Free Republic

Now who’s being the child? Conservative YouTube sensation CJ Pearson, a 13-year-old black middle schooler from Georgia, revealed today that he’s been blocked from following President Obama on Twitter. He’s also unable to view the president’s tweets. “It’s an honor,” Pearson tells The American Mirror, insisting he did nothing to warrant being blocked, except his most recent video released last week. In the video, he accuses the president of playing politics with the Texas student who was suspended for bringing a clock to school that appeared to be a bomb. “He’s used this child as a political prop,” Pearson said....

WASHINGTON – This much is known for sure: His favorite movie is "Doctor Zhivago." After that, surprisingly little is known about John Roberts, who is about to take up the reins of one of the most powerful institutions in American government as the 17th chief justice of the United States. Will he vote to overturn the abortion precedent Roe v. Wade? Some legal analysts say yes, others no.Will he favor states' power over Congress's efforts to pass federal laws under the Commerce Clause?Does he have a long-term strategy to move the court to the right, or will he gravitate to...

Does John Roberts have an ethics problem? Three ethics professors argue that Roberts, whom President Bush has just nominated to be chief justice, should have disqualified himself from a case he helped decide earlier this year while serving as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which concerns a key issue in the administration's war on terrorism, may be headed for the Supreme Court, and at the time of the appeals court ruling, Roberts was being considered for a vacancy on the high court, though it did not yet exist....

WILLIAM H. Rehnquist was one of the great chief justices in American history. Over the last three decades, he moved the Supreme Court in a more conservative direction, advancing states' rights, expanding police powers and returning the country to its Tocquevillian roots. But in recent years his colleagues have handed him a series of setbacks in areas dear to him — including religion, property rights, federalism and capital punishment — signaling that perhaps the time had come for fresh leadership. Leading the court is a notorious challenge. Justices are a famously independent bunch. A chief justice cannot order his colleagues...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) complicated the already dizzying calculus about the future of the Supreme Court by speculating at length yesterday about the possibility that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor would stay if President Bush elevated her to chief justice. Most Republican officials interviewed this weekend said they expect Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to announce his resignation soon, although they said they had no hard evidence of that. Specter said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that his "own analysis is that the chief does not intend to step down as long as his health holds up." But...

Not surprisingly Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit gave a videoblogging demo, showing just how easy it is to add video reports to online content. In an interesting development, Glaser also reported that Cox announced he is working with the Poynter Institute to offer up online classes for journalists and bloggers explaining blogging basics. The classes will be part of Poynter's NewsU and may include information to help bloggers understand liability issues. On my own blog several months ago I pointed out the great potential for such synergy. Meanwhile newspapers continue to jump on the blogging bandwagon. Brian Gottstein, a former online...

Reid Says He Could Back Scalia for Chief Justice Comments Anger Liberals And Thomas Supporters By Michael A. Fletcher Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 7, 2004; Page A04 Partisans on both sides of the debate over judicial nominees voiced displeasure yesterday with incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid's comments indicating that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia could make an acceptable nominee for chief justice. In an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Nevada Democrat said that although he often disagrees with Scalia, he could support him to be chief justice of the United States because he...