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While 82% of voters who support McCain believe the justices should rule on what is in the Constitution, just 29% of Barack Obama’s supporters agree. Just 11% of McCain supporters say judges should rule based on the judge’s sense of fairness, while nearly half (49%) of Obama supporters agree.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Change Basis for Allowing Abortions to Slavery Amdt Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In an amazing admission, pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a feminist group that the basis for legalized abortion should be changed from the so-called right to privacy to the anti-slavery provisions found in the Constitution.

District of Columbia v. Heller was historic, the first Supreme Court decision to clearly hold that the Second Amendment right to arms was an individual one not linked to militia service. But it was historic for another reason: the sheer number of mistakes made in the dissenters' opinions. Given that all four dissenters co-signed the Stevens and Breyer dissenting opinions, this means that the mistakes must have escaped, not only four members of the highest court in the land, but their sixteen research clerks! Case in point: Justice Stevens' dissent claims that he holds true to the Court's earlier, 1939,...

Lawyers who won the historic Second Amendment gun rights case in the Supreme Court — District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290) — on Monday asked a federal judge to award them more than $3.5 million for attorneys’ fees, plus $13,215.30 for expenses and court costs. In a motion and memorandum filed with U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, the attorneys said that they had achieved “one of the most profound and important victories available under our system of justice.” Their argument also suggested that this was a David vs. Goliath clash, with the attorneys on their far side far outnumbered...

It's just a hunch, mind you, but Hillary, Bill and even Chelsea will be speaking covering two nights at the Democrat Convention, so it seems they are on friendly terms with Obama, so if Hillary wasn't picked as VP running mate, or even on the short list, what else would appease her, but a promise to be the first judicial nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States.

Group also whitewashed MoveOn.org hate speech, published anti-Christian hate video The National Jewish Democratic Council is grasping at straws in its latest effort to smear John McCain. “McCain Picking on Jewish Supreme Court Justices?” (http://njdc.typepad.com/njdcs_blog/2008/08/mccain-picking.html) says, When Pastor Rick Warren asked Senator John McCain to name his least favorite current U.S. Supreme Court justices it seemed that he was picking on the Jewish members of our highest court. A review of the Kelo vs. New London decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that municipalities can collude with private developers to use eminent domain to steal property for private...

UPDATE 5:10 p.m. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, in a brief order Wednesday afternoon, turned down a request that would have given an independent candidate in Maine for the U.S. Senate a place on the Nov. 4 ballot for that office. Souter acted without referring the stay application to his colleagues. There was no written opinion, just a simple denial order. The Justice’s action appears to assure the state’s two major party candidates, incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, and her Democratic challenger, Rep. Tom Allen, that they will not have to worry about an independent drawing votes away...

Politics: Sen. Obama joins the high-tech lynch mob that still thinks Clarence Thomas is unfit for the Supreme Court. The ex-state legislator with no accomplishments to his name dares to question Thomas' experience.The issue of Supreme Court appointments had faded into the background until Saddleback Church founder Rick Warren at a weekend forum asked the presidential candidates which sitting Supreme Court justice they wouldn't have appointed. What Barack Obama answered should rally the GOP base and scare the rest of middle America. "I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don't think that he was an exp . . ....

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- California's high court has ruled doctors cannot withhold care to gays or lesbians based on religious beliefs.

WSJ Editorial Obama on Clarence Thomas August 18, 2008 Barack Obama likes to portray himself as a centrist politician who wants to unite the country, but occasionally his postpartisan mask slips. That was the case at Saturday night's Saddleback Church forum, when Mr. Obama chose to demean Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Pastor Rick Warren asked each Presidential candidate which Justices he would not have nominated. Mr. McCain said, "with all due respect" the four most liberal sitting Justices because of his different judicial philosophy. Mr. Obama took a lower road, replying first that "that's a good one," and then...

A former law clerk for Clarence Thomas is leading the pack of critics saying Barack Obama’s comments about the Supreme Court justice reveal the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s ignorance and misunderstanding of the Constitution. The weekend event at the 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., was meant to give both candidates a chance to address questions of importance to the large evangelical community. Church Pastor Rick Warren, known for his bestselling book “The Purpose-Driven Life,” posed the series of questions to each candidate, which were aimed at getting to their personalities, foibles and leadership styles. During the symposium, Obama...

