“Wonkette is dead — long live Wonkette.” “The Reliable Source” column in Wednesday’s issue of The Washington Post begins, “Ana Marie Cox, the writer who made Washington politics irresistibly naughty, is giving up her job as a full-time, pajama-clad blogger to become a full-time, pajama-clad author. Cox, who just signed a contract for her second book, will hand off the political Web site to David Lat, the lawyer who secretly penned Underneath Their Robes, an irreverent blog about the judiciary world.”
“Board Rescinds ‘Intelligent Design’ Policy”: The Associated Press provides this report from Dover, Pennsylvania.
“U.S. to Seek Dismissal of Guantanamo Suits”: Neil A. Lewis will have this article Wednesday in The New York Times.
“Poll Shows Americans Are Divided On Support for Alito Confirmation”: The Wall Street Journal Online provides a report (free access) that begins, “Americans lack consensus on whether the Senate should confirm Judge Samuel Alito as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, a Harris Interactive poll shows.”
And FOXNews.com reports that “Groups Start Final Push Ahead of Alito Hearing.”
“Bork To The Future”: Investor’s Business Daily today contains an editorial that begins, “With his confirmation hearing set for Monday, liberals are out to slime Samuel Alito, digging up ancient memos to prove he is out of the mainstream. The memos and his record prove just the opposite.”
Tomorrow in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Helen Thomas will have an op-ed entitled “Court doesn’t need Scalia clone.”
And today’s broadcast of the Rush Limbaugh show contained a segment entitled “Left Will Attack Alito, But So What?”
“Justice to Try to Toss Gitmo Challenges”: The Associated Press provides this report.
“Surprisingly Controversial Ninth Circuit Employment Case”: At the “Disability Law” blog, Law Professor Samuel R. Bagenstos offers his take on the Ninth Circuit‘s affirmance of a judgment under the Americans with Disabilities Act in favor of a telephone service technician who did not disclose on his employment application that he had been found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity.
“Roberts’ Annual Report Focuses on Threats to Judicial Independence”: law.com’s Tony Mauro provides this report.
“Happy Birthday, Drug Court”: North Dakota Supreme Court News provides a report that begins, “The state’s first adult drug court will be five years old this week, and there’s going to be a party.” Not the kind of party at which illegal drugs are welcome, however.
“Government renews Padilla plea”: At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post that begins, “The Justice Department on Tuesday renewed its plea to the Supreme Court to order the prompt release of terrorism suspect Jose Padilla from military custody, and once more argued that his appeal to the Supreme Court is a dead issue, legally.” You can access the Solicitor General’s “Reply Brief in Support of the Government’s Application Respecting the Custody and Transfer of Jose Padilla,” filed today in the U.S. Supreme Court, at this link.
“Gay Activists Sue to Protect Gay Marriage”: The Associated Press provides this report from Boston.
“Battle over property rights goes on, despite ruling; A mediator will decide if homes in New London, Conn., will be razed to make way for private development”: Warren Richey will have this article Wednesday in The Christian Science Monitor.
So that isn’t how cases are currently being decided? Justice Sandra Day O’Connor served as grand marshal of the 117th Rose Parade, held yesterday in soggy Pasadena. The Los Angeles Times today contains an article reporting that Justice O’Connor “told parade officials she was looking forward to doing the ritual coin toss to start the Rose Bowl game, joking that she would sometimes like to use the same technique on the bench.”
“Alabama Justices Surrender to Judicial Activism”: ADF Alliance Alert has posted online this must-read op-ed by Justice Tom Parker of the Supreme Court of Alabama. The op-ed apparently appeared on Sunday in The Birmingham News, although there’s no sign of it at the newspaper’s web site.
Update: At “PrawfsBlawg,” Steve Vladeck responds to the op-ed with a post titled “Apparently, the Supremacy Clause Doesn’t Apply in Alabama.” And at “Sentencing Law and Policy,” Doug Berman has a related post titled “Should state supreme courts refuse to follow Gideon, Miranda, Blakely?”
