A little over a year and a half ago, in a piece analyzing the Justice Department transition from Clinton to Bush, I wrote: Unsurprisingly, one factor that is very seldom discussed in Election 2008 coverage is how the candidates would treat the DoJ if elected, both ideologically and logistically. Perhaps it’s time for Wolf Blitzer [...]

The Supreme Court today released a press release announcing that they will be providing the audio recording of oral arguments in Boumediene and Al-Odah as early as possible. Its nice to see that the Court is embracing the internet and recognizing the advantage that speedily released arguments provide. The transcript will appear online at its [...]

Kid gets tasered in Florida at a Kerry speech because he talked over his time and resisted police. I’m just going to presume you’ve already heard the story. But what is up with the public outcry over this tasering? Everywhere I look, news agencies are pumping out stories about how this is an egregious violation [...]

Yesterday the University of Texas sent out an email to all of its students outlining its policy towards hazing and detailing some crimes that are considered hazing. You can find the entire email in memorandum form here but these are the relevant excerpts: According to the law, a person can commit a hazing offense not [...]

Although my friends and family would call me argumentative to fault, I try to make a point of admitting when I’m wrong. I’ve been watching this spectacular debate between Justices Breyer and Scalia and it looks like I might have seriously underrated the value of originalism. If you have 90 minutes to spare, I suggest [...]

Apparently Arlen Specter isn’t particularly happy with the recent Stare Decisis-related performances of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. I’m not exactly sure what he wants to do about it, but it looks like he just wants to take a look at past decisions and remarks from the two Justices and decide whether or not [...]

Unlike the flagship conservative judicial philosophy of originalism, I think there is a lot of value in ‘strict constructionism.’ I’m pretty sure that most people would agree with me wholeheartedly because ‘strict constructionism’ is one of those universally good concepts along with ‘peace’, ‘love’, and ‘unix.’ Everyone (almost) agrees that peace is a good thing. [...]

Stanley Fish wrote a very silly editorial on his blog over at the NY Times. His title proclaims ‘Clarence Thomas is Right.’ When I read the title, I first thought 1) Yes, Clarence Thomas is decidedly conservative and 2) No, Clarence Thomas does not posses enough legitimacy to ever be considered ‘correct’. Fish flops over [...]

Just last week in ACLU v. NSA, the sixth circuit Court of Appeals struck down the ACLU’s suit against the NSA’s warrantless-wiretapping authority. In a 2-1 decision, two concurring opinions were published meaning that not one of the judges agreed with another’s methodology. Lets take a look at this case and its potential implications. The [...]