Source: CBS
A federal appeals court says California’s ban on same-sex marriage – known as Proposition 8 – violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The New Yorker has a lengthy profile of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni. Not surprisingly, It’s a left wing piece of centering around the right wing “activism” of Justice Thomas and his wife, especially as it relates to ObamaCare. But it’s still an interesting piece with fairly in-depth analysis of Thomas’s views of the Constitution and the law. It’s worth reading.

Here’s juror number 3, Jennifer Ford, talking about why she and her fellow jurors set Casey Anthony free. This woman clearly doesn’t understand what “reasonable doubt” means. She also cites the death penalty as one reason they couldn’t convict, which is odd considering they could have found her guilty of manslaughter — but did not. That would’ve taken death off the table and Casey would’ve been released after a lengthy prison sentence. She also makes the absurd claim that without a cause of death they couldn’t be sure a murder actually took place. I’m guessing she assumes little Caylee put tape on her own mouth and nose, dived into a sack, and hopped down to that muddy swamp where they found her. The one thing in this case that’s a virtual certainty is that Caylee Anthony was murdered. Who did the murdering is an open question. But based on the ass load of circumstantial evidence, the smell of death emanating from Casey’s car, not reporting her daughter missing for 31 days, the lies she told police, and her ice cold demeanor since Caylee’s death add up to one thing. Casey Anthony either accidentally or purposefully killed her daughter and then tried to cover it up. It would be unreasonable to doubt that.

This juror doesn’t know what the hell is going on. She doesn’t understand the law. She doesn’t have any common sense. She let a murderer walk free.

The jury returned a not guilty verdict today in the Casey Anthony trial. She was found not guilty of first degree murder and not guilty of manslaughter.

Casey Anthony is not guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of her two-year-old daughter Caylee Marie.

After deliberating for less than 11 hours over two days, a jury decided this afternoon that prosecutors did not prove Casey Anthony was guilty of capital murder in the death of the toddler her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Marie, a 12-member jury found this afternoon.

After the courtroom was cleared, a beaming Jose Baez, Casey Anthony’s defense attorney, said, “while we are happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case.”

He said Caylee passed much too young, but added: “Casey did not murder Caylee; it’s just that simple.”

This is what happens when you get a jury full of morons. The public watched every day of this case just like the jury. How in the world those 12 jurors agreed that Casey Anthony was not guilty of anything other than lying to police is beyond me. Casey Anthony got away with murder. Once again her lies worked out for her. What a tragedy.

Source: CBS
In a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled even the most grotesque video games are protected by the First Amendment and may be sold to minors. Nancy Cordes reports.

From Big Government:

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order Friday, barring the publication of a controversial new law that would sharply curtail collective bargaining for public employees.

Sumi’s order will prevent Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing the law until she can rule on the merits of the case. Dane County Ismael Ozanne is seeking to block the law because he says a legislative committee violated the state’s open meetings law.

Sumi said Ozanne was likely to succeed on the merits.

“It seems to me the public policy behind effective enforcement of the open meeting law is so strong that it does outweigh the interest, at least at this time, which may exist in favor of sustaining the validity of the (law),” she said.

As I understand it from conservatives I’ve talked to, this “open meetings” argument doesn’t hold water because the WI Senate wasn’t in regular session. But I could be wrong.

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount anti-gay protests outside military funerals, despite the pain they cause grieving families.

The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. The decision upheld an appeals court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment to the father of a dead Marine who sued church members after they picketed his son’s funeral.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the court. Justice Samuel Alito dissented.

Hot Air has some interesting analysis.

An investigation by PJM led by former DOJ attorney J. Christian Adams reveals a pattern of selective compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) at the Holder Justice Department. Not surprisingly, left wing groups and friends of the administration often get same day turnaround for FOIA requests, while conservative groups wait months for a response if they get one at all.

The data in the FOIA logs I obtained reveal the priorities of the Civil Rights Division — transparency for friends, stonewalls for the unfriendly. Those enjoying speedy compliance with their Freedom of Information Act requests include:

– Gerry Hebert, noted free speech opponent, partisan liberal, and former career Voting Section lawyer who testified against now-Senator Jeff Sessions when he was nominated to the federal judiciary. Same day service.

– Kristen Clarke, NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Clarke sought the dismissal of the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther party. Same day service.

– Ari Shapiro of National Public Radio. Five day service.

– Nicholas Espiritu of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. Next day service.

– Eugene Lee of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. Three day service.

– Edward DuBose, president of Georgia NAACP. Same day service.

– Raul Arroyo-Mendoza of the Advancement Project. Same day service.

– Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. Two day service.

– Tova Wang of Demos. Three day service.

– Mark Posner and Robert Kengle of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Kengle is the same former DOJ attorney who did not want to do election coverage in Mississippi where a federal court found that white voters were being discriminated against. Same day service.