“Rhode Island Legalizes Medical Marijuana”: The Associated Press provides this report. As a result, users will only be violating federal law, and of course federal prisons are much nicer than Rhode Island state prisons.
“Senate Judiciary Committee Profiles”: The Associated Press provides this guide to the questioners and speechifiers.
“Slate’s Jurisprudence: Judge Alito’s Paper Trail.” This segment (RealPlayer required) featuring Dahlia Lithwick appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR‘s “Day to Day.”
Law Professor Joseph T. Thai will have a profile of Justice John Paul Stevens in the Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (2006): And the profile is available for download at SSRN via this link.
“Plaintiffs in this case do not contest that they are contractually bound to arbitrate the merits of their dispute, but seek to litigate whether one arbitrator, rather than three, should preside over the arbitration.” To which a unanimous Fourth Circuit panel responded, in an opinion issued today, “Don’t let the courthouse door hit you on the way out.”
“Alito Described As Smart, Serious, Cautious”: The Associated Press provides this report.
New York State appellate court to have a cow, man! The Buffalo News reported yesterday that “Couple appealing ‘farm animal’ ruling.” And The Associated Press reports that “Holy cows remain subject of legal fight.” Of course, the case has a web site devoted to it. And in earlier coverage from The AP, “N.Y. village has beef with Hare Krishna’s cows.”
“Judge Alito’s values threaten Maine’s way of life”: Anna Marie Klein had this op-ed yesterday in The Bangor Daily News.
Ninth Circuit rules on congressional jurisdiction stripping: Stymied by efforts to divide the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Congress nevertheless succeeded in late 2004 in the much less controversial objective of depriving the Ninth Circuit of jurisdiction “to review by writ of certiorari all final decisions of the highest court of Guam from which a decision could be had.”
Today, the Ninth Circuit has decided, in an opinion you can access here, that the legislation deprives the Ninth Circuit of the ability to decide the merits of all such cases from Guam that were in the Ninth Circuit’s pipeline as of the date on which the bill became law. As noted here at “SCOTUSblog,” the question of jurisdiction stripping and its effect on pending cases has gained added significance in recent days in connection with various aspects of the Guantanamo detainee litigation.
Before residents of the northwestern United States move en masse to Guam in the hope of being free of the Ninth Circuit, they should keep in mind that the Ninth Circuit continues to have appellate jurisdiction over the federal District Court of Guam. It’s just the cases coming from the Guam state courts, via the Supreme Court of Guam, that aren’t subject to discretionary review by the Ninth Circuit any longer.
“Samuel Williston — Brief life of a resilient legal scholar: 1861-1963.” Law Professor Mark L. Movsesian has this article (also available here in PDF) in the January-February 2006 issue of Harvard Magazine.
“Who’s a parent? Ocoee woman sues over 2 girls.” Last Friday’s issue of The Orlando Sentinel contained this article.
“Profound issues in Seattle lawsuit; State high court set to rule on gay rights”: This article appears today in The San Francisco Chronicle.
“Environmental Enemy #1: Greens vs. Alito.” Jonathan H. Adler has this essay today at National Review Online.
“Progress for America Voter Fund (PFA-VF) today announced a 9-day, $500,000 advertising buy in support of the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.” The full press release is here, while you can view the ad via this link (or directly here using Windows Media Player).
“Abortion Case Will Be Key at Alito Hearing”: The Associated Press provides this report.
And today in The Boston Globe, Washington bureau chief Peter S. Canellos’s National Perspective column is entitled “The central question on Alito: Is he activist?”
“Article III Groupie Expected to Become Wonkette”: This post appears at the brand new “Law Blog” at WSJ.com. Meanwhile, in news from India (where A3G initially appears to be going), “Nameless bloggers are out in the cold.”
Update: For those who keep track of such things, it appears that The New York Observer’s “The Media Mob” blog was the first to break the news.
“Eminent domain now big business; Lawmakers, owners confront land grabs”: The Chicago Tribune contains this article today.
