In what is probably the most important Second Amendment case in Supreme Court history, the Court today held that the “right of the people to keep and bear Arms” cannot be infringed by the states. In 2008 in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court for the first time held that the right to bear arms was an individual right. But that decision, which struck down a virtual ban on handguns and a requirement that rifles and shotguns had to be kept “unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger …
The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its hearing today on the nomination of Elena Kagan to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Kagan is no stranger to the confirmation process; in fact, she devoted one of her few academic writings entirely to the subject, writing: The Senate’s consideration of a nominee, and particularly the Senate’s confirmation hearings, ought to focus on substantive issues; the Senate ought to view the hearings as an opportunity to gain knowledge and promote public understanding of what the …
“I’ve been working to dismantle Obamacare,” declared Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “We have to fight this terrible law that’s a threat to liberty itself.” These comments came during a June 21st blogger conference call held by Sen. Hatch in which he sought to rally support for two bills aimed at representing “a strategic attack on the central tenants of Obamacare.” The American Liberty Restoration Act (S. 3502) would strike forthcoming individual mandates from the current law, while the American Job Protection Act (S.3501) would repeal what Hatch calls, a “job-killing …
Prior to his presidency, Senator Obama famously announced that empathy would be his criteria for selecting judges. Although Sonia Sotomayor deemphasized her empathetic understanding of the law, many on the left still advocate empathy as the criteria for judges. James Gibson is no exception. In a recent article, “Expecting Justice and Hoping for Empathy,” Gibson discusses his recent survey that revealed 68% of polled individuals strongly agree with the statement that justices should “Be able to empathize with ordinary people – that is, to be able understand how the law …
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Friday participated in the unveiling of his official portrait to commemorate his service as the 21st U.S. Secretary of Defense. Following are excerpts of his remarks as prepared for the Pentagon ceremony: I have seen our country in times of depression and prosperity, peace and turmoil, exhilarating triumphs and agonizing wars. Yet America is here today, as it was yesterday. And I have every confidence it will prosper and endure. In my lifetime, our nation’s leaders have had to: tackle the worst economic …
House Cloakroom: June 28 – July 2, 2010 Analysis: Moving in to the final week before the July 4th recess, the House is expected to take up the War Funding Supplemental, which is an $84.3 billion bill that includes only 39% for actual defense and military construction. The bill was originally scheduled to be marked up in May but has been on hold after amendments were added to cut non-defense spending from the package. The House will also take action after negotiating provisions with Senate conferees on the conference report for …
The recent explosions in Massey’s Upper Big Branch coal mine and on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig highlight the tragedy of workplace fatalities. Though improvement in statistical averages do little to lessen the loss of those whose loved ones have died, the American workplace has gotten safer which means fewer will be grieving. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reached a record low in 2008: 3.6 per 100,000 full-time workers. Yet with the recent noted losses in the oil and coal industries, some might think that workplace fatalities could be …
For environmentalists to get the carbon dioxide cuts they desire, they need people to dramatically change their behavior. After all, the goal of cap and trade is to increase the cost of energy (85% of which comes from carbon-emitting fossil fuels), in order for demand to fall. But the radical environmental ideas extend well beyond cap and trade and come from all parts of the globe. This is nothing more than a group of elitists who believe they possess a moral authority to tell others how to live. The latest …
President Obama addressed an attentive audience at a community center in Southeast Washington this week and called once again for a “new conversation about fatherhood.” He also took the occasion to announce a nationwide Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative, which will be complemented by a $500 million Fatherhood, Marriage and Families Innovation Fund. The Fund will make grants to nonprofits across the country for a variety of purposes that the President outlined as including “jobs training, or parenting skills classes, [or] domestic violence prevention.” The President was at his most eloquent …
It was the dead of night. Police cordoned off the area and shooed away curious onlookers. When the townspeople awoke, the city square in Gori, Georgia—the birthplace of Joseph Stalin—was missing its most famous icon. Last night, Georgian authorities finally removed the 20-ft. bronze statue of the former Soviet dictator to the confines of a local museum. To most, the statue had been a painful daily reminder of darker days when the forces of communism gutted Georgian society and shrouded the region with tyranny. The statue had proven remarkably resilient …
