You’re watching a soccer game: It’s USA versus Germany, World Cup knockout round. It’s early in the match, about 13 or so minutes in, and Germany are awarded a corner kick. Pretty normal stuff. Well, there’s some tussling and janking around in the box, a pretty normal big mess. But the referee blows his whistle—normal enough, and then the stadium announces that VAR is going to take a look. VAR, or Video Assistant Referee, is the name of a technology and procedure for looking at contested calls on the field. In a box, several referees look over...
Continue reading...scotus
Samuel Alito saw a picture book he didn’t like
Among a torrent of Supreme Court decisions today came one involving a picture book. Well, that’s a little reductive, but also not really. The case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, centered on if a school had to give parents an opportunity to protect their children from such dangerous things as picture books involving LGBT+ themes on the off chance it inhibited the parents’ rights to practice their religion. Without getting too far into the weeds with regards to the facts of the case, the case involved several families in Montgomery County, Maryland, who argued that the local schools adding...
Continue reading...What’s up with all the Obamacare/court things today?
You may be aware that there’s been some Obamacare news today. At issue is some imprecise language in the law as passed. You see, the Affordable Care Act set up the idea of exchanges, or marketplaces where a consumer could compare and buy health insurance. It was expected that each state would run their own exchange, but if a state couldn’t or wouldn’t, then the federal government would step in an run an exchange. Another part of the law set up a system of subsidies, so that if a customer couldn’t afford health insurance, then the federal government would assist financially....
Continue reading...Same-sex marriages in California possible on August 18
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, the judge who ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional, lifted the stay on his decision as of Wednesday, August 18, at 5pm PST. The evidence presented at trial and the position of the representatives of the State of California show that an injunction against enforcement of Proposition 8 is in the public’s interest. Accordingly, the court concludes that the public interest counsels against entry of the stay proponents seek. Of course, that’s assuming that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stays out of it. That’s not likely. Proponents...
Continue reading...63-37
Just moments ago, I watched the Senate finish voting to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan by a vote of 63-37. You\’ll note that I made a silly bet with Lady Blaga that the vote would be 60-40. So, I\’m paying the lady her Hamilton. Sen. Ben Nelson was the only Democrat to vote nay, while Republican Senators Lindsay Graham, Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, Judd Gregg and Richard Lugar voted yea. Scott Brown, as I expected, voted nay and released a statement to that effect, citing her lack of judicial experience. That said, Ben Nelson is the first...
Continue reading...In defense of an admittedly terrible argument
As you probably already heard from this post, Lady Blaga and I have a little wager going on concerning how many votes Elena Kagan’s nomination manages to wrangle in the Senate. Based on some pretty terrible and Friday-night-related maths, I predicted she’d be confirmed, and that it would be by the slimmest of margins: 60 votes. No more, no less. Of course, I didn’t quite expect Lindsey Graham to pull a…Lindsey Graham and not be a hypocrite. So, I’m changing my prediction to 63-64 (Lady Blaga predicts 65), but I do hold to my word and will...
Continue reading...First Thoughts on the Kagan Nom
I’m alarmed by the precedent that a Democratic nominee for Supreme Court cannot have a record on abortion. Elena Kagan doesn’t have a record on much in the way of any controversial issues, but neither she nor Justice Sotomayor had any obvious pro-choice skeletons in the closet. which is disturbing because — “skeletons in the closet”?? Abortion is still a legal medical procedure. The fact that Diane Wood voted consistently to uphold this constitutionally protected right should never have disqualified her, and yet it seems pretty clear that that’s what made her unpalatable. Plus, the nomination confirms...
Continue reading...SCOTUS lifts ban on animal snuff films
The U.S. Supreme Court today handed down its ruling on U.S. v. Stevens, 08-769, and by an 8-1 decision, upheld the decision of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, nullifying a federal law banning the practice of filming cruelty against animals, citing First Amendment speech protection. The case centered around Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Virginia, who ran a business and website selling videos of pit bull fights. He was caught in an F.B.I. sting and was consequently sentenced to three years in prison for violating a 1999 law banning the sale of videos portraying...
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