– Brian Sells, formerly of the ACLU and now of the DOJ Voting Section. (Paging Charlie Savage). One day service.

– Natalie Landreth, Native American Rights Fund. Same day service.

– Fred McBride, ACLU redistricting coordinator. Same day service.

– Jenigh Garrett, NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Same day service.

– Joaquin Avila, well-known election law professor in Seattle who advocates for the rights of illegal aliens to vote in American elections. Next day service.

Here’s how conservatives or Republicans are treated:

– Michael Rosman, Center for Individual Rights. Six month wait.

– Jennifer Rubin (seeking records relating to employees, like Charlie Savage did). No reply at all.

– Congressman Frank Wolf. Five month wait. Wolf now chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee in charge of the DOJ budget. Oops.

– Jed Babbin, editor at Human Events. Six month wait.

– Jerry Seper, Washington Times. Six month wait.

– Jim Boulet of the English First Foundation. No reply at all.

– Jenny Small of Judicial Watch. Five month wait.

– Republican Pennsylvania state Representative Stephen Barrar. Four month wait.

– Jason Torchinsky, former DOJ and now ace GOP lawyer. No reply at all.

– Ben Conery, Washington Times. Five month wait.

Click over to read PJM’s full report.

Right from the jump the new GOP controlled House Judiciary Committee is getting about the people’s business. First on the agenda is the scandalous Black Panther Case. Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has already sent a letter to the DOJ ordering them to turn over documents he’s been trying to get for years. He had no way to make them hand over the documents when he was in the minority, but that has all changed. Smith has subpoena power now and can force corrupt DOJ officials to testify and hand over documents.

I predict that when the smoke finally clears on this disgusting case, Eric Holder won’t be the only person thrown out on his ass.

Right Turn has obtained the first oversight letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued to the Justice Department. While he was in the minority, Smith labored, largely unsuccessfully, on the committee to convince the Democratic chairman to investigate a range of issues, including detainee policy and New Black Panther Party case. He now has the authority to schedule hearings, call witnesses and subpoena documents.

[...]He then gets to the heart of the matter. As I and other outlets have reported, he notes that in the New Black Panther Party case investigation, it came to light that a political appointee, Julie Fernandes, directed Justice Department attorneys “not to bring cases against black defendants for the benefit of white victims.”Smith then details allegations by former Justice Department attorney J. Christian Adams that the department declined to enforce the National Voter Registration Act and its provisions relating to “voter integrity.”

When the DOJ finally has to admit they haven’t been enforcing the Voting Rights Act in a race neutral fashion it’s going to be the scandal of the century. Especially since Eric Holder is always crowing about the so-called “politicization” of the DOJ under Bush.

The reality is that Eric Holder is running one of the most politicized Justice Departments in history. Former DOJ attorney J. Christian Adams and others have testified under oath that DOJ officials said flat out that the Voting Rights Act was intended to “empower minorities” and that’s exactly what they intended to do.

Every single thing Eric Holder and his cronies do is motivated by politics — leftist politics. The fact that any Republican voted to confirm Holder as AG is a disgrace. I said at the time that any Republican who votes to confirm Holder should be voted out of office. They clearly don’t have the judgement to be member of Congress.

This article titled “American charged with hacking after snooping on wife’s emails” was written by Chris McGreal in Washington, for The Guardian on Monday 27th December 2010 14.59 UTC

A Michigan man has been charged under anti-hacking legislation designed to protect trade secrets after logging on to his wife’s email account and discovering she was having an affair.

Leon Walker, 33, faces a trial lawyers say could have significant repercussions given that nearly half of US divorce cases involve some form of snooping, such as reading emails, text messages or social networking.

Walker was charged after opening the Gmail account of his wife, Clara, who was married twice previously. Walker found she was having an affair with her second husband, who had once been arrested for beating her in front of her young son from her first husband.

Walker handed the emails over to the boy’s father, saying he was concerned for the child’s safety. The father sought custody.

“I was doing what I had to do,” Walker told the Detroit Free Press. “We’re talking about putting a child in danger.”

When Clara Walker discovered the emails had been read and passed on she went to the authorities.

The Walkers were divorced earlier this month.

The Oakland County prosecutor, Jessica Cooper, said Walker broke the law by hacking in to his former wife’s account.

Walker says the computer was shared. His former wife claims it was hers alone.

Walker’s lawyer said the prosecutor was “dead wrong” about the law.

“I’ve been a defence attorney for 34 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Leon Weiss told the Detroit Free Press. “This is a hacking statute, the kind of statute they use if you try to break into a government system or private business for some nefarious purpose. It’s to protect against identity fraud, to keep somebody from taking somebody’s intellectual property or trade secrets.”

“I have to ask: Don’t the prosecutors have more important things to do with their time?”

Walker is due to stand trial in February.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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