It Didn't Have to Happen

The recent courthouse shooting in Atlanta prompted a Michelle Malkin blog reader to pass along some interesting, if not prophetic, quotes from a 2002 written opinion by California Supreme Court Justice, and GW Bush nominee, Janice Rogers Brown. Justice Brown was dissenting in a case where the majority of the California Supreme Court ruled that the criminal defendant could not be required to wear an electronic shock belt. As noted by the reader, the Court's decision back then sent shockwaves throughout the nation's legal system to where the recent events in Atlanta, while distressing, was not all that surprising.

Update: Unless the legal restrictions on restraining criminal defendants are done away with, I fail to see how imposing the death penalty in this country can be deemed, from a Catholic perspective, to be unjustified.

Views From the Left

Re: the SCOTUS' recent ruling on the death penalty for minors.

Two Places at the Same Time

The laughs that could be had if I worked for White & Case, LLP.

There They Go Again

Because he is only serving a temporary recess appointment, Bill Pryor must be confirmed by the Senate in order to permanently sit on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Staying true to form in their love of ideology over competency and integrity, Senate Democrats have filibustered Pryor, even though he enjoys near universal support in his home state of Alabama.

The liberal Anniston Star, for instance, in the same editorial that urges filibusters against most of President Bush's nominees, writes that "Pryor, who possesses a brilliant legal mind, cannot be so easily dismissed. . . . Pryor has been proven capable of setting aside his ideology when it matters most. . . . [He] helped shut down [Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's Ten Commandments] sideshow and, in the process, displayed personal courage. That alone ought to convince Democrats currently blocking a vote on Pryor to give him a chance."

Why do Alabamians so strongly back Judge Pryor? Because they've seen him in action defending Democratic lawmakers against Republican lawsuits, defying the Republican governor (Fob James) who appointed him, and spending countless hours establishing a youth mentorship program through the attorney general's office. They know him, up close, as a man of integrity and compassion.

National critics have gone to prodigious lengths to muddy that home-state record. Unfairly so. Consider that critics have accused Judge Pryor of being insensitive to women because he successfully argued against one small portion of the Violence Against Women Act. But Judge Pryor's constitutional point was virtually incontrovertible, namely that rape doesn't qualify as "interstate commerce." His goal was to keep authority for prosecuting rapes in state courts, where (in Alabama at least) the juries are likely to be harder on rapists than elsewhere. Meanwhile, he has been praised throughout Alabama by groups that aid victims of domestic violence. Mobile's Penelope House women's shelter even named him to its Law Enforcement Hall of Fame.

Agreeable Sentiment, But Wrong

By a 5-4 vote, the SCOTUS finds the imposition of the death penalty on minors to be unconstitutional. From Scalia's sober dissent:


But Hamilton had in mind a traditional judiciary, “bound down by strict rules and prece-dents which serve to define and point out their duty in every particular case that comes before them” [citing Federalist 78]. . . Bound down, indeed.

What a mockery today’s opinion makes of Hamilton’s expectation, announcing the Court’s conclusion that the meaning of our Constitution has changed over the past 15 years?not, mind you, that this Court’s decision 15 years ago was wrong, but that the Constitution has changed. The Court reaches this implausible result by purporting to advert, not to the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment, but to “the evolving standards of decency,” . . . of our national society. It then finds, on the flimsiest of grounds, that a national consensus which could not be perceived in our people’s laws barely 15 years ago now solidly exists. Worse still, the Court says in so many words that what our people’s laws say about the issue does not, in the last analysis, matter: “[I]n the end our own judgment will be brought to bear on the question of the acceptability of the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment.” . . .

The Court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our Nation's moral standards--and in the course of discharging that awesome responsibility purports to take guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures. Because I do not believe that the meaning of our Eighth Amendment, any more than the meaning of other provisions of our Constitution, should be determined by the subjective views of five Members of this Court and like-minded foreigners, I dissent."

A Pro-Life Swann

That would be Lynn Swann, sports reporter, former Pittsburgh Steeler and USC alumnus, who is looking into running for governor of Pennsylvania.

Swann, who campaigned for President Bush last year, said his conservative views and opposition to abortion began early.

"I wasn't supposed to be born," Swann said, explaining that his parents wanted to stop at two children.

"My mom said, 'Try for a girl.' My dad said, 'No.' My mom said, 'Have a scotch.' And I was born. That's good enough reason to be pro-life."

Papal Deathwatch 2005

It is in full swing, and as usual, the media just doesn't get how ghoulish they are acting.

But even as John Paul II battles to recover, Irish bookmakers Paddy Power have begun taking bets on the identity of his successor.

