By Dave Lindorff

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Federal District Court
Judge Fernando Gaitan of the Missouri Western District Court have at
least two things in common: they are both appointees of President
Ronald Reagan, and they both think it’s just fine for the US to execute
innocent people. The same can be said for Judge C. Arlen Beam of the
8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a recent dissent in a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling ordering a habeas
hearing in federal court for South Carolina death row inmate Troy
Anthony Davis, a man slated to die after being convicted for the murder
of an off-duty Savannah police officer, Scalia wrote, “This court has
never held that the constitution forbids the execution of a convicted
defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to
convince a habeas court that he is `actually’ innocent.”

By Dave Lindorff

Last week, a US federal district judge, Henry Kennedy, ruled in
favor of a case brought by the survivors of the crew of the USS Pueblo,
a spy ship captured by the North Korean Navy in 1968, who were held
prisoner by North Korea for 11 months, and who were reportedly tortured
in captivity. The judge awarded the men $65 million in damages from the
state of North Korea.

Now I’m happy for the plaintiffs. Torture is flatly banned under
international law, and nobody should be tortured under any conditions
(whatever Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia may think). But let’s
not ignore the irony of this ruling. In general, the federal courts
have been incredibly reluctant about making such rulings against the US
government for doing the same thing that North Korea did, or even worse.

By Dave Lindorff

Okay, I was going to vote for Ralph Nader this November 4.

It was an easy decision. I live in Pennsylvania, which is now,
according to all the polls, reliably in the Obama column, with the
Democratic candidate holding an insurmountable lead in the polls of 14
percent over Republican John McCain—enough to overcome even the most
devious Republican vote suppression techniques and voting machine
chicanery.

NOW's outstanding President Kim Gandy speaks for me:

Today the Supreme Court upheld this nation's first abortion procedure ban—a ban enacted by George W. Bush and conservatives in Congress. Five justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito—both installed by Bush and a Republican-majority Senate—ruled that the law does not violate a woman's constitutional right to abortion.

Not since Bush v. Gore has the Supreme Court made such a political decision, or one that so completely distorts the law and disregards the U.S. Constitution.

In a ground-breaking 5-4 decision the Supreme Court ruled today that the Environmental Protection Agency has the power to regulate the polluting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from vehicles. The decision moves Bush administration further along the path from its former position of complete and aggressive denial of global warming to tepid acknowledgment, now forcing the Bush administration to recognize and regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. The court's decision underscores the reality of human activities contributing to global warming.

The Bush Administration had argued that the EPA had no authority to regulate motor vehicle admissions under the Clean Air Act. The Supreme Court’s decision also throws into question the Bush Administration’s rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, further embarrassing the Bush Administration in the world community.

"Fat" Tony Scalia makes no bones about it. He'd repeal Roe v. Wade if given the chance. And says as much in a televised debate with the ACLU's president, Nadine Strossen. The debate in and of itself is a milestone for Scalia who's had a penchant for banning the media from his public appearances. Is this a public rolling out of the radical right-wing judicial agenda?

Scalia debates head of ACLU on TV
Justice Antonin Scalia on Sunday defended some of his Supreme Court opinions, arguing that nothing in the Constitution supports abortion rights and the use of race in school admissions. Scalia, a leading conservative voice on the high court, sparred in a one-hour televised debate with American Civil Liberties Union president Nadine Strossen. He said unelected judges have no place deciding politically charged questions when the Constitution is silent on those issues. Arguing that liberal judges in the past improperly established new political rights such as abortion, Scalia warned, "Someday, you're going to get a very conservative Supreme Court and regret that approach."...

George Bush has given the finger or said the "f" word many times. The image on the left was on TV back in 1995. In March 2002, Bush told Senators "F__ Saddam, we're taking him out."

Bush isn't the only powerful conservative Republican to engage in this profanity. Dick Cheney famously said "Go f___ yourself" to Sen. Pat Leahy on the Senate floor.

Republicans are talking about impeaching judges for wretched decisions.

Good! Let's impeach the Supreme Court's Felonious Five for Bush v. Gore - the most wretched decision since Plessy.

From today's First Read:

Back to all the talk of retribution against judges.  We wondered whether or not Congress actually can impeach judges over decisions it doesn't agree with.  The constitutional scholars we talked with don't think so.  Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman cites the 1804 impeachment -- and acquittal one year later -- of US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, who Ackerman says was accused, with some justification, of partisanship and serious judicial mistakes.  "Just making legal mistakes is not ground for impeachment," he says.  "We've had this argument before."