The Wall Street Journal has an absolutely brilliant editorial today here entitled "Obama on Clarence Thomas". It offers a view into what I and other bloggers have long been saying -- that beneath that well-scripted "post racial" veneer, Obama is a typical left-wing ideologue. When left alone, without a script, these real beliefs seep to the surface, painting a pretty divisive picture. In answering a question on judicial appointees in a Town Hall style debate where he and John McCain appeared together (but not at the same time), Obama took a huge and demeaning swipe at the lone black jurist...

Barack Obama likes to portray himself as a centrist politician who wants to unite the country, but occasionally his postpartisan mask slips...Pastor Rick Warren asked each Presidential candidate which Justices he would not have nominated. Mr. McCain said, "with all due respect" the four most liberal sitting Justices because of his different judicial philosophy.Mr. Obama took a lower road, replying first that "that's a good one," and then adding that "I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don't think that he, I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that...

On this day in 1937, sixteen Republican Senators voted against confirming a former Ku Klux Klan member to the U.S. Supreme Court. Senator Hugo Black (D-AL) was known to have been in the KKK, but President Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party kept the documentary proof hidden until after his confirmation.

Conclusion: Okay -- so what do you think? Fran says McCain did an outstanding job tonight and that he now doesn't need someone like Mike Huckabee for VP. Couldn't help but think that Pat Hickey ("With Both Hands" blog) had to be absolutely squealing with McCain's performance tonight. Obama started looking strong, and McCain looked surprisingly comfortable. Just heard from URF Executive Director and IR Publisher Dennis LaComb, who said,"McCain hit it out of the park and clearly bested Obama on all the critical issues of our time." Jill says "McCain did great!" and as we said earlier, Karen Hayes...

Answering a question at the Saddleback Forum hosted by Rick Warren, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain gave the names of four sitting Supreme Court justices that he would not have nominated were he president: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer; David Souter and John Paul Stevens.Those for justices, along with McCain's fellow Arizonan, the now-retired Sandra Day O'Connor, made up the majority that decided in 2003 in favor of the constitutionality of the sweeping abridgement of free speech known as McCain-Feingold, under the guise of limiting the perceived corruption of politics and politicians.The bill was signed into law by...

Blogger Dwight SullivanIn November of 2007, the state of Louisiana petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in the capital punishment appeal of Kennedy vs Louisiana. A description at SCOTUSblog is here. The case involves Patrick Kennedy, sentenced to death after being conviced of raping his eight-year-0ld stepdaughter. At the time of his conviction, Louisiana law allowed a death sentence for raping a child under age 12; the law has since been changed to allow that sentence when the child is under age 13. Kennedy is the only individual now facing a death sentence in any state for a non-homicide, his lawyers...

Obama proclaimed that he was coming to Berlin not as a politician, but as a "proud citizen of the United States" and - this is the telling part - as a "fellow citizen of the world." But there are no "citizens of the world" and citizenship requires a state. Already, Obama has made clear that his view of the Constitution is entirely open and says he agrees "with Justice Breyer's view of the Constitution that is not a static but a living document." That's one reason Breyer is the leading advocate of invoking foreign laws - even foreign polls -...

The 2008 Democratic Party’s draft platform confirms that the party still “doesn’t get it” about Second Amendment gun rights versus the Utopian fantasy that gun control laws will somehow make neighborhoods safer, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. “While promising to preserve our Second Amendment rights,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “the party platform demonizes semiautomatic sport utility rifles and wants them banned, calls for anti-gun show legislation and proposes so-called ‘common-sense’ gun laws. Many Democrats believe bans on most guns are ‘common sense’ and they still support the handgun ban in Barack...