The company has made 70-year-old Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Archbishop of Milan, its firm favourite as next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Archbishop Tettamanzi, at 5-2, is ahead of 74-year-old Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, 3-1, and 68-year-old Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino of Cuba, 11-2.

I Knew He'd Cross Over Sooner or Later

The conversion of University of Texas political theory professor J. Budziszewski to Catholicism isn't a real big surprise to me. When I was still attending the Evangelical law school I eventually graduated from a few years ago, I had the opportunity to sit in on a couple of lectures on natural law that Prof. Budziszewski (pronounced "Bud-ja-zev-skee") had been specially invited to give. While I was listening to him talk, I kept thinking to myself, "This guy can't be an Evangelical."

Fatima, 13 and the Fall of Soviet Communism

Joseph Bottum ties them all together in a nice little tribute to the late Sister Lucia dos Santos.

Blogs for Terri

Please go there for the latest news and what can be done to help save her life.

Seattle or Southern California?

I'm not one for hot weather and actually like occasional rain, but the downpours we've been getting down here lately in So. Cal. are beginning to really really annoy me.

I Had Dinner with the Pope

Not literally, but at the Buca di Beppo restaurant I went to last night for the first time, there was an encased bust of JP II in the middle of my table. On the walls around my table, there were numerous framed pictures of not only JP II, but of Pope John XXIII and I think St. Therese. Being that it was a Friday during Lent, I couldn't have thought of a better place to have dinner.

Buckley Jumps the Shark

It's one thing to hold the opinion that John Paul II in no longer effective and should resign from the papacy, but to actually pray for his death in order to have a new pope is just plain nuts.

Still Around

Just really haven't had an opportunity to post anything lately. Almost all this week, I was preparing documents and trading nasty phone calls with a jerk-wad opposing attorney for a case that was set trial on Monday, but now has pretty much gone away because the parties yesterday agreed on a settlement where nobody gets anything.

Since I'm still kind of new at litigation, it's taking me a heck of a long time to put together a pleading that a more seasoned attorney could probably do in an hour or two. Yeah, I know there's a normal learning process, but man is it discouraging.

Anyway, still hoping that things will start to settle down so that I can more regularly update the blog.

Update On Me

Things have been kind of busy the past couple of weeks, what with the new job and all. For the first time in my relatively brief career as a civil litigator, I "argued" my first motion last Thursday. Inside legal speak: The motion was specially set on an ex parte application, so there wasn't any kind of tentative ruling from the judge, as is the usual practice here in California. Needless to say, my performance was less than stellar as there were some comments made by opposing counsel that I probably should have made a rebuttal to but didn't, and I had overlooked some details that I didn't realize I overlooked until after the hearing was over. Based on the moving papers that I submitted, it seemed as though the judge was pretty much on our side, but now I don't know.

Other than experiencing the growing pains of being a "young" lawyer, I'm still looking for a permanent place to live down here in the OC. Rents are so ridiculously high that I've decided I'd be better off buying a condo.

Anyway, that's the latest on me. I'm hoping things will settle down in the next few weeks so that I can regularly update this blog.

Driver Licenses for Illegals?

If you're an advocate of it, which I most certainly am not, you can pretty much kiss the cause goodbye if it turns out the guy who caused the Metrolink train wreck in Glendale yesterday is an "undocumented" alien.

Brand New Start

Just finished my first week at the small civil litigation firm that hired me recently, and so far so good. The managing attorney is a bit too free in dropping the f-bomb and other choice four letter words, but he's a pretty nice guy, as is the rest of the office staff. In terms of the work itself, I'm getting thrown into the deep end of the pool a little sooner than I like -- next week alone, I'm going to have to argue an ex-parte motion and might have to go to "trial" on a single issue in a workers comp case -- but the expectations on me aren't all that high, and it's a great learning opportunity.

Wussies

Word in the blogosphere is that the Fox network has caved in to CAIR's complaints about the portrayal of Muslims as terrorists in the show "24".(link via Michelle Malkin)

Thanks for Filing and Wasting Our Tax Dollars

For striking out on his latest stupid crusade against religion, Michael Newdow should be required to have a big "L" tattooed on his forehead.

Another Reason to Homeschool

Based on the reported conversation that occurred in the classroom, I'm wondering if there might not be some criminal charges involved.

According to Fried and students who attended the talk, Fried told one group of about 16 students that strippers can earn as much as $250,000 a year and that a larger bust -- whether natural or augmented -- has a direct relationship to a dancer's salary.

He told the students, "For every two inches up there, it's another $50,000," according to Jason Garcia, 14.