August 10, 2006 – 8:11 am
There’s been plenty of press on the South Dakota Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to allow on the November ballot efforts to repeal video lottery (PDF file) and a cell phone tax (PDF file). At bottom, the Court overruled a 1995 decision, Christensen v. Carlson, indicating that initiative could not be used to repeal existing [...]
As you’ve likely heard, the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled 5-3 (Chief Justice Roberts not participating) that the military tribunals Bush planned to use to try Guantanamo Bay detainees violate federal law and the Geneva conventions. The decision in the case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, was more than 175 pages with the concurring and dissenting [...]
March 15, 2006 – 12:23 pm
Everyone in my office — and probably the entire South Dakota legal community — was saddened by the news this morning that Brent Wilbur died. Brent, a Pierre attorney, is going to be remembered in the media as a lobbyist and advisor and legal counsel to Gov. Rounds and former Gov. Janklow. Those [...]
An e-mail from a friend referred me to a news story on Lawdragon, a web site and quarterly magazine. The web site is billed as an “online searchable database where would-be consumers of legal services can get price and quality-of-service information about attorneys.” Each issue of the magazine, meanwhile, will feature “the Lawdragon [...]
Sadly, it’s perhaps not surpising to learn that people know more about the Simpsons and the judges of American Idol than the First Amendment.
According to a survey conducted by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, more than half of those surveyed could name at least two characters on the Simpsons while only 28 percent could name [...]
February 1, 2006 – 10:58 am
An order entered by the U.S. Supreme Court today assigned new Justice Samuel Alito to the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. (Via How Appealing). South Dakota is one of the seven states within the 8th Circuit. The assignment basically means Alito will be the justice who acts on applications that arise [...]
January 6, 2006 – 5:43 pm
The malaise continues. So, here’s a couple legal items of interest, most stemming from South Dakota as we seem to be stepping up interesting legal affairs here:
As most have heard, former Gov. Bill Janklow is getting his law license back. I will simply say I agree with the majority opinion (PDF file) (five circuit [...]
December 8, 2005 – 5:20 pm
While I don’t practice criminal law today’s decision by the South Dakota Supreme Court may be of interest. Basically, the Court said the existence of temporary internet files of child porn on a computer are sufficient to justify a search warrant for the PC and the office in which it was located.
In the case, there [...]
November 3, 2005 – 5:42 pm
In case you missed the AP story, the South Dakota Supreme Court will hear arguments next Tuesday in a somewhat different religion case.
Here’s the basic tale: The Holy Family Catholic church in Mitchell wants to tear down the Notre Dame Academy, a nearly century old school building that closed a few years ago. Local residents [...]
November 2, 2005 – 12:10 pm
While it drives traffic to the site, I am going to move on from the Alito nomination to more mundane things of daily life. Just a few notes on the way out that door:
First, I find it interesting the Sen. Tim Johnson was the second Senator with whom Alito met. Could it be there’s a [...]
November 1, 2005 – 12:33 pm
There are some basically nonpartisan sources of information out there as the Alito nomination moves through the process. From my standpoint, two of the best are How Appealing and SCOTUSblog.
The former is run by Howard Bashman and is devoted largely to providing links to stories and information on appellate litigation. As a result, it has [...]
October 31, 2005 – 9:00 pm
My post this morning about the nomination of Samuel Alito prompted plenty of visits and a few comments. At least one comment said that after having professed to keeping an open mind, I proceeded to attack Alito. Perhaps I wasn’t clear and I think developments today have shown why I want to learn more.
First, the [...]
October 31, 2005 – 8:12 am
Less than a week after the extreme right slapped him in the face, Bush has apparently done penance at their altar by nominating Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. I’m going to wait for more details but note that one conservative told NPR he was a “grand slam” for the right wing and at least [...]
September 18, 2005 – 9:54 am
One would assume that John Thune, our evangelical Christian U.S. Senator, knows the 9th Commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Some of us infidels take that to mean you shouldn’t tell untruths about others. I guess we weren’t taught about the footnote saying it doesn’t apply in the context of [...]
September 17, 2005 – 9:05 pm
Proud Liberal beat me to this but it is something I’ve been pondering. My thought is not only is the nomination of John Roberts for Chief Justice a done deal, it probably should be. Here’s my reasoning, such as it is, in no particular order of importance.
First, it is apparent we are unlikely in my [...]
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