I was wondering about the apparent surprise in European and U.N. high offices over the Iranian president’s recent casual statement that Israel ought to be wiped off the map — didn’t they realize Iran has been saying that for years.
Apparently, they did, but, also apparently, they really thought Iran had changed. As translated by Drink [...]

Conservatism: It’s an ethnic thing? Todd Zywicki speculates.

I think that the demographic fact of the make-up of the conservative Justices (Thomas, Scalia, and Alito) is a remarkable statement on the nature of modern conservatism (I’m frankly not sure where Roberts fits in this). I don’t know Alito, but I feel like my background growing up [...]

When I was local news editor at a small daily newspaper west of Philadelphia, we had a regular flow of court cases of local interest in Philadelphia federal courts, but insufficient resources to cover them all. So I convinced the paper to hire a young guy in the city who was making a living by [...]

Antonin Scalia, meanwhile, in this book review, seems to be informing us that that old sturdy structure, the “Common law,” is being dismantled by a sort of judicial post-modernism:

But in a democracy, it is not the function of law to establish any more social policy than what is fairly expressed by legislation, enacted through prescribed [...]

Andis Kaulins at Lawpundit parses some of the legal wrangling over Supreme Court nominees. The post is keyed to Miers, but most of it is as relevant to Alito as to the previous nominee.
Some of the bases Kaulins touches that are important to me include:

Supreme Court justices primarily are in the business of judging the [...]

As the nomination process unfolds, Samuel Alito’s profile and rulings will now be put under a microscope.
The two Alito rulings that will no doubt receive the most attention are ACLU v. Schundler and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Alito wrote the majority opinion [1] in ACLU v. Schundler, 168 F.3d 92 (3d Cir. 1999), holding [...]

Knee jerk reaction coming up, but I think it’s significant to start talking about this right away.
As I go over Alito’s record, there’s one case in particular that really doesn’t sit well with me this morning. I’m sure most of you could guess what that is, but it’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
From SCOTUSblog:
A dissenting opinion [...]

Well, it’s official, Samuel Alito’s the newest victim, excuse me, nominee.
Looks like a showdown is looming.
Based upon comments from over the weekend, it appears that Sen. Harry Reid won’t be in the running for membership in the Alito fan club, but will instead be one of many vocal opponents of Alito [...]

We have to do more than turn to our nation’s elite to manage a world in flux.

Is this the beginning or the ending of the story ?
Based upon the media response since Fitzgerald’s findings were made public, there’s disappointment in the air that Rove has apparently escaped (relatively) unscathed, although perhaps a bit angrier, and an indictment relating to the Iraqi war has been avoided.
The result seems to be an [...]

With the Libby indictment finally being handed down, the question now becomes … “What’s his defense ?”
Libby, who resigned as soon as the indictment was handed up, was operating amid “the hectic rush of issues and events at a busy time for our government,” according to a statement released by his attorney, Joseph Tate.
“We [...]

The White House is in crisis again.
Why do I emphasize again?
With yesterday’s indictment of Vice President Cheney’s top aide, President Bush’s administration has become a textbook example of what can go wrong in a second term. Along with ineffectiveness, overreaching, intraparty rebellion, plunging public confidence and plain bad luck, scandal has now touched [...]

Okay, this one is completely off-topic, but it’s so weird (like this post about David Copperfield) I can’t ignore it.
More on Janet Jackson’s secret:
U.S. singer Janet Jackson and James DeBarge, who were briefly married in 1984, had a daughter together, DeBarge’s brother Young DeBarge has claimed on a radio program.
Young DeBarge said the child, named [...]

Heh. Samuel Alito indeed.
This one is targeted at J. Michael Luttig
I hear that Mike Luttig seems to be gloating a little about Little Miss Harriet’s sudden cold feet. He’s popping 21 bottles of champagne, and I’m popping his bubble. After all, Mike, when you were home drinking that champagne last night, I was going over [...]

That’s what an op-ed piece in the Washington Post this morning is demanding.
From David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey:
Fitzgerald, a highly respected federal prosecutor from Chicago, was given the task of investigating whether Bush administration officials had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by “leaking” the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame.
It is [...]

I enjoy much of what Andrew Sullivan has to say on things, and his reader’s emails are oftentimes just as intriguing.
I don’t know what Fitz knows. But I think he is one inch from prosecuting the leak itself – at least his public comments leave the impression that he’s pissed about it – and the [...]

Eric Muller is a law professor at UNC Law School, and the author of the Is That Legal blog.
He worked with the man everybody is speculating will be the next SCOTUS nominee, and he has these thoughts to share with us.
Sam Alito was the U.S. Attorney who hired me into the Appeals Division of the [...]

As most of you already know, Libby was indicted yesterday and Rove is still under investigation.
Today I read a story about a senior administration official, known only as “Official A”, will most likely be called to testify in Libby’s trial. And given that Rove has said recently he first heard Valerie Plame’s name from Libby, [...]

Which one is a better source to examine to cull classified information? The answer may surprise you.

Those who swear that secrets are the only true intelligence, in contrast to mere “information� found through open means, would do well to consider the indistinct character of the categories of overt and covert in intelligence. Information hidden behind [...]

Minh-Duc, like the rest of us, woke up Wednesday to a fecefull of “2,000 dead,” courtesy of our anti-war … er, round-number-obsessed media. But as a Reservist who served in this war, he also connected that tragic number with another story that many newspapers buried inside, or neglected to run at all (many, but, to [...]