Reason Morning Links

Radley Balko | June 9, 2009

• A look at what American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee may face if they're sent to a North Korean prison camp.

• Supreme Court sends message to elected judges to recuse themselves from cases involving high-dollar donors to their campaigns.

• Those who worked with her in the 1980s say Sotomayor was a "zealous prosecutor" who became "something of a law-and-order judge, especially when it comes to police searches and the use of evidence."

• Former Bush administration officials, CIA fighting to keep documents describing destroyed interrogation tapes classified.

• Obama's phony rhetoric in describing jobs "saved or created" by stimulus/bailout policies.

Comments

|6.9.09 @ 8:37AM|#

From the Sotomayor article:

She drank can after can of the diet soda Tab.

Do we really want such a masochist on the bench?

|6.9.09 @ 8:38AM|#

Sotomayor's newest ploy to get confirmed.

|6.9.09 @ 8:41AM|#

She drank can after can of the diet soda Tab.

Do we really want such a masochist on the bench?

The masochism I think we can survive, but in light of the coming soda, transfat, and salt regulations that will be pushed through "for our own good," do we really want someone on the High Court that has proven she's has no functioning taste buds whatsoever?

|6.9.09 @ 8:47AM|#

Sotomayor, all the left wing wackiness of Stevens and Breyer with all the love of police and searches of Scalia, what is not to love?

Justice Scalia|6.9.09 @ 8:51AM|#

Another development over the past half-century that deters civil-rights violations is the increasing professionalism of police forces, including a new emphasis on internal police discipline...we now have increasing evidence that police forces across the United States take the constitutional rights of citizens seriously.

Kyle Jordan|6.9.09 @ 8:52AM|#

Hey Reason,

Can we get some coverage on the upcoming Pocket Knife Ban that Customs and Homeland Security are rolling out?

I sent emails to several of you with no response and I guess I'm going to have to start hitting the comments here on Hit & Run.

Kyle Jordan|6.9.09 @ 8:53AM|#

"Another development over the past half-century that deters civil-rights violations is the increasing professionalism of police forces, including a new emphasis on internal police discipline...we now have increasing evidence that police forces across the United States take the constitutional rights of citizens seriously."

Joke of the day so far...

|6.9.09 @ 9:01AM|#

I'm still waiting for the article explaining exactly when Sotomayor was beaten with the ugly stick.

|6.9.09 @ 9:03AM|#

From TFA:

"I think her experience as a prosecutor balances out her liberal tendencies," said New York University law professor Kenji Yoshino.

Great, worst of both worlds. Hope and change!

|6.9.09 @ 9:03AM|#

I'm seriously curious as to what sources Justice Scalia cited.

|6.9.09 @ 9:05AM|#

Great, worst of both worlds

My internal pessimist definitely wants to +1 that.

|6.9.09 @ 9:07AM|#

High court blocks Chrysler sale to Fiat

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090608/D98MN2S01.html

|6.9.09 @ 9:07AM|#

"You would think that any self-respecting White House press corps would show some of the same skepticism toward President Obama's jobs claims that they did toward President Bush's tax cuts," says Mr. Fratto. "But I'm still waiting."

Aand risk being denied the privelege of basking in the glorious warm light of the Ascended One?

|6.9.09 @ 9:16AM|#

Great. Not only does she not think the 2nd Amendment applies to states, but she also has no problem with violating the 4th to confiscate your weapons.

|6.9.09 @ 9:18AM|#

That Scalia quote shows why we need actual, not fake, diversity on the Supreme Court. Scalia was never a work a day state prosecutor. He was never a defense attorney. He has not real experience with the justice system beyond the 35,000 foot level of a federal appellate court. As smart as the guy is, he just doesn't know any better. Worse still, no one else on the Court knows any better either. There was no one on the Court to call bullshit on that statement when the draft opinion was circulated.

I would love to see the next two Justices be someone who has at some point in their life ran a small business and someone who has been a work a day criminal defense attorney (not a big money white collar one someone who defended DUIs, drug dealers, rapist, murderers and the like. Not going to happen of course

|6.9.09 @ 9:18AM|#

You know, why couldn't we get a leftist who was obsessed with civil liberties--free speech, Amendments 4, 5, and 6, that sort of thing. But no, now they seem to be statists first and statists last.

Xeones|6.9.09 @ 9:21AM|#

But no, now they seem to be statists first and statists last.

And statists all through the middle.

|6.9.09 @ 9:24AM|#

Sotomayor will create or save hundreds of Constitutional rights.

They might not be *citizens'* rights, but, umm, uh....

Oh, fuck it.

|6.9.09 @ 9:25AM|#

And statists all through the middle.

Technically, that's the creamy statist center. It's made from nougat, caramel, and the distilled joy of pushing people around.

Mad Max|6.9.09 @ 9:26AM|#

The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in the judicial-elections case:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-22.pdf

'High court blocks Chrysler sale to Fiat'

Can anyone work in a pun using the phrase 'judicial fiat'?

|6.9.09 @ 9:47AM|#

Xeones,

Oh, right, I left out the middle. It's statists all the way down.

|6.9.09 @ 9:54AM|#

I'd say its about time we send an "elite team" over to bust ling and her friend out of that stupid N Korean prison!

