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Latest Articles: U.S. Constitution
Judge Warns Of ‘Orwellian State’ In Warrantless GPS Tracking Case
Post Date: 2010-12-30 19:04:17 by Brian S
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Police in Delaware may soon be unable to use global positioning systems (GPS) to keep tabs on a suspect unless they have a court-signed warrant, thanks to a recent ruling by a superior court judge who cited famed author George Orwell in her decision. In striking down evidence obtained through warrantless GPS tracking, Delaware Judge Jan R. Jurden wrote that "an Orwellian state is now technologically feasible," adding that "without adequate judicial preservation of privacy, there is nothing to protect our citizens from being tracked 24/7." The ruling goes against a federal appeals court's decision last summer that allowed warrantless tracking by GPS. Jurden was ...
"No Refusal" DUI Checkpoints Could Be Coming To Tampa
Post Date: 2010-12-30 12:09:34 by Brian S
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Tampa, Florida-- With New Year's Eve only days away, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects this to be one of the deadliest weeks of the year on the roads. But now a new weapon is being used in the fight against drunk driving. It's a change that could make you more likely to be convicted. "I think it's a great deterrent for people," said Linda Unfried, from Mother's Against Drunk Driving in Hillsborough County. Florida is among several states now holding what are called "no refusal" checkpoints. It means if you refuse a breath test during a traffic stop, a judge is on site, and issues a warrant that allows police to perform a ...
Who Is Ron Paul? (National Review interview)
Post Date: 2010-12-29 22:13:36 by Hondo68
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Ask ten different people, and you’ll get ten different answers. Ron Paul speaks softly and carries Mises. The eccentric, famous, and infamous Texas congressman has a frail frame and a frailer voice. “I am not powerful, but my ideas are powerful,” he says. Everybody knows his name. Everybody talks about him. But nobody can agree as to who he is. He’s America’s most prominent libertarian, and he has the college and yuppie fans — fond of styling themselves “fiscally conservative but socially liberal!” — who come along with that. But it’s not that simple; for example, Paul strongly opposes abortion rights. Many are surprised by that. But Paul ...
Judge Strikes Down NYC's Gruesome Tobacco Ads
Post Date: 2010-12-29 17:15:15 by Brian S
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(12-29) 13:41 PST New York (AP) -- A federal judge has rejected New York City's planned campaign to scare people into quitting smoking with grisly advertisements near where cigarettes are sold, saying the effort is laudable but pre-empted by federal law. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said "even merchants of morbidity are entitled to the full protection of the law." On Wednesday, he blocked a city campaign that would require the ads be posted wherever tobacco products are sold by Saturday. The judge said the advertisements included images of a brain damaged by a stroke, a decaying tooth in gums and a diseased lung. A message left by The Associated Press with the city law ...
Appeals Court Won't Reconsider Highway Cross Case
Post Date: 2010-12-23 12:15:14 by Brian S
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(12-23) 09:03 PST Salt Lake City (AP) -- A federal appeals court has rejected a petition for a rehearing in a case involving 14 memorial crosses on Utah highways that an appellate panel said were unconstitutional. The Utah Highway Patrol Association, the Utah Department of Public Safety and two other state agencies sought a rehearing before the full 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel from the Denver court ruled in August that the 12-foot-high crosses represent a state endorsement of Christianity. The association and state agencies contend the memorials honor fallen officers and encourage safe driving. The groups argued that all 10 of the court's judges should ...
The Net Neutrality Coup The campaign to regulate the Internet was funded by a who's who of left-liberal foundations.
Post Date: 2010-12-22 16:54:46 by WhiteSands
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The Federal Communications Commission's new "net neutrality" rules, passed on a partisan 3-2 vote yesterday, represent a huge win for a slick lobbying campaign run by liberal activist groups and foundations. The losers are likely to be consumers who will see innovation and investment chilled by regulations that treat the Internet like a public utility. There's little evidence the public is demanding these rules, which purport to stop the non-problem of phone and cable companies blocking access to websites and interfering with Internet traffic. Over 300 House and Senate members have signed a letter opposing FCC Internet regulation, and there will undoubtedly be even less ...
