TPM Reader JM looks at Justice Scalia’s increasing indifference to hiding his judicial activism …
Searching for consistency from Justice Scalia is a sucker’s chore, but his comments today are especially gobsmacking. This is someone whose entire mission in life is to torpedo the “living Constitution” and finish off the idea that legal meanings and judicial interpretations should change over time, adjusting to changing circumstances.
Curious what people think of this. Veterans groups and members of Congress are panning the new drone warfare medal because it will outrank the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, both of which are combat medals. It’s hard for me to see how this doesn’t make sense. Obviously some medals are awarded for things beside physical bravery. But it does seem kind of off that the medal awarded to someone wounded in combat would rank inferior to one awarded to someone who wasn’t in any physical danger.
Speaking for myself, it’s hard for me to read the sort of stuff Justice Scalia says these days without seeing red. As he’s aged, he’s tossed aside any pretense or desire to hide the fact that he sees himself as what originalists and advocates of judicial restraint are supposed to be against: namely, an appointed super legislator, contemptuous of Congress and happy to impose his own beliefs by judicial fiat. Hearing him rail about “racial entitlement” sounds more like you’re listening to some sort of talk radio blowhard than a Supreme Court Justice.
But who is he (and his fellow conservatives on the Court) helping at this point? Read More
So I guess Woodward is officially doing the full David Mamet/Judy Miller combo?
So last we spoke, Bob Woodward was doubling and tripling down on dudgeon-ly tantrum at the Obama White House. Ben Smith first reported and I can confirm that the ‘aide’ who told Woodward he’d regret his willfully false claim that the sequester deal required that there’d only be spending cuts (no new revenues) was Gene Sperling. Read More
Marco McMillian was a candidate for Mayor of Clarksdale, Mississippi, the first openly gay candidate for office in the state’s history. His body was found on a the Mississippi River levee Wednesday morning, an apparent murder victim.
Cool new insights into the supermassive black holes spinning at the center of galaxies.
If you’re wondering where this whole Bob Woodward sequester debacle originated and what all the fuss is about, this will get you up to speed.
The spectacle of Bob Woodward getting caught with his pants down, falsely claiming a White House official (now known to be Gene Sperling) threatened him, should probably live and die on Twitter.
But I want to make a quick observation about how conservatives chose to cover this story, because it’s illustrative of the right’s tendency to feed itself satisfying but ultimately damaging misinformation. Read More