Monthly Archives: July 2005

July 26, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Notes on yesterday’s Hugh Hewitt show

Yesterday our friend Hugh Hewitt had a spokesman from the Los Angeles office of CAIR on at length on his radio show. I was disappointed that Hugh give CAIR a platform and treated its spokesman like a representative of a bona fide civil rights organization, though CAIR has had great success in presenting itself as such an organization. In a column coincidentally responding to statements by the CAIR spokesman, Daniel »
July 26, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Bad argument makes strange bedfellows

My colleague Peter Swanson is the proprietor of Swanblog. This past May Peter noted that the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the government’s appeal of the Third Circuit decision holding the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional in a post with a Carnac the Magnicent-sounding title: “Selective standards, Solomon and SALT.” Imagine him pulling the card from the envelope, putting the card against his temple and announcing: One of the plaintiffs in »
July 25, 2005 — Paul Mirengoff

Two more from the Standard

In addition to John’s “False Exile” piece, today’s Daily Standard has two other excellent articles. The first is “The Pope of Terrorism” by Thomas Joscelyn. Along with Stephen Hayes, with whom he often collaborates, Joscelyn is the go-to guy on the connections between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Today, in Part I of his piece, Joscelyn focuses on Hassan al-Turabi, a founding father of the Islamist terrorist network. According to »
July 25, 2005 — Scott Johnson

The Yale doctrine revisited

In the Solomon Amendment, Congress conditioned the acceptance by educational institutions of federal funds on nondiscriminatory treatment of military recruiters on campus. I first heard about the case challenging the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment over parent’s day weekend at Yale in the fall of 2003. In “Yale v. U.S. Military, Round 2,” I sought to convey my contempt for the lawsuit and its advocates, whom I had observed in »
July 25, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight!

Anthony Szulc writes: I am sending you this case not for its gravity, but more for your amusement. In April, 2005, Judge Roberts writes the opinion for the Court of Appeals in a case where MGM & Universal are basically whining that the copyright office treated them unfairly by not accepting forms for royalty payments that the studios filed in an improper manner. The studios are required to have their »
July 25, 2005 — Paul Mirengoff

This just in

from CBS News Court Watch — powerful judges don’t like to be criticized. Via NRO’s Corner. »
July 25, 2005 — Paul Mirengoff

Honesty in exile

John’s Daily Standard piece, “False Exile,” is up. Some leftist law professors are engaged in a dishonest campaign to paint the conservative jurisprudence of Justice Scalia and others as a radical effort to repeal the New Deal and earlier progressive legislation. The more intellectually honest liberal MSM outlets do not appear to have taken the bait, but the Minneapolis Star Tribune has. John makes them pay. »
July 25, 2005 — Paul Mirengoff

The Catholic test again?

It’s not just Federalist Society members and “hangers-on” that some liberals would like to exclude from the Court; it’s also Catholics who believe deeply in the teachings of their religion. We’ve discussed this before in connection with the filibuster of William Pryor ( here for example). This piece by Jonathan Turley suggests that Senator Durbin may be heading down the same path with John Roberts. Via Real Clear Politics. »
July 25, 2005 — Scott Johnson

The thirty years’ war

Michael Barone provides a historical overview to the current efforts among the “liberal Democrats and their sympathizers in the mainstream media” to deligitimize the Bush adminsitration: “Bush bashing fizzles.” I particularly appreciate this paragraph on current events: Now the unsupported charges that “Bush lied” about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have been rekindled via criticism of Karl Rove. A key witness for the Democrats and mainstream media was former »
July 25, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Are you now or have you ever been?

Charles Lane reports in today’s Washington Post: “Roberts listed in ’97-’98 Federalist Society directory.” And one can only hope that John Roberts at age 50 retains the acerbic view of the Supreme Court of John Roberts at age 28: “Early on, Roberts trained his wit on high court.” DEACON adds: Scott’s title captures the McCarthyite flavor of the way liberals would like to treat the Federalist Society. As in this »
July 25, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Middle fingers: A case study

In her commencement speech at the Columbia Business School graduation ceremony this past May, PepsiCo president Indra Nooyi advised the audience that the United States was giving the middle finger to the rest of the world. She counselled respect for the feelings and perceptions of others. Nooyi wasted no time on the dificult question of the proper response to the feelings of others that are irrationally hostile, racist, or lethal. »
July 24, 2005 — Paul Mirengoff

Hillary was always smarter

Drudge is reporting that Senator Clinton intends to support John Roberts’ nomination to the Supreme Court. As Michael Corleone would say, “It’s the smart move.” But where did Drudge find that picture. »
July 24, 2005 — Scott Johnson

9/11: A Churchillian perspective

Below Paul links to a column on Churchill’s thought as related to 9/11. No one has surpassed our friend Steve Hayward in performing this task, as he did in his October 2001 essay: “A Churchillian perspective on September 11.” Steve’s essay reminds me that James Muller’s long-awaited edition of Churchill’s The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan will be published on September 1. For the »
July 24, 2005 — Scott Johnson

The mind of Deep Throat

Edward Jay Epstein is (among many other things) the country’s preeminent student of Deep Throat and related journalistic issues. Today Epstein offers us a brief glimpse into the vanishing mind of Deep Throat. Keep scrolling down for much, much more, and then check out his companion Edward Jay Epstein site. »
July 24, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Lance Armstrong, take 7

What is there to say but “congratulations”? “Armstrong ends career with 7th tour win.” (Thanks to Little Green Footballs and No Left Turns.) »
July 24, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Barone’s Souteronomy

Michael Barone writes in response to Paul’s post below: I recall reading that in his first years at the Supreme Court Souter delegated the selection of his clerks to Professor Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School. With predictable results: liberal clerks, liberal opinions. I have not taken the time to google this, but I think there were long pieces written on the subject. As a former law clerk to a »
July 24, 2005 — Scott Johnson

Last word on Murderapolis

Last Monday the Standard posted my column “Return to Murderapolis.” I posted the long message from David Brauer — editor of Minneapolis’s Skyway News, soon to become Downtown Journal — criticizing the column in “Murderapolis: Etymology and blame.” I included two long messages responding to Brauer with my own response yesterday morning in “Return to ‘Return to Murderapolis.'” Today Brauer sent me a message responding to yesterday’s post. I’ve deleted »