US Government ‘Creating Vast Domestic Snooping Machine’
Post Date: 2010-12-20 16:50:56 by Brian S
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The government is creating a vast domestic spying network to collect information about Americans in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and subsequent terror plots, The Washington Post's Dana Priest and William Arkin reported Monday. The government is using for this purpose the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators, the daily added. The system collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of US citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing, the report noted. Among other things, the investigative series reveals: * Technologies and techniques honed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and ...
Espionage Act Endangers First Amendment Rights, ACLU Warns
Post Date: 2010-12-16 12:37:54 by Brian S
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Applying the US Espionage Act to third-party publishers of classified information like WikiLeaks would violate protected speech rights, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) told members of the House Judiciary Committee Thursday. "If the Espionage Act were to be applied to publishers, it would have the unconstitutional effect of infringing on the constitutionally protected speech rights of all Americans, and it would have a particularly negative effect on investigative journalism – a necessary and fundamental part of our democracy," the ACLU said in a statement (.pdf). "In the current environment, it would be all too easy for inflamed public passions to serve as ...
Warrant Needed To Snoop On Your Emails, Court Finally Rules
Post Date: 2010-12-15 11:33:17 by Brian S
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After many years of legal uncertainty, a federal appeals court has finally declared that emails have the same Fourth Amendment protections as regular mail and telephone calls. "Given the fundamental similarities between email and traditional forms of communication, it would defy common sense to afford emails lesser Fourth Amendment protection," the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF). If the ruling is not overturned by the Supreme Court, it will put an end to the practice of law enforcement agents using court orders, rather than warrants, to gain access to emails. Court orders require a much lower standard than warrants. Kevin Bankston of the digital rights group EFF told ...
Elected Tea Partier Allen West Calls For Mass Censorship Of US Media
Post Date: 2010-12-14 15:43:55 by Brian S
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The government should censor news agencies that report on US documents leaked by websites like WikiLeaks, according to a tea party-backed Republican who will soon represent the 22th district congressional of Florida. Speaking with an online radio station, Rep.-elect Allen West said that attacks on the US were not limited to "a bomb or an airplane flying into a building," but could occur "through cyber attacks" or "through leaking of very sensitive classified information." "Regardless of whether you think it causes any harm, the fact that here is an individual that is not an American citizen first and foremost, for whatever reason gotten his hands on ...
Army doc pleads guilty to 1 charge, refused to deploy without seeing Obama's birth certificate
Post Date: 2010-12-14 13:11:50 by Skip Intro
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FORT MEADE, Md. — An Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questions President Barack Obama's citizenship pleaded guilty Tuesday to one of two charges against him. Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin of Greeley, Colo., pleaded guilty in a military court to a charge that included not meeting with a superior when ordered to do so and not reporting to duty at Fort Campbell. Lakin faces up to 18 months in prison and dismissal from the Army. He pleaded not guilty to a second charge of missing a flight he was required to be on, and the court-martial proceeding continued on that count. In videos posted on YouTube, Lakin had aligned himself with so-called ...
Amateur Hour: VA Judge Makes Elementary Error In Health Care Ruling
Post Date: 2010-12-14 12:45:36 by Brian S
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The Virginia federal district court judge who ruled yesterday that the individual mandate in the health care bill is unconstitutional is catching a lot of flack -- and not just for having a financial interest in an anti-health care reform consulting firm. Legal experts are attacking Judge Henry Hudson's decision on the merits, citing an elementary logical flaw at the heart of his opinion. And that has conservative scholars -- even ones sympathetic to the idea that the mandate is unconstitutional -- prepared to see Hudson's decision thrown out. "I've had a chance to read Judge Hudson's opinion, and it seems to me it has a fairly obvious and quite significant ...
Espionage Act ‘Makes Felons Of Us All,’ Legal Expert Warns
Post Date: 2010-12-14 12:15:24 by Brian S
1 Comments
The US Espionage Act could make "felons of us all," a legal expert warned Monday as the House Judiciary Committee announced plans to reexamine the "constitutional issues raised by WikiLeaks." Attorneys for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have warned that US authorities are seeking to charge him with spying charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 for his role in helping the media publish leaked US State Department diplomatic cables. Under the Act, anyone "having unauthorized possession of" information relating to the national defense or information that could be "used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation" may be ...
