September 5, 2004 – 10:54 am
Whether it’s inherent in the religious right, an outsider’s lack of knowledge or both, there was a huge display of ignorance at the LifeLight christian music festival in Sioux Falls. The Argus Leader reports today that religious right broadcaster James Dobson urged attendees to vote against Amendment A on November’s ballot because it will [...]
August 21, 2004 – 6:53 pm
The uproar over the US Chamber of Commerce ads attacking Tom Daschle for his position on tort reform coincided with a germinating thought. Tort reform seems indicative of the conservative attitudes toward not only individual rights but also the legal system and the concept of justice.
Advocates of tort reform generally refer to frivolous lawsuits and [...]
Of course, the decisions in the enemy combatant cases came down while I was out of town. I can’t really improve on the analysis and summaries that appear at, among others, Scrivener’s Error or SCOTUSblog. And Elaine Cassel has an interesting take at her civil liberties blog.
I was struck by Justice Stevens’ dissent [...]
Eyes are focused on the transition to Iraqi authority on June 30. That date has additional significance for the nation and perhaps the election.
Traditionally, the U.S. Supreme Court goes into recess June 30 and tries to issue opinions in submitted cases by then. As of this posting, 12 cases remain for decision. [...]
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a determination that South Dakota’s abortion statutes are unconstitutional. The reason? Hospitals are not available to perform abortions. Since the 8th Circuit is basically saying none of the state’s 66 hospitals will perform abortions, it would seem to present a strong argument why [...]
I keep referring to this case because I see it is a prime example of the threat Bush, Ashcroft and the Patriot Act pose to our civil liberties. The reason is that he is a US citizen who was detained on US soil. Both Discourse.net and Atrios have excellent comments regarding an MSNBC [...]
While Kos indicated yesterday that Diedrich was already conceding defeat, that wasn’t stopping everyone from engaging in illegal activity.
When I voted at about 5:15 p.m., a window adjoining an interior door to my polling place had a sign that said, “Vote for traditional values” with the second “t” in traditional shaped as a large cross. [...]
What I believe are the first lawsuits against specific South Dakota residents for sharing music over the internet were filed Monday in federal court in Sioux Falls. They are evidently part of more than 500 lawsuits RIAA filed this week.
How the RIAA picks its defendants is uncertain to me but the two in South [...]
That is the substance of a question raised by a reader a week or so ago and that’s been percolating in my mind since. An article in today’s Denver Post (via Atrios) provides a good opportunity to address it. Headlined Bishop draws line for voters, it says:
The bishop of Colorado’s second-largest Roman Catholic [...]
Is That Legal? has some interesting observations on whether the abuse stories emerging in Iraq means the Justice Department lied to the Supreme Court. Edward Lazarus makes a similar but broader point in a FindLaw column that also touches somewhat on the topic of my last post.
I’m behind the curve on this but feel compelled to comment.
Canon 2 of the American Bar Association’s Model Code of Judicial Conduct provides: “A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge’s activities.” (Emphasis added). The Commentary notes: ” The test for appearance of impropriety is whether [...]
The South Dakota Supreme Court makes its annual trip to the USD Law School March 22-24 for oral arguments. It’s always a fun place to argue because the courtroom is packed and with all the students there the justices seem to be a bit more active. The Court also tries to pick “interesting” [...]
October 1, 2003 – 2:34 pm
There’s lots of discussion about a Plamegate irony. Getting to the bottom of this may require one or more journalists to disclose their purported confidential sources. As a former reporter, I know this is something journalists abhor. As a lawyer who’s litigated the issue, though, I also know there’s a [...]
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