I am disturbed, but not surprised by some of the comments made by Barrack Obama as regards the role of a Justice of the Supreme Court and thereby, what we will get in the replacement for Justice David Souter, who is retiring, next month. Those comments give us a frightening view of what we have in store from anyone Obama might nominate.

There are many, including the Washington Post… hardly a bastion of liberal thought… who have counseled Obama to look for judicial restraint:

Alas, the once-dominant species of liberal proponents of judicial restraint has relatively few surviving members. Obama should find them - why not Jose Cabranes, the excellent judge whom President Clinton appointed to the 2nd Circuit? - and help revive the species.

It appears that Obama will be moving in the opposite direction, making that restraint even more of a rarity. Comments made while Obama was still just a candidate, as early as 2001, in an WBEZ interview, are exemplary:

But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the [...]

The Supreme Court (Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council) voted 5-4 to rescind bans on sonar use in training exercises off the California coast. Those bans were implemented by lower federal courts. The ruling states that the lower courts exceeded their authority in those actions.

The bans were in place presumably to protect sea life from the negative effects of sonar use… effects that have been researched by organizations like the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). I can not speak directly to the integrity of the research, but it seems the concerns bear consideration. Perhaps not a knee-jerk response, since sonar has been in regular use for decades now, but enough careful consideration that if sea life is truly being impacted, specifically by excessive noise (and sonar is not the only source of noise that is produced by human activities in the ocean), then we can look at appropriate legal imperatives to provide adequate protection without hog-tying the Navy from being adequately prepared for real battles.

The Court was not, in this case, judging [...]

I finally got time to watch a recording of Saturday night’s Saddleback Church event with Obama and McCain.  DJ made some excellent observations earlier in the week, which I thought I might supplement a bit.  If you have not seen it yet, I strongly suggest that you view this event as I think it provides [...]

Dick Heller, of DC v. Heller fame, finally got a gun permit today. 
Unfortunately, that’s only part of the story.
The District is treating semi-automatic handguns as “machine guns”.  So, the registration he succeeded at acquiring only allows him to have a revolver in his home.
Heller recently sued the city again, alleging that the registration rules adopted by [...]

I am surprised I didn’t see more blogs lit up over this today (Allahpundit over at Hot Air did hit on it, though).
The Supreme Court was wrong.
That is, Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in Kennedy v. Louisiana, was wrong.  If you recall, Kennedy wrote in his opinion (discussed here last week) that
Thirty-seven jurisdictions—36 [...]

Thank goodness, albeit another split decision, the court came through with a good decision. In DC v Heller, the court ruled in favor of gun ownership. We discussed this case back when arguments wrapped up in April. For those of you that are sure to argue that my position yesterday was [...]

Lyle Denniston at the SCOTUS Blog provides some interesting insight into today’s decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana, a death-penalty case that has now been overturned by the high court. This was a case of child rape. Eight years old. By the her step-father.
The court is wrong.
As Lyle observes, the court has [...]

In other news, the Supreme Court has now gone too far. Sister Toldjah:

Quote of the day: “The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today.”
That was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in his dissent on the USSC ruling today that Gitmo detainees have habeas corpus rights.
Lyle Denniston analyzes the ruling here.
Captain [...]

As disappointing as it may be, we’re closing Contest #3 without a winner.
As you may recall, the question was:
Provide the textual portion of the US Constitution that describes the well-known concept of Judicial Review, which gives the Federal Judiciary the authority to determine the constitutionality of US or State laws. Then, please name the first [...]