SEXUAL LIBERATION IN AMERICA PART TWO–”LIBERATION” FOR WHOM? Part One of this series addressed the beginnings of the sexual revolution in America, that tumultuous period of sex and drugs and rock and roll which all intertwined in the 1960’s. One significant feature of that revolution was, of course, The Pill, which gave license to young, and older, girls to cast away convention in favor of the nouveau, hedonistic philosophies of, If it feels good, do it! And they did it, Big Time! If The Pill gave license, The Times afforded the opportunities to utilize that license. Now, I didn’t just...

A president stays in office four or eight years, but his appointments to the Supreme Court can extend his impact for decades. It's likely that Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama will be able to appoint one - and possibly three - justices to the court during his time in the White House. The ideological makeup of the court today is split very narrowly. Even one appointment could dramatically affect its direction. And it's not just the Supreme Court. The next president will exert his influence through the nomination of hundreds of judges to lower federal courts. Observers of...

An illegal immigrant from Honduras who claimed his treaty rights were violated when he was arrested for a robbery-murder near Dallas lost his appeal ... at the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for his execution. In the second case of its kind this week in Texas, lawyers for condemned killer Heliberto Chi went to the nation's highest court claiming Chi should have been told he could get legal assistance from the Honduran consulate when he was arrested in California and extradited to Texas to face charges for killing his former boss at a men's clothing store during a robbery...

A military jury gave Osama bin Laden's driver a stunningly lenient sentence on Thursday, making him eligible for release in just five months despite the prosecutors' request for a sentence tough enough to frighten terrorists around the globe.

Heliberto Chi, a Honduran native...moved one step closer to execution Wednesday when [Texas"] highest criminal court rejected his bid for a stay. Chi, condemned for killing Armand Paliotta during an after-hours robbery ...will be put to death tonight in Huntsville unless his lawyers can persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to spare his life. Arlington attorney Wes Ball said the odds are against Chi because Ball’s argument is similar to the one the justices rejected Tuesday when they allowed the execution of Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin to go forward.

HOUSTON — In a case that has drawn international attention, Texas executed José E. Medellín on Tuesday night in defiance of an international court ruling and despite pleas from the Bush administration for a new hearing. The execution came just before 10 p.m. Central time, shortly after the United States Supreme Court denied a last request for a reprieve. Protesters for and against the death penalty clamored in the rain outside the Huntsville Unit, about 70 miles north of Houston, where Mr. Medellín was executed by lethal injection. “I’m sorry my actions caused you pain,” he said to the witnesses...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin has been executed by lethal injection, according to Texas prison officials. Jose Ernesto Medellin was put to death for his part in the gang rape and murder of two Texas girls. Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said Medellin died at 9:57 CT. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the last-ditch appeal of a Mexican national on Texas' death row late Tuesday, paving the way for him to be executed for a pair of brutal slayings, state corrections officials said. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said about 9:15 p.m. that the court...

Medellin Execute For Rape, Murder of Houston Teens Link Only

Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court refused Tuesday night to delay the execution in Texas of Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin. The majority’s unsigned opinion, and dissents by each of the other four Justices, can be read here. Since the death warrant was to remain in effect until 1 a.m. Eastern time, Texas was expected to go ahead with the exection that had originally been scheduled for 7 p.m. It was delayed at least three hours by the Court’s review of a series of claims for relief by Medellin’s attorneys. The majority said that the chance that Congress or the Texas...

After backing the sovereignty of the state of Texas and rejecting international meddling, the US Supreme Court’s consideration of a last-ditch appeal has put illegal alien rapist/double murderer Jose Medellin’s scheduled execution tonight on hold. Stay tuned for late-breaking developments.

WASHINGTON -- Injecting last-minute uncertainty into a case that has garnered international attention, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a late-hour appeal by Texas death row inmate Jose Ernesto Medellin on Tuesday night, disrupting the timetable for his scheduled execution in the 1993 rape and murder of two Houston teenagers.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court considered a last-minute appeal by a Mexican national Tuesday night, temporarily delaying his scheduled execution in Texas. Lawyers for Jose Ernesto Medellin, 33, say that he was denied access to a Mexican consul when he was arrested for participating in the rape and killing of two teenage girls. Medellin's execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. but put on hold when the Supreme Court decided to consider his claim, McClatchy Newspapers reported. A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry said the state was waiting to hear from the court before proceeding with...

