SCOTUS Part II - The Justices (End of Year Re-Run)

I know, it's Friday, and you want your Follies.  But we've done a few extra follies lately, and I want to get one more re-run in before we go back to our normal schedule.  This is the second of my SCOTUS background pieces.  This one (from June 6th) is about the current justices, and how this Roberts Court stacks up versus prior Courts...

The Happiest Court Ever

My kids ate my homework.  Okay, no, but boy did they get in the way of me doing any kind of efficient writing in the past two days.  Until the fall I am first a mom at just about all times, and only secondly, well, a person who can do things like write cogent sentences without being interrupted constantly, particularly when my kids are low on sleep and wearing their cranky pants.  But bear with me for one more bit of background, because it really does help in any discussion about the Court to know something about the personalities and histories of the current justices.

First a note about terminology:  There are no liberals on the Court right now,

SCOTUS Part I - Con Law 101 (End of Year Re-Run)

In preparation for more Court-watching soon, I thought it's worthwhile to revisit my 2-part series from June on the Supreme Court.  Today's edition revisits the law...

I'd like to talk some about the Supreme Court this week.  But first I think it's worthwhile for those of us who aren't particularly focused on the Supreme Court (and really, how many of us are), to talk a bit about the Court and its current members.  These are probably things you learned about at some point in school, but like with me and anything to do with chemistry or calculus, they may have been tossed by your brain to make room for things you use more.  Like 1980s song lyrics.  Seriously, when the kids get to chemistry and calculus it's going to be painful.  But if they would like to know the words to every Madonna song, I've got it covered.

Live-Blog 5.0: Can I Get A...?

AAAAAAAHHHHHH.  It's finally here, people.

No more friggin' political ads.  No more robocalls.  Actually, we may have a few more hours of those.  For those people who inexplicably have yet to decide.


Follow us below to the live-blogging action, and the results contest (yes, you could earn your very own YBGP t-shirt if your prognosticating skills are up to snuff).

SCOTUS: New Decisions

I. Southern Union - 1st Cir reversed 6-3. And this is interesting: Breyer dissents, joined by Kennedy and Alito.  This is about whether it's necessary for the jury to find each fact that leads to a higher fine by a reasonable doubt - or whether a judge can do it.  Sotomayor: "The Sixth Amendment reserves to juries the determination of any fact, other than the fact of a prior conviction, that increases a criminal defendant’s maximum potential sentence. We have applied this principle in numerous cases where the sen- tence was imprisonment or death. The question here is whether the same rule applies to sentences of criminal fines. We hold that it does."  Juries must decide, even with fines.  Breyer, Kennedy, and Alito want to give the power to judges - drawing a distinction on those facts which involve judge's sentencing decisions - and they think the majority resolution is unworkable.


II. Knox v SEIU - Alito opinion, 9th Cir reversed, 7-2, Breyer dissent, joined by Kagan. Sotomayor concurs, Ginsburg joined her.  "Whether a state can require its employees to pay a special union fee that will be spent for political purposes without first giving the employees information about the fee and a chance to object to it." I'm going to focus on this one the most, because I think it is the most important and the most political of the decisions that came down today.

SCOTUS: Citizens United Sucks

1. Money is not speech.  It's not even close to speech.  

SCOTUS Part II - The Justices

The Happiest Court Ever

My kids ate my homework.  Okay, no, but boy did they get in the way of me doing any kind of efficient writing in the past two days.  Until the fall I am first a mom at just about all times, and only secondly, well, a person who can do things like write cogent sentences without being interrupted constantly, particularly when my kids are low on sleep and wearing their cranky pants.  But bear with me for one more bit of background, because it really does help in any discussion about the Court to know something about the personalities and histories of the current justices.

First a note about terminology:  There are no liberals on the Court right now,

SCOTUS Part I - Con Law 101

I'd like to talk some about the Supreme Court this week.  But first I think it's worthwhile for those of us who aren't particularly focused on the Supreme Court (and really, how many of us are), to talk a bit about the Court and its current members.  These are probably things you learned about at some point in school, but like with me and anything to do with chemistry or calculus, they may have been tossed by your brain to make room for things you use more.  Like 1980s song lyrics.  Seriously, when the kids get to chemistry and calculus it's going to be painful.  But if they would like to know the words to every Madonna song, I've got it covered.

Et Tu, Booker?

So what do you make of Newark, New Jersey mayor /Obama spokesman Corey Booker calling ads which criticize Romney’s dealings with Bain “nauseating” and equating those ads with ads which were set to criticize former Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright?