Note: A screenshot of the Oklahoma “personhood” bill has been added to the recent post “Embryos gain personhood in Oklahoma bill.”
Catholic men of America — and all conservatives who support them — you’re not going to win this debate. You are not going to deprive American women of the benefits of 21st Century science, medicine, and law. You are not going to inject your archaic religious beliefs into American jurisprudence and drag us women back … Continue reading
Here we go again. Hot on the heels of the SOPA/PIPA shelving, Harry Reid and the Democrats are launching a new assault on Internet privacy — the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2012. This time the attack is not being led by the recording industry; it’s being done by our own government in the name … Continue reading
Imagine you are at the mall one day and suddenly you are surrounded by a bunch of strangers, arrested, and taken to jail. Then you are transferred to prison and ultimately to the infamous U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. No one bothers to tell you that you are suspected of being a terrorist … Continue reading
Hopes springs eternal. A constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decison has been proposed and introduced in Congress. Now there’s a petition. It may not help, but it can’t hurt. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, a co-sponsor of the amendment, is not mentioned on the petition site. I’m not sure why. It looks … Continue reading
“Birth tourism.” I first heard about it a while back, but at the time it was just an obscure idea said to be catching on in China Silly me. I should have known. If the Chinese saw the potential, so would everyone else in the world. That’s a lot of people gaming the 14th Amendment … Continue reading
Gotta give the government credit. They’re always coming up with new and better ways to catch bad guys. Now it seems they have a gadget called a “stingray” that can track cell phones, even if they aren’t being used to make a call. I’m all for law enforcement dreaming up new ways to catch the … Continue reading
Ever heard of a Super Congress? Well, hang onto your hats, because apparently this is the latest idea to navigate past all the obstacles and get a budget deal in Washington. Of course, it navigates right past the Constitution too, but hey, they’ve got to get a deal done, right? This is how today’s Huffington … Continue reading
In the wake of 9/11, Congress took advantage of a fearful public and a rare moment of national unity to pass the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, or USA PATRIOT Act. The legislation gave unprecedented and unchecked power to the president and cavalierly suspended many … Continue reading
The Supreme Court today upheld an Arizona state law that would penalize businesses hiring illegal immigrants. The case was Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting. Frankly, I’m really surprised. There’s been so much talk about Arizona’s immigration-related laws (particularly SB 1070) being unconstitutional because immigration enforcement is the federal government’s responsibility, not the states’. Today’s ruling … Continue reading
I’ve already ranted about the TSA’s invasive groping and scanning in the name of national security, so I won’t launch into that again. However, I do want to lift my glass to the New Hampshire legislature for proposing a law that would criminalize such behavior. As noted in its introductory text, the NH bill (HB628-FN) … Continue reading
The following appeared in a Christian Science Monitor story about two hours ago: The Fourth Circuit’s decision has profound repercussions. … It grants the executive discretion to displace the constitutional protections of the criminal justice system, including the right to speedy presentment, confrontation, and trial by jury, merely by alleging a connection to possible terrorist … Continue reading
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. As an editor, I can interpret this only one way: the framers of the Constitution meant to ensure that the … Continue reading