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/5/08 — There has been a major backfire with presidential candidate John McCain’s TV ads comparing Barack Obama’s rock-star status and intelligence to celebrities Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Not only has the highly- influentional Hilton family struck back, who once donated to McCain’s campaign, about the affront to their offspring, fans across the nation are riled by the commercials offending their women, no matter how controversial they may be. Moreover, Paris can sue McCain in many states who have “right of publicity laws.” Simply stated, you cannot use a person’ image to sell anything without...

It is fair to say that one or two cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court stand out each term. I think it is evident that this term’s most salient case is District of Columbia v. Heller. In that 5-4 decision, the Court struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on the possession of privately owned handguns within District limits. In so doing, the Court clarified the meaning of the Second Amendment for the first time in almost 70 years by endorsing an individual right to keep and bear arms. Aside from its significance in partially resolving the meaning of...

The state of Texas urged the Supreme Court on Monday to allow it to go ahead on Tuesday with the execution of Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin, arguing that he has several times received all of the review of his case that American or international law requires. But, the state added, if there are other foreign nationals in Texas who have not had the same review of their treaty-based claims, the state will join in to make sure that it happens. Medellin’s lawyers have asked Justice Antonin Scalia, as Circuit Justice for the area that includes Texas, to postpone his...

The battle for the Senate has been overshadowed by the presidential race, but just as important as who will reside in the White House is whether Democrats can get 60 seats in the Senate. The "Magic 60" would give Democrats a filibuster-proof majority, and the keys to true power in the Senate. Assuming that their party leaders could keep Democratic senators in line, 60 votes would mean a fast track for their agenda, prevent Republicans from blocking it and a clear path for their nominations for the federal bench.

(Tenth in a series of ten. For other articles in this series, click on View all articles by John Armor--and "Blogs by this author.") The remaining amendments are a mixed bag. Some make essential changes, some housekeeping. The Eleventh solved a minor problem, precluding federal court jurisdiction in cases against any state by citizens of another state, or foreigners. The first important amendment was number Twelve, caused by the election of 1800. Perhaps the greatest lie uttered by anyone seeking the presidency was made by Aaron Burr. He agreed to be vice president under Thomas Jefferson in 1800. The “ticket”...

On Wednesday's Countdown show, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann claimed that pro-gun groups like the NRA "are trying to increase deaths by gun," as he used his "Worst Person" segment to attack a gun rights activist who infiltrated gun control groups to spy on them: "Mary Lou Sapone infiltrated the executive boards and learned the plans of organizations trying to decrease deaths by gun in this country, and apparently reported it back to organizations like the NRA, which are trying to increase deaths by gun in this country." A month earlier, on the June 26 show, after the Supreme Court struck...

Captive Miranda, Lord knows I have not given a thought to the paperwork you sent me. Let me tell you, Captive, that our release is not in the hands of the lawyers or the hands of America. Our release is in the hands of He who created us. The poem, "To My Captive Lawyer, Miranda," was written by Abdullah Saleh Al-Ajmi while he was a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. No doubt, it would have given the former detainee, who was released in 2005, immense satisfaction to know that his last earthly deed was referenced in Justice Antonin Scalia's dissenting...

(Ninth in a series of ten. For other articles in this series, click on View all articles by John Armor--and "Blogs by this author.") The eleven amendments which constitute the Bill of Rights are more important than merely a recitation of rights beyond the reach of the federal government. Collectively, they are the third great document of American liberty, after the Declaration and the Constitution. Yes, I said eleven, though you were taught in school there were only ten. There were only ten, back then.... But, seven states demanded amendments to protect individual and states’ rights as a price of...

110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6615 To provide for the transport of the enemy combatants detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Washington, DC, where the United States Supreme Court will be able to more effectively micromanage the detainees by holding them on the Supreme Court grounds, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 24, 2008 Mr. GOHMERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such...

The conservative-leaning Committee for Justice is trying to rile supporters with a “Top 10” list of things to expect from the Supreme Court should Barack Obama be elected president and appoint his desired justices. CJ Executive Director Curt Levey wrote supporters an email Monday with the words “Obama court is a conservative nightmare” in the subject line. “That very real possibility should frighten conservatives all the more when they consider that 1) by the end of an 8-year Obama presidency, Justices Scalia and Kennedy would be 80 years old, an age most men never reach, and 2) given the damage...

