I think Barack Obama should dump Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate and immediately replace him with Newt Gingrich. After all, their respect toward the people who rule on the constitutionality of the United States’ laws are about on par with each other.

I speak, of course, about the latest scandal to come out of the Obama administration, that of his comments about how the Supreme Court shouldn’t dare rule the Obamacare mandate unconstitutional, as it was passed by a “strong majority” of a democratically elected Congress. That scandal continued today when the Justice Department released a three-page document explaining their view of the court’s role, which was demanded by 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry E. Smith.

Obama’s position was essentially that the justices would lose legitimacy if they did this; that they would befoul the institution.| MORE ›

If there is one thing most of us can agree on, whether we’re liberal or conservative, it’s that we don’t want the federal government tracking us.  So I’m happy to share this except from a hearing Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) had last Tuesday with the NSA’s top lawyer, Matthew Olsen.| MORE ›

Sometimes, it’s nice to be proven wrong, if only in part. Last week, I spent a lot of time writing about the TSA and other organizations like Homeland Security. I argued that we are seeing more and more security-state policies everyday, and that we risk slipping from security-state to police-state.| MORE ›

Apparently, cigarettes are the new crack cocaine. At least, that’s what New York mayor Michael Bloomberg seems to believe. After banning smoking in indoor public areas, he now wants to do the same with outdoor areas such as parks, beaches and pedestrian malls.

Like most ex-smokers, I’m vehemently anti-smoking.| MORE ›

Over at Salon, Glenn Greenwald apparently found it fit to spend the first part of his analysis of Solicitor General Elena Kagan as possible Supreme Court nominee in order to marvel about how it was possible that a Democratic president might nominate someone more moderate for the high bench (emph. his):| MORE ›

Speaking with MSNBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Senate’s top Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell, said Sunday that although he admires Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s personal story, he will not vote for her confirmation to the Supreme Court.

McConnell said he is a “big fan” of her biography and career but that he has a problem with her personal views.| MORE ›

Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind when I think “Department of Education” is No Child Left Behind, followed by a lot of trouble coming up with what else the DOE actually does in the government. Never in my life would I have thought that it contains its own set of federal agents that apparently have the power to raid people’s homes.| MORE ›

Via Hot Air, the sorta-crazy Florida pastor Terry Jones, who is best known for his burning of a Koran just weeks ago, was convicted of breach of peace by a Detroit court earlier this week. The jury found that Jones was likely to incite violence by way of his protesting:

At the start of Friday’s trial, prosecutors presented their arguments before the jury.| MORE ›

My my, the lessons American society is teaching its youth today.  Our soon to be adults are learning that you can’t even help another kid find their parent lest you be accused of kidnapping them.  According to the Orlando Sentinel, that’s what happened to one Florida teen last week, and now 14-year-old Edwin is facing charges of false imprisonment:| MORE ›

To the growing list of problems with the death penalty, add this one from Jonathan Adler at the Volokh Conspiracy: It puts attorneys in a position of arguably having to commit malpractice in the best interests of their client.

Ineffective assistance of counsel is a common habeas petition claim, particularly in capital cases.| MORE ›

The LA Times says that U.S. District Judge George H. Wu will throw out the conviction of Lori Drew, the mother who stalked and harassed Megan Meier, a classmate of her daughter’s, until Megan committed suicide, when his written ruling is filed, probably next week.| MORE ›