NINOMANIA
:: A constitutional law blog by Scalia/Thomas fan David M. Wagner, M.A., J.D., Research Fellow, National Legal Foundation, and Teacher, Veritas Preparatory Academy. Opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect those of the NLF or Veritas. :: bloghome | E-mail me ::
:: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 ::
National Review v. Republican pooh-bahs, re Senator Specter.
:: David M. Wagner 6:19 PM [+] ::
...
I've been preparing for a conference on an unrelated issue, so I haven't been following the Roy's Rock issue as closely as I should.
In the meantime, here for your enjoyment are then-Associate Justice Rehnquist's remarks in dissent in Carey v. Population Services, the case that held that states may not regulate access to contraceptives by minors. Here and in Eisenstadt, Justice Brennan's smoothly-executed pirouettes through means-ends analysis and then-brand-new precedents -- strongly reminiscent of Lochner in these regards -- can easily suck one into playing his game. Rehnquist breaks the spell:
Those who valiantly but vainly defended the heights of Bunker Hill in 1775 made it possible that men such as James Madison might later sit in the first Congress and draft the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. The post-Civil War Congresses which drafted the Civil War Amendments to the Constitution could not have accomplished their task without the blood of brave men on both sides which was shed at Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. If those responsible for these Amendments, by feats of valor or efforts of draftsmanship, could have lived to know that their efforts had enshrined in the Constitution the right of commercial vendors of contraceptives to peddle them to unmarried minors through such means as window displays and vending machines located in the men's room of truck stops, notwithstanding the considered judgment of the New York Legislature to the contrary, it is not difficult to imagine their reaction.
I do not believe that the cases discussed in the Court's opinion require any such result, but to debate the Court's treatment of the question on a case-by-case basis would concede more validity to the result reached by the Court than I am willing to do. There comes a point when endless and ill-considered extension of principles originally formulated in quite different cases produces such an indefensible result that no logic chopping can possibly make the fallacy of the result more obvious. 431 U.S. 678, 718 (1977)
:: David M. Wagner 5:40 PM [+] ::
...
:: Thursday, August 21, 2003 ::
The sort of thing the New York Times usually does
...only this time it's the Washington Post. Lede graf of its story today on Judge Moore and "Roy's Rock":
MONTGOMERY, Ala., Aug. 20 -- They still talk about Gov. George C. Wallace here, defiantly standing in that long-ago schoolhouse door. And from now on, they also will be talking about Chief Justice Roy S. Moore and his modern-day version of Alabama-style civil disobedience.
See? The Ten Commandments are just like segregation! Toldja so!
:: David M. Wagner 2:36 PM [+] ::
...
:: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 ::
In Ireland, it may be illegal to promulgate or distribute the Vatican's recent statement on homosexual relationships. Illegal, as in, i-l-l-e-g-a-l.
:: David M. Wagner 4:30 PM [+] ::
...
:: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 ::
Washington Post headline last Sunday -- I'd link to it, but they rephrased it before it went up on the website (we get the very early edition down here in Virginia Beach):
Iraqi Shiites' Ties Alarm U.S.
Yeah -- they're all polyester! We're trying to educate them about silk reppe and foulard via the State Department's Radio We're-Not-as-Bad-as-You-Think-We-Are, but it's a long process.
:: David M. Wagner 5:22 PM [+] ::
...
:: Monday, August 18, 2003 ::
Another blogging law prof and Ninomania linker:
Prof. Ken Parish, who teaches in Australia, and whose blog is The Parish Pump. Actually, his most recent post is from last January, so let's wish him a swift return to the blogosphere.
Oh, and about Owen, and Democratic and Republican delaying tactics (Ken mentions these, so I will): in about two cases, the GOP Senate during the Clinton administration sank nominations by refusing to hold hearings on the nominee. Judge Ronnie White was one of these, if memory serves. I can't really defend that tactic in non-activist terms, but set it alongside the unprecedented tactic of the filibuster, and which is worse? For better or worse, powerful committee chairmen in both houses have been able to block legislation and nominees for decades. Effectively raising the confirmation threshhold to 60 deforms the advice and consent in a new, if not worse, way.
And no, what Strom did to Marshall is not a precedent, mainly because it was just Strom (and maybe a couple of others; Eastland, probably) being jerks for a couple of weeks. That Marshall would be confirmed was never seriously in doubt.
I think it's the stop-them-whatever-it-takes 'tude that's so annoying, especially when accompanied by rhetoric about protecting the people.
BTW, Ken linked to me almost a solid year ago; I only found him today, via a search engine I read about in the Wall St. Journal: teoma.com.
:: David M. Wagner 10:29 PM [+] ::
...
:: Sunday, August 17, 2003 ::
Thanks to Adam White, of white-noize, for naming Ninomania "site of the week."
BTW, the only reason it's capitalized is that I wanted the name to dominate the banner. As you see, I spell it without all-caps in other contexts.
:: David M. Wagner 6:47 PM [+] ::
...
:: Thursday, August 14, 2003 ::
The GOP tactic of charging Sen. Schumer and other filibusterers with anti-Catholicism may or may not conform to the highest standards of intellectual honesty (for myself, I'm totally unsure where and how the categories of extreme disagreement with Catholic teachings, extreme dislike of the Catholic Church, and bigotry toward Catholics meet or overlap), but one thing is clear -- it's got the Democrats on the defensive.
Click here for some letters to the editor in the New York Post, responding to a columnist's attempt to defend Schumer on this issue.
:: David M. Wagner 5:07 PM [+] ::
...
:: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 ::
Is Colorado the new California?
"Ensure domestic tranquility" -- that, of course, is one of the desiderata of the Constitution's preamble. But voters in Denver are taking this as a literal duty, according to this story in the Las Vegas Sun (via Drudge).