(Eighth in a series of ten, For other articles in this series, click on ''View all articles by John Armor,'' and "Blogs by this author.") In the short run, one could offer several provisions in the Constitution as the most critical. In the long run, one provision stands out. Without Article V, the amendment provision, the Constitution would have long since failed and been abandoned. Consider the early history of America. Our first government under the Articles of Confederation failed precisely because of its amendment clause. Under Article 13 of the Confederation, Congress could propose amendments which had to be...

Lurking in the gloom of the Democrat agenda is a resuscitation of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” which would allow the federal government, at the behest of liberal special interests, to selectively harass and intimidate radio stations whose broadcasting format it finds objectionable. Thus, the proliferation of conservative talk-radio and virtually all of the alternative media would be threatened with eventual extinction. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is unquestionably moving in such a direction once again. In only the past few weeks, she has castigated what she terms “right wing hate-radio,” while refusing to allow even for Congressional floor debate on a...

The Supreme Court ended its term this year by making a mistake in one of its most controversial cases--the case in which it held unconstitutional a Louisiana law authorizing capital punishment for the rape of a child under 12 years of age.

Supreme Court allows construction to proceedThe U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a case that challenged the Homeland Security Department's right to waive environmental laws and litigation to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The decision, made without comment, seemingly removes a potential hurdle to construction of a $48.6 million fencing project across a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch, west of the San Ysidro port of entry. “It's over. They're going to build a wall,” said attorney Cory Briggs, who in 2004 filed suit to stop the project on behalf of the Sierra Club, San Diego Audubon Society,...

The conservative nightmare (and liberal dream) is an Obama Court requiring taxpayers to fund essentially unlimited abortion rights throughout pregnancy; ordering all 50 states to bless gay marriage; expanding and perpetuating the use of racial preferences far beyond the 25-year phaseout suggested by the justices five years ago; prohibiting tuition vouchers for religious schools; stripping "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance; banning the death penalty; striking down the new federal wiretap law; expanding judicial oversight of military detentions, CIA interrogations, and perhaps other operations worldwide; opening the floodgates to big-dollar lawsuits against business; eroding property rights; and perhaps creating...

(Seventh in a series of ten. For other articles in this series, click on View all articles by John Armor--and "Blogs by this author.") There has been a radical shift in how justices conduct themselves on the Supreme Court, beginning in the 1930s. Not coincidentally, 1925 was the first year that anyone who was nominated for the Supreme Court appeared in person before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Not until 1955 did the committee hold public hearings on all nominees before making a recommendation to the whole Senate. Before those changes, nominees were considered based on their probity of character and...

Sources say the White House has tentatively signed off on a package of five judicial nominees proposed by Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter and Robert Casey that would fill all of the vacancies on the Eastern District of Pennsylvania bench and one of two openings on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the deal goes through, the White House will first withdraw the nomination of Eastern District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter to the 3rd Circuit, replacing her with Eastern District Judge Paul S. Diamond. Pratter's nomination had been met with significant opposition and was ultimately doomed when Casey refused...

Hillary used to go ballistic in frustration at the latest rather shameless incarnation of Obama, and McCain should not fall into the same malady. He understandably is angry because Obama, whose opposition to the surge and erstwhile desire to be done with Iraq by March 2007 would have lost the war, rode the anti-war wave when it was popular, and now, in his current metamorphosis to centrist, has piggy-backed onto the good news in Iraq as if it had nothing to do with the surge — as if McCain's lonely support for it either never happened or was irrelevant. And...

<p>Could 2008 Be a McCain Landslide? American Thinker, WA - Jul 12, 2008 Ah yes, dear readers, this title has nailed me. I'm an unconventional thinker, a woman who is wont to go madly against the grain, in nearly all matters. I'm usually in the unpopular camp, the one who disdains conventional wisdom and consensus science. I'm just too darned independent-minded for my own good sometimes.</p>