Is the Hudson ruling good news for health reform?
Post Date: 2010-12-13 19:04:34 by Skip Intro
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District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee, has, as expected, ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional. So why are health reformers so unexpectedly pleased? There are two reasons, but first, let's put this into context. Hudson's ruling is the third from a district court so far. Previously, Judge Norman Moon found the mandate constitutional, and so too did Judge George Steeh. Both Steeh and Norman were Clinton appointees, which is to say that so far, the rulings are proceeding along predictably partisan lines. Hudson ruled against the government, but he didn't stop it (you can read the full opinion here). He refused the plaintiff's request for ...
Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Virginia Challenge to Health Care Law
Post Date: 2010-12-13 13:02:49 by WhiteSands
1 Comments
Casting an unmistakable and perhaps permanent pockmark on the face of the Obama administration, a federal judge in Virginia ruled Monday that a major component of the new health care reform law is unconstitutional. Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled Monday for the state's claim that the requirement for people to purchase health care exceeds the power of Congress under the Constitution's Commerce Clause. Hudson's eagerly awaited decision invalidates the requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance by 2014 or face a federal fine. Hudson's decision is the first striking down part of the controversial legislation. "It is not the effect on individuals that is ...
Obama Health Care Bill Ruled Unconstitutional
Post Date: 2010-12-13 12:22:02 by Brian S
3 Comments
A Virginia judge has ruled that the Obama health care bill is unconstitutional. It's unconstitutional to force people to buy coverage, which is hurting shares of the insurers like UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) and WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP). The insurance companies initially spiked on the news, but just as fast as the spike happened, shares are coming back down just as fast. This would mean less business for these insurance companies, so potential profits will be hit. Congress has exceeded its power said Judge Hudson, the ruling judge in the case. The judge did not rule about the validity of the entire law, just this section of the law. ADDITIONAL COVERAGE FROM THE AP: ...
Taitz v. Obama: Quo Warranto Re-Reconsideration–DENIED
Post Date: 2010-12-10 10:45:54 by Skip Intro
2 Comments
Royce C. Lamberth, Chief Judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, has delivered some good lines to Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. already. When the case was dismissed last April, he said: This is one of several such suits filed by Ms. Taitz in her quixotic attempt to prove that President Obama is not a natural born citizen as required by the Constitution. See U.S. CONST. art. II, § 1. This Court is not willing to go tilting at windmills with her. Ironically enough, Ms. Taitz could never establish such an injury because — as far as the Court is aware — she was not elected president nor could she be because she is not a natural born citizen herself. In June, when ...
Sharpton Going To FCC: Limbaugh "Doesn't Have The Right" To Use Public Airwaves
Post Date: 2010-12-07 01:55:52 by WhiteSands
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"We're not going to stand by and let publicly regulated radio and television just go for marketing and promoting this kind of racism," Al Sharpton said about his campaign to take Rush Limbaugh off the airwaves. Sharpton says he will be going to the FCC next week to demand Limbaugh be taken off the air. "Rush Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he wants to say, he does not have the right, though, to do it on publicly regulated airwaves. The FCC has the responsibility to set standards," Sharpton added. "You can't say -- in the name of free speech, you can't say anything you want," Al Sharpton said on MSNBC. "We're not talking about ...
TSA Told To Tell Children That Groping Them Is A Game... Horrifying Sex Abuse Experts
Post Date: 2010-12-05 01:23:55 by Wood_Chopper
13 Comments
News & Current Events See other News & Current Events Articles Title: TSA Told To Tell Children That Groping Them Is A Game... Horrifying Sex Abuse Experts Source: [None] URL Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20 ... -children-that-groping-them-is Published: Dec 4, 2010 Author: staff Post Date: 2010-12-04 18:06:46 by out damned spot Views: 100 Comments: 9 Apparently TSA agents are being told that one way to handle the new groping pat downs for children is to try to make it out to be some sort of "game." This is apparently horrifying some sex abuse experts who point out that a common tactic in abuse cases is to tell the kids that they're just "playing a ...