According to Jeff Peckman, the citizen who initiated the petition drive for the referendum:
[C]ouncil members should favor his proposal because it supports their duty under the U.S. Constitution to provide for the common defense and ensure domestic tranquility.
The measure doesn't advise how the city should reduce stress but requires the city to research the idea and scientifically prove which methods work. Some of Peckman's ideas include playing soothing music in public places and improving the quality of school lunches.
The pharmaceutical sales force will no doubt eagerly await the outcome of the November ballot initiative.
:: David M. Wagner 9:54 PM [+] ::
...
:: Friday, August 08, 2003 ::
Gary O'Connor, from the Statutory Construction Zone, mentions this blog in an article on law blogs in the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process (text here). His co-author is Stephanie Tai, of Blue Blanket.
Thank you, Gary and Stephanie!
:: David M. Wagner 11:49 AM [+] ::
...
:: David M. Wagner 6:19 PM [+] ::
...
In the meantime, here for your enjoyment are then-Associate Justice Rehnquist's remarks in dissent in Carey v. Population Services, the case that held that states may not regulate access to contraceptives by minors. Here and in Eisenstadt, Justice Brennan's smoothly-executed pirouettes through means-ends analysis and then-brand-new precedents -- strongly reminiscent of Lochner in these regards -- can easily suck one into playing his game. Rehnquist breaks the spell:
Those who valiantly but vainly defended the heights of Bunker Hill in 1775 made it possible that men such as James Madison might later sit in the first Congress and draft the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. The post-Civil War Congresses which drafted the Civil War Amendments to the Constitution could not have accomplished their task without the blood of brave men on both sides which was shed at Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. If those responsible for these Amendments, by feats of valor or efforts of draftsmanship, could have lived to know that their efforts had enshrined in the Constitution the right of commercial vendors of contraceptives to peddle them to unmarried minors through such means as window displays and vending machines located in the men's room of truck stops, notwithstanding the considered judgment of the New York Legislature to the contrary, it is not difficult to imagine their reaction.
I do not believe that the cases discussed in the Court's opinion require any such result, but to debate the Court's treatment of the question on a case-by-case basis would concede more validity to the result reached by the Court than I am willing to do. There comes a point when endless and ill-considered extension of principles originally formulated in quite different cases produces such an indefensible result that no logic chopping can possibly make the fallacy of the result more obvious. 431 U.S. 678, 718 (1977)
:: David M. Wagner 5:40 PM [+] ::
...
...only this time it's the Washington Post. Lede graf of its story today on Judge Moore and "Roy's Rock":
MONTGOMERY, Ala., Aug. 20 -- They still talk about Gov. George C. Wallace here, defiantly standing in that long-ago schoolhouse door. And from now on, they also will be talking about Chief Justice Roy S. Moore and his modern-day version of Alabama-style civil disobedience.
See? The Ten Commandments are just like segregation! Toldja so!
:: David M. Wagner 2:36 PM [+] ::
...
:: David M. Wagner 4:30 PM [+] ::
...
Iraqi Shiites' Ties Alarm U.S.
Yeah -- they're all polyester! We're trying to educate them about silk reppe and foulard via the State Department's Radio We're-Not-as-Bad-as-You-Think-We-Are, but it's a long process.
:: David M. Wagner 5:22 PM [+] ::
...
Prof. Ken Parish, who teaches in Australia, and whose blog is The Parish Pump. Actually, his most recent post is from last January, so let's wish him a swift return to the blogosphere.
Oh, and about Owen, and Democratic and Republican delaying tactics (Ken mentions these, so I will): in about two cases, the GOP Senate during the Clinton administration sank nominations by refusing to hold hearings on the nominee. Judge Ronnie White was one of these, if memory serves. I can't really defend that tactic in non-activist terms, but set it alongside the unprecedented tactic of the filibuster, and which is worse? For better or worse, powerful committee chairmen in both houses have been able to block legislation and nominees for decades. Effectively raising the confirmation threshhold to 60 deforms the advice and consent in a new, if not worse, way.
And no, what Strom did to Marshall is not a precedent, mainly because it was just Strom (and maybe a couple of others; Eastland, probably) being jerks for a couple of weeks. That Marshall would be confirmed was never seriously in doubt.
I think it's the stop-them-whatever-it-takes 'tude that's so annoying, especially when accompanied by rhetoric about protecting the people.
BTW, Ken linked to me almost a solid year ago; I only found him today, via a search engine I read about in the Wall St. Journal: teoma.com.
:: David M. Wagner 10:29 PM [+] ::
...
BTW, the only reason it's capitalized is that I wanted the name to dominate the banner. As you see, I spell it without all-caps in other contexts.
:: David M. Wagner 6:47 PM [+] ::
...
Click here for some letters to the editor in the New York Post, responding to a columnist's attempt to defend Schumer on this issue.
:: David M. Wagner 5:07 PM [+] ::
...
"Ensure domestic tranquility" -- that, of course, is one of the desiderata of the Constitution's preamble. But voters in Denver are taking this as a literal duty, according to this story in the Las Vegas Sun (via Drudge).
According to Jeff Peckman, the citizen who initiated the petition drive for the referendum:
[C]ouncil members should favor his proposal because it supports their duty under the U.S. Constitution to provide for the common defense and ensure domestic tranquility.
The measure doesn't advise how the city should reduce stress but requires the city to research the idea and scientifically prove which methods work. Some of Peckman's ideas include playing soothing music in public places and improving the quality of school lunches.
The pharmaceutical sales force will no doubt eagerly await the outcome of the November ballot initiative.
:: David M. Wagner 9:54 PM [+] ::
...
Thank you, Gary and Stephanie!
:: David M. Wagner 11:49 AM [+] ::
...
