisingly blunt criticism of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that …
“…And I Approve This Message”
President Obama is rightly outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which allows corporations and unions to directly support political candidates during campaigns. Anything that adds to the sum total of consultant-driven crap that besieges us at election time is a bad thing.
But. There are no ground rules …
Sotomayor’s Aristotle
Most lawyers (and any one who’s seen Legally Blonde) know well Aristotle’s famous phrase: The law is reason free from passion.