What would King Solomon do?
Whatever it is, it’s likely smarter than what Jeff Sessions would do.
Category Archives: Law
Masterpiece Cakeshop
Thoughts from Mark Randazza:
Ultimately, in this case, nobody really “won.” The baker “wins” because technically he “won.” But, all he “won” was the right to have the charges brought against him without the administrative panel making snarky comments about his religious beliefs.
The cause of gay rights was not advanced at all. And, the real issue here — the First Amendment issue, is not being addressed at all — except in a pretty damn good concurrence by Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch. (Starts on Page 38 of 59) His concurrence is, of course, foreshadowing either the majority or the minority when this case finally comes to a head. Thomas (I believe correctly) says that designing a wedding cake is no mere act of throwing eggs and flour into a bowl – but is full of artistic creativity. Harnessing (or enslaving) an artist to create that which he does not wish to create is a travesty against the First Amendment.
Yes, that is the argument, despite the continuing nonsense about how it was “discriminating against gays” (I got into a Twitter discussion with an idiot about this yesterday). And SCOTUS punted on the underlying issue. It’s not just a travesty against the First Amendment, but tyrannical.
[Thursday-afternoon update]
One of the legal team who defended Phillips explains why it’s not as much of a nothingburger as some are saying.
[Bumped]
Horowitz’s Report
“Stop sanitizing it and release it now.”
It must be pretty bad.
[Afternoon update]
DOJ watchdog finds that Comey “defined authority as FBI director.”
What a pompous, self-righteous anal orifice he is.
[Update a while later]
Strzok and Page didn’t just hate Congress; they despised it.
This was/is clearly an agency out of control.
Climate Change
It has (finally) run its course:
A good indicator of why climate change as an issue is over can be found early in the text of the Paris Agreement. The “nonbinding” pact declares that climate action must include concern for “gender equality, empowerment of women, and intergenerational equity” as well as “the importance for some of the concept of ‘climate justice.’ ” Another is Sarah Myhre’s address at the most recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union, in which she proclaimed that climate change cannot fully be addressed without also grappling with the misogyny and social injustice that have perpetuated the problem for decades.
The descent of climate change into the abyss of social-justice identity politics represents the last gasp of a cause that has lost its vitality. Climate alarm is like a car alarm—a blaring noise people are tuning out.
On the other hand, next month will be the sixth anniversary of the blog post that Michael Mann is suing me for. It’s been almost a year and a half since we requested an en banc rehearing of our appeal in the case to the DC court of appeals, with no response.
Presidential Pardon Power
I was arguing about this on Twitter this weekend. Yes, Trump can pardon himself. There is nothing in Article II to prevent it, other than in the case of impeachment.
Here’s the funny thing, though. Because Barack Obama didn’t pardon himself before he left office, he is now subject to prosecution for acts of abuse of power while he was president. Of course, Trump could pardon him. But why would he?
Politicizing The FBI
How James Comey succeeded where Richard Nixon failed.
California
Our most “progressive” state is number one in poverty, and racist.
[Update mid-afternoon]
The political ads on television in California have been quite bizarre. Here’s why. I don’t know what the voters were thinking when they came up with this crazy primary system.
The Letter Of The Law
A majority of the Supreme Court has this crazy idea that it should be followed. It would be nice to get a couple more justices who believe that.
My Interview On The Space Show
I was on last Monday; it’s been archived.
And sorry for light posting, but last week (and weekend) was wall-to-wall space conferences, between Space Tech Expo in Pasadena, and ISDC by LAX. And now I have three weeks to write a proposal for the LEO Commercialization NASA Research Announcement that came out the week before.
Mueller’s Appointment
…was probably unconstitutional.
Which would be all of a piece with the other actions of Obama administration officials.
[Update a few minutes later]
Related: James Comey in panic mode.
At this point, I think he should be wearing orange.