Ron Paul stands up for Julian Assange
Post Date: 2010-12-03 16:21:12 by Skip Intro
15 Comments
Ron Paul stands up for Julian Assange Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is taking a stand as one of Julian Assange’s few defenders in Washington, arguing that the WikiLeaks founder should get the same protections as the media. Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that the Justice Department is examining whether Assange can be charged with a crime for posting hundreds of thousands of leaked government intelligence documents and diplomatic cables. Many Republicans have gone even further in their attacks on Assange, especially former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee, who said this week that the source who leaked to the WikiLeaks founder should be tried for treason and executed if found ...
Tea Partiers resist GOP healthcare repeal tactic
Post Date: 2010-12-02 09:55:06 by go65
9 Comments
Tea Party lawmakers are balking at the House Republican leadership’s plan to simultaneously repeal and replace President Obama’s healthcare law. The resistance from conservative lawmakers is a clear indication of the challenge Republican leaders face in their uphill battle to rescind the law. The emerging friction in the GOP conference also reflects the difficult transition from campaigning in the minority party to governing in the majority. Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Steve King (R-Iowa) say Republicans should repeal the law without attaching a proposal to replace it. Bachmann, a founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, told The Hill on Wednesday, “We need to have a ...
Judge Rejects Liberty University's Health Care Reform Challenge
Post Date: 2010-12-01 11:56:29 by Brian S
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A federal judge in Virginia threw out a case brought by Liberty University that claimed the health care reform law is unconstitutional and would allow the religious institution’s insurance payments to cover abortions. The White House quickly trumpeted the suit’s dismissal as a sign that the health care law will survive the many legal challenges it faces. “The judge’s ruling today only underscores the importance of the law’s individual responsibility provision,” Stephanie Cutter, assistant for special projects, wrote in a White House blog post Tuesday. Liberty University, a Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., had argued that the legislation’s ...
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Tells TIME: Hillary Clinton 'Should Resign'
Post Date: 2010-11-30 19:21:32 by jwpegler
3 Comments
Hillary Clinton, Julian Assange said, "should resign." Speaking over Skype from an undisclosed location on Tuesday, the WikiLeaks founder was replying to a question by TIME managing editor Richard Stengel over the diplomatic-cable dump that Assange's organization loosed on the world this past weekend. Stengel had said the U.S. Secretary of State was looking like "the fall guy" in the ensuing controversy, and had asked whether her firing or resignation was an outcome that Assange wanted. "I don't think it would make much of a difference either way," Assange said. "But she should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. ...
Judge Blocks Okla. Sharia Ban: Case Goes To 'Very Foundation Of Our Country'
Post Date: 2010-11-30 11:52:39 by Brian S
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A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against Oklahoma's so-called "Sharia ban," saying the case goes "to the very foundation of our country, our Constitution, and particularly, the Bill of Rights." Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange, who presides over a federal court in the western district of Oklahoma, ruled that a CAIR official suing to block the law will likely succeed in his efforts. "Specifically, the Court finds that plaintiff has made a strong showing that State Question 755's amendment's primary effect inhibits religion and that the amendment fosters an excessive government entanglement with religion," she wrote. "While ...
Leap Of Faith?: Tea Party Activists Promote Bogus Religious ‘History’ Of Constitution
Post Date: 2010-11-29 14:39:43 by Brian S
1 Comments
Over the past few months, I’ve had several people call or e-mail to ask me if I know anything about a book titled The 5,000 Year Leap. I have to admit that I was not familiar with the tome, so I looked it up. Published in 1981 by a conservative Mormon named W. Cleon Skousen, the book is just a tad unusual. It’s loaded with conspiracy theories and argues that America’s Founding Fathers modeled themselves on the biblical tribes of ancient Israel. Despite its daffy premise, The 5,000 Year Leap has become influential in some circles of the Tea Party. Recently, George Washington University law professor Jeffery Rosen, writing in The New York Times, called Skousen “the ...
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