Free Republic

For the past four weeks, Senators and commentators have often used the most apocalyptic terms to describe the potential nomination of a rigid conservative to succeed Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the Supreme Court's perennial swing voter.

Columnist Robert Novak has made a career for himself as a human flamethrower for conservative causes. Yet, even Novak appears surprised at the mounting cost of his disclosure in 2003 of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. It was classic Novak: a hatchet job directed not at Plame, but at her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The firestorm that erupted has consumed millions of dollars in investigation and litigation costs and has wreaked havoc with the career not just of Plame (who had to leave the CIA) but of two reporters who were hauled into court and...

In some quarters, Janice Rogers Brown is getting a fair hearing. Jonathan Turley, a law professor I remember well from my days at GWU, says that Democrats should drop their filibuster over Brown and nine other nominees. In an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times he writes: "Janice Rogers Brown of the California Supreme Court is equally conservative — she once called the New Deal a "socialist revolution." But however inflammatory her remarks outside the courtroom, Brown's legal opinions show a willingness to vote against conservative views, particularly in criminal cases, when justice demands it." Turley's view is telling. He...

I have rarely been this royally ticked off. However, nothing prepared me for the statements of Fox News analyst and law professor Susan Estrich calling for a feminist campaign against the Los Angeles Times. Ms. Estrich's grievance is that the newspaper has failed to publish enough articles by women (like her own syndicated column) on its editorial page. Described in the press as "belligerent" and "semiliterate," Ms. Estrich's tirades became increasing unhinged after it became clear that Mr. Kinsley would not yield to her ultimatums. Indeed, Ms. Estrich went to all caps in offering Mr. Kinsley "ONE MORE CHANCE BEFORE...

You can make more in a single stock trade than in a lifetime of public service. Congress has excluded investment income, such as stocks, from ethics limitations on income. The result is that members routinely make killings in the market in areas where they legislate. One study by the University of Memphis found that 75% of randomly selected members had "stock transactions that directly coincided with (their) legislative activity." Members have the unique ability to predict or even manipulate stock prices. Another recent study by Alan J. Ziobrowski of Georgia State University and three colleagues showed that U.S. senators beat...

Washington, DC –Jonathan Turley, a constitutional scholar at George Washington Law School has just penned what is a clear sign that our nation is not on a slippery slope toward sexual degradation and moral decline—rather our country is on a rocket-propelled missile into social chaos. Turley argued in Monday’s issue of USA Today that polygamy is the next logical step in the goal of social activists to overturn any remaining barriers to the redefining of marriage. Turley says he detests the idea of polygamy but he has put forth the legal arguments for its legalization. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia,...

Chief Justice William Rehnquist must loathe opening the morning paper these days. Every day, there is fresh speculation on his impending death or resignation. Pundits have opined on whether his agreement to administer the inaugural oath in January is a sign that he is staying or that he is bidding farewell. Every public appearance of associate justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia is scrutinized for clues as to who is leading in the chief- justice sweeps. President Bush has long identified Thomas and Scalia as his two favorite jurists, and make no mistake about it, both are seeking the court's...

[editor's note - my apologies for the repost. I forgot to click the "excerpt" box the first time...] In "A Deafening Silence" I discussed the unusually low amount of support rank-and-file Christians seem to have for outlawing homosexual marriages. While state initiatives in Missouri and Louisiana have overwhelmingly trounced the idea, US Congressmen are not hearing much from their constituents on the matter. Now, USA Today has weighed in on the subject, or at least, weighed in on one aspect of the subject. The October 4, 2004 issue saw an article by Jonathan Turley, Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law...

NEW YORK - Late on Monday the NYC City Council overrode a veto from Mayor Michael Bloomberg forcing NYC to abandon doing any business with organizations that do not offer benefits to partners of same sex couples. This move from the city council calls into question the future of relationships with organizations like Jewish Charities, Catholic Charities, and the Salvation Army. These organizations - all faith based - have religious/doctrinal reasons for not promoting homosexual relationships and their record of public good was proven long ago. Law professor Jonathon Turley from the George Washington University Law School told the "Kevin...

POLITICS Hearing on Controversial Dem Memos Could Be Soon By David Brody Congressional Correspondent April 27, 2004 The content of the memos detail how Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee seem to be taking marching orders from liberal special-interest groups, when it comes to derailing President Bush's judicial nominees. CBN.com – CAPITOL HILL - Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee may find themselves on the hot seat soon, especially Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA). CBN News has learned that there is a good chance the Senate will hold hearings on Democratic memos that reveal possible collusion and obstruction of justice between...

<p>U.S. soldiers lack best protective gear By Jonathan Turley I recently received a note from one of the few husbands who knows just what his wife wants as a holiday gift. The Army sergeant (who asked to remain anonymous) e-mailed me from Iraq asking my help in finding him a store to buy body armor for his wife. Both the sergeant and his wife are serving in Iraq, and both have seen action. But, like thousands of U.S. soldiers, his wife was not given the vital ceramic plates for her Kevlar Interceptor vest to protect her from bullet wounds. Instead, he said, she had to scavenge to find plates left behind by Iraqi soldiers — plates of inferior quality that do not properly fit her vest.</p>

<p>IT HAS lain dormant in the darkest recesses of American law for 125 years, but last month Attorney General John Ashcroft introduced critics of the administration to his latest weapon in law enforcement.</p> <p>In a Miami federal court, the attorney general charged the environmental group Greenpeace under an obscure 1872 law originally intended to end the practice of "sailor-mongering," or the luring of sailors with liquor and prostitutes from their ships. Ashcroft plucked the law from obscurity to punish Greenpeace for boarding a vessel near port in Miami.</p>

With the reality of entrenched opposition in Iraq resulting in increasing U.S. fatalities there, the opposition at home to the occupation is hardening by the day. The military appears to have come up with a solution: Change reality. In what has been described as a "Pentagon infomercial," the Defense Department has hired a former producer of the TV show "Cops" to film postwar Iraq from its perspective. Though producer Bertram van Munster has denied that he is shooting a propaganda piece, it is clear that the Pentagon is gearing up to frame its own account -- and history -- of...

Ashcroft's Power Grows In Terrorist Witch Hunt POSTED: 3:52 p.m. EDT August 15, 2003 UPDATED: 3:55 p.m. EDT August 15, 2003 WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft doesn't have enough to do, hunting down terrorists. With the help of a rollover Congress, he now has a new and bigger club to go after federal judges who impose lighter sentences in criminal cases than he would like. As a faithful lord high executioner of the administration's much touted "compassionate conservatism," Ashcroft wants to clamp down on those judges. At issue are the sentencing guidelines laid down by a federal commission that...

Consider the following scene. A lobbyist comes into a congressional office and gives an envelope filled with $100,000 in cash to a member of Congress. The member expresses shock and throws the envelope back at the lobbyist as a "crude attempt at bribery." Embarrassed, the lobbyist returns a few minutes later with two first-class tickets and expenses to Europe worth $100,000. The member thanks the lobbyist for helping the public better understand his industry and accepts the travel package on behalf of himself and his wife. In the bizarre world of Washington ethics, the distinction by the member is the...