Category Archives: link

Freedom for two peoples

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I am now blogging for the Times of Israel, an English-language newspaper in Jerusalem.   Posts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be posted there, and linked here.

Read my latest here: Freedom for Two Peoples

 

A reflection on two very different perspectives on freedom. Israelis seek to be free from terror. Palestinians seek self-determination. Both are essential to the peace process.

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GUEST POST — Making Sense of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby: Free Exercise of Religion or Advancing Corporate Power? | Bruce Reyes-Chow

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Link: GUEST POST — Making Sense of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby: Free Exercise of Religion or Advancing Corporate Power? | Bruce Reyes-Chow

Yes, I am blogging a link to my own writing, hosted on my friend Bruce Reyes Chow’s site.  

But here is a snippet:

What do we make of this decision?

I would argue that the Court’s unwillingness to even address the constitutional issues at stake from Employment Division v. Smith suggest that the Court is not really interested in religious liberty. The five justices in the majority see their interpretation of RFRA as a way to limit part of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The same give justices have extended First Amendment speech rights to private corporations in campaign finance matters, the decision today broadly expands the power of corporations, in what truly is a legal fiction. Corporations do not profess religious beliefs. It is a farce to claim they do.  This case is about advancing corporate power, not religious freedom.

It is also unclear whether today’s conservative bloc has the same understanding of religious liberty as the six justices who decided Smith in the Rehnquist Court. I remember at the time thinking that Smith was a terrible decision that severely limited individual liberty. Yet, in comparison with the smoke and mirrors of Hobby Lobby, perhaps Smith is ok. Ultimately the problem rests with the way that RFRA is used – and abused – by the Court in today’s decision. And in the end, that all boils down to the idea of Hobby Lobby as even having a religious interest. It is an arts and crafts store, not a church. It is a corporation, not a person.”

Yellowstone is not the Wisconsin Dells

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Link: Yellowstone is not the Wisconsin Dells

Yes, my response to the ignoramus who proposed caging in all the animals and opening up Yellowstone to timber harvesting.  

The fate of same-sex marriage in California after Perry : SCOTUSblog

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Link: The fate of same-sex marriage in California after Perry : SCOTUSblog

An excellent summary of the legal issues to be dealt with in the #PROP8 case from yesterday.

Watering Good Seeds: michaelgizzi answered your question: Do you know how a Supreme Court…

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Link: Watering Good Seeds: michaelgizzi answered your question: Do you know how a Supreme Court…

shiracoffee:

michaelgizzi answered your question: Do you know how a Supreme Court Justice is chosen?

My fav example is how Shay Minton was nominated. Went to see Truman, and said “Harry, I’d like to be nominated.” “Shay, I’ll do just that”

That’s a good anecdote, and I didn’t know it —…

Here is the full anecdote..  Tumblr limited my response.    Shay Minton and Harry Truman were close friends from Truman’s days in the Senate.   His nomination was described by Justice Douglas:  ”Minton walked into the White House to see Truman. What can I do for you Shay?  Harry, I want you to put me on the Supreme Court to fill that new vacancy?  Shay, Ill do just that.

And thus, one of the least impressive justices of the post-war period was nominated.  

Source: I do not remember where I got the quote.  But probably from a judicial process text.   

I tumble for you: As Republicans gather in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney, Americans can…

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Link: I tumble for you: As Republicans gather in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney, Americans can…

As Republicans gather in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney, Americans can expect to hear tales of how President Obama has failed to work with their party or turn the economy around.

But an element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants,…

God Goes Old Testament on the GOP

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Link: God Goes Old Testament on the GOP

This op-ed made me laugh.   Intelligent Design.   LOL

Politicalprof: Know Why the Boy Scouts Care if You’re Gay?

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Link: Politicalprof: Know Why the Boy Scouts Care if You’re Gay?

Well said.   I’d give another reason why they care if you are gay.  Their largest partners in terms of supporting troops:  The LDS Mormon Church, The Roman Catholic Church, and the Southern Baptist Convention.    Hmmm… all three… rabidly anti-homosexual.    

politicalprof:

Well, it’s because the organization’s founder, Lt. Gen. Robert Baden-Powell, a British military officer who created the group in the early 1900s, was aggressively, passionately anti-gay, and wrote anti-gay principles into the group’s founding philosophy. The group has maintained these principles…

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

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Link: Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Now is a good time to re-read Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  The message is very appropriate in the summer of 2012.   The fight for justice and equality continues unabated.   

Opinionator: The Mystery of John Roberts

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Link: Opinionator: The Mystery of John Roberts

The breathtaking radicalism of the Supreme Court’s minority opinion on the health care law surely got the chief justice’s attention.

Interesting piece by a long-time court insider.  

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