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Kagan recuses

**Written by Doug Powers Tuesday, as Michelle noted, C-Span asked the Supreme Court to allow their cameras to televise oral arguments when the Court hears the Obamacare law case next spring. Nancy Pelosi agrees: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that Supreme Court arguments over President Obama’s healthcare law should be televised. “When [...]

Just in from C-SPAN: A request to Chief Justice John Roberts to allow camera coverage of the Obamacare oral arguments next spring. They’ve been stubbornly opposed to sunlight, but it’s worth a try: SCOTUS Healthcare TV Coverage

Final destination

**Written by Doug Powers The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Senator Schumer is pretty sure that the Supreme Court is not one of the equal but separate branches of government, so as such it’s possible that Chuck’s advised the White House that they have the power to tell the Supreme Court what to do: The Obama administration told the Supreme Court [...]

President Obama just can’t let go of far Left San Francisco liberals out of touch with mainstream America — and the law. After dropping two controversial Bay Area judicial nominees from his slate before Christmas, Obama has resurrected the bids of 9th Circuit nominee Goodwin Liu and US Magistrate and ethnic-card jurist Edward Chen and [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Is burning the Koran something protected by the First Amendment? Supreme Court Justice Breyer told George Stephanopoulos that it might not be, claiming it could be akin to yelling “fire” in a crowded theater — which to me is a bogus argument, provided the book wasn’t set ablaze in a crowded [...]

**Written by Doug Powers There’s soon to be an entire wing in the Nancy Pelosi Hall of Ecclesiastical Shame dedicated to Lindsey Graham: (CNSNews.com) – Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Jesus’s Golden Rule inspired him to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court and suggested it would be [...]

Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was confirmed by the Senate this afternoon. USA Today breaks the vote down: Only five Republicans voted in favor of Kagan’s nomination. Last year, just nine Republicans voted for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s first Supreme Court appointee. Today’s yes votes included Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the lone Republican on [...]

He just announced this morning he’s voting with the Democrats on the Kagan nomination, and reportedly took a holier-than-thou stance by complaining about Dems who blocked Bush judicial nominations. Spare us the bipartisan sanctimony routine. *** Kagan vote count tracker here. Via lefty blog TPM: “What’s in Elena Kagan’s heart is that of a good [...]

**Written by guest-blogger Doug Powers Oh, of course she does, but how quickly even those with the highest formal educations can suddenly act like they were raised by wolves: Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on Tuesday fought off Republicans who were trying hard to paint her as a liberal activist, saying she’d be a fair, [...]

First, the good news: The Supreme Court affirmed the Heller decision on the individual right to bear arms and essentially and effectively struck down the city of Chicago’s sweeping gun ban: The Supreme Court ruled for the first time Monday that the Second Amendment provides all Americans a fundamental right to bear arms, a long-sought [...]

Places, places everyone. Today, the curtain officially opens on the Senate “battle” over Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. “Battle” gets ghost quotes because all the poohbahs on Capitol Hill are already treating her confirmation as a “foregone conclusion.” Beltway Republicans will put up just enough of a fight to placate grass-roots conservative activists on [...]

Scroll for updates…Obama announcement peddles Elena the Populist/Lover of Everyday People narrative… Monday opens with a SCOTUS bang. NBC News reports tonight that Harvard Law School dean turned solicitor general Elena Kagan will be the White House SCOTUS nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. It was widely rumored she would be the pick [...]

“Perhaps unnecessarily colorful language.”

It’s Retirement Friday! On the heels of Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak’s retirement plans, SCOTUS Justice John Paul Stevens confirms swirling rumors of his upcoming retirement this summer. News breaking on the wires and Twitter. AP: Stevens says he will step down when the court finishes its work for the summer in late June or early [...]

Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell is giving a terrific counter-response to Obama’s spend-all, do-all State of the Union address. He is drawing on the Founding Fathers and talking about the need to restrain government. “The federal government is simply trying to do too much.” Speech excerpts here: JOBS “Good government policy should spur economic growth, and [...]

Many of you may remember a scathing documentary by Citizens United about Hillary Clinton from 2007. I blogged about it at the time here. The film became the center of a huge legal battle over the free-speech-stifling McCain-Feingold campaign finance scheme. Parts of the law were struck down by the Supreme Court when the Wisconsin [...]

Able to leap tall life obstacles in a single bound!

On Fox News Channel this morning, Sen. Claire McCaskill dutifully read her “compelling personal story” talking points and hyped Sonia Sotomayor’s compelling personal background while whitewashing her legal record. (RCP Video has the clip here.) Incredibly, McCaskill was not aware that Sotomayor had said “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness [...]

So, it’s Sonia Sotomayor. Identity politics triumphs. Here’s the bio/record info I shared at the beginning of the month: “Judge Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court would be very concerning given her hard-left record on the Court of Appeals, where she is recognized by practitioners as one of the more liberal judges. -Judge Sotomayor’s personal [...]

Hope you are well-rested from the Memorial Day weekend. Lots on the docket — literally. Obama’s SCOTUS pick is widely rumored to be revealed sometime this week: In a C-SPAN interview that aired this weekend, Obama said he hoped for hearings on his eventual nominee in July, followed by a final confirmation vote before Congress [...]

Fight back.

Okay, the part about Janet Napolitano being in the running for Supreme Court justice is a stomach-turner. It’s the part at the end that is the snort-inducer of the day so far: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was studiously evasive Sunday about whether she coveted an appointment to the Supreme Court, as Republicans and Democrats [...]

Conservatives in Washington are gearing up for the SCOTUS battle. My legal sources have compiled sketches of Obama’s top three likely picks and their records. Gird your loins: Elena Kagan “Dean Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court would be concerning given her complete lack of judicial or appellate experience. She has never been a judge [...]

Supreme Court Justice David Souter has announced he will retire at the end of the current term. The biggest mistake John Sununu ever made was vouching that Souter would be a “home run” for conservatives. Now, we’ll get an out liberal as opposed to a stealth one. Is it Harold Koh’s lucky day? Gah.

Yep, the Democrat Michigan governor is on a short-list of possible replacements for ailing Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Wait until she does to the law what she did to the Michigan economy. Yikes.

“Off the top of my head, no.”

You decide.