RT
www.anonymity.2ya.com

|6.9.09 @ 9:58AM|#

The first time I heard Obama say "create or save jobs" I laughed out loud. I find it impossible that people bought it hook line and sinker.

|6.9.09 @ 9:58AM|#

Panetta also said he wanted to emphasize that his request was "in no way driven by a desire to prevent embarrassment for the U.S. government or the CIA, or to suppress evidence of any unlawful conduct." He said his only purpose was to prevent harm to U.S. national security and to protect intelligence sources and methods.

Ah.

Well, that's different. Okay.

Carry on.

|6.9.09 @ 10:06AM|#

"The first time I heard Obama say "create or save jobs" I laughed out loud. I find it impossible that people bought it hook line and sinker."

No one does outside the media. Even the media doesn't believe it. They know it is BS. But, it is BS that must be printed for the good of the people.

|6.9.09 @ 10:07AM|#

If the CIA were any good, they'd extract the two journalists, and the North Koreans would only realize that they were gone when they appeared on Oprah.

No, they wouldn't appear on Current TV, because Current would be too afraid of offending the North Koreans.

|6.9.09 @ 10:09AM|#

Pro,

Considering the state of North Korea, I would imagine you could bribe your way in and out of the country with a large pizza and a collection of 7-11 snacks.

|6.9.09 @ 10:28AM|#

Tweet of the Day
Sonia Sotomayor breaks her ankle and Dave Weigel tweets:


I would hope that a wise Latina woman's ankle, with its richness of experience, can heal faster than a white male's ankle.

Bronwyn|6.9.09 @ 10:43AM|#

In the Soviet Union of olde, it was blue jeans and bubble gum that made the best bribes.

Pizza may be tough to pull off. Hubby opened the South Korean Papa John's... don't think they'd want to send a driver up to the border with a stack of Extra-Large Supremes.

What non-perishables could be used to bribe the N. Koreans?

|6.9.09 @ 10:44AM|#

Bronwyn,

Common Sense (in Korean) and lots and lots of weapons and ammunition.

|6.9.09 @ 10:57AM|#

"What non-perishables could be used to bribe the N. Koreans?"

Jack Links Beef Jerkey

|6.9.09 @ 11:09AM|#

Soylent Green?

|6.9.09 @ 11:29AM|#

• Former Bush administration officials, CIA fighting to keep documents describing destroyed interrogation tapes classified.

The Obama administration objected yesterday to the release of certain Bush-era documents that detail the videotaped interrogations of CIA detainees at secret prisons, arguing to a federal judge that doing so would endanger national security and benefit al-Qaeda's recruitment efforts.

Wow! A change in administration with no change in the policy that the new guy ran against?

Hmmm. Somebody once wrote a song about this phenomenon once.

phalkor|6.9.09 @ 11:36AM|#

Don't they already send ballon pamphletes from South to North Korea?

My gawd, just get more balloons, send up some of our standard convenience store fare (candy bars, beef jerky). it will work.

|6.9.09 @ 11:57AM|#

You know, why couldn't we get a leftist who was obsessed with civil liberties--free speech, Amendments 4, 5, and 6, that sort of thing. But no, now they seem to be statists first and statists last.

Because they would get filibustered by the GOP and the Blue Dogs?

|6.9.09 @ 12:06PM|#

I don't think either side cares much about the suspect rights issue, and both are good and bad on free speech, just in different ways.

alan|6.9.09 @ 12:09PM|#

I would love to see the next two Justices be someone who has at some point in their life ran a small business and someone who has been a work a day criminal defense attorney . .

That pretty much sums up what I would like to see on the bench.

|6.9.09 @ 12:46PM|#

Because they would get filibustered by the GOP and the Blue Dogs?

Translation: Because Obama doesn't care enough about civil liberties to invest any political capital in defending them.

|6.9.09 @ 1:00PM|#

Any chance we could get the name of this feature changed to Reason Breakfast Links?

|6.9.09 @ 1:25PM|#

I second that. It captures the sausage fest flavor of the place.

|6.9.09 @ 2:10PM|#

Because they would get filibustered by the GOP and the Blue Dogs?

Is there anything that can't be blamed on the party with a minority in the House and 40 seats in the Senate?

|6.9.09 @ 2:59PM|#

Supreme Court sends message to elected judges to recuse themselves from cases involving high-dollar donors to their campaigns.

I am appalled that this decision was 5-4, not 9-0.

zoltan|6.9.09 @ 10:00PM|#

From the Supreme Court case article"

The 5-4 decision came in the case of Don Blankenship, a West Virginia coal company executive who spent $3 million of his own money in support of ousting one West Virginia Supreme Court justice and electing a replacement.

At the time, Blankenship and his Massey Coal Co. were appealing a $50 million jury verdict for having driven a small competitor into bankruptcy. After the election, new Justice Brent Benjamin cast the deciding vote - twice - to throw out the verdict against Massey. The case drew wide criticism as a seemingly blatant example of how money could buy justice.


Just curious, how is driving a poor competitor out of business against the law? Unless they used the government to do so, like the family in this story.