Let me predicate this by saying that one justice putting another justice in a chokehold — as allegedly happened on the Wisconsin Supreme Court — would be so beyond the pale that it defies explanation by examining the ideological and political divisions of the court.
Having said that, the ideological and political rifts that have developed on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in recent years do provide some context for the alleged incident involving Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and David Prosser — even if they don’t even begin to explain it. Eric Kleefeld has our report.
The somnambulant press corps has been aroused from its summer torpor by the kind of controversy that sends DC into a tizzy: Mark Halperin called President Obama a “dick” on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today.
MSNBC has apologized and suspended Halperin. Halperin has apologized and agreed that he should be suspended.
It’s given one half of DC the chance to acknowledge that Halperin himself is a dick. The other half is wringing its hands over the level of our “discourse.”
Rest assured that within a week we can all go back to being dicks again.
The more legal and tax experts we talk to, the more red flags there appear to be with Sen. Ron Johnson’s $10 million payday from one of his companies right after Election Day. Susan Crabtree has the latest on the Wisconsin Republican’s financial dealings.
Stephen Colbert’s FEC gag has reformers actually worried that he’s helping the FEC set bad precedent.
Reliably whacked World Net Daily sues Esquire over birther parody.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA): Privacy rules might “break the internet.”
Per my post below, President Obama ducked the gay marriage question at today’s press conference: “I’m not going to make news on that today — good try though.”
Big news in the legal battles over Obama’s healthcare reform law. A federal appeals court in Cincinnati has upheld a key provision of the law as constitutional – ruling in a 2-1 decision that its requirement that most Americans carry insurance does not violate the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.