The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved a bill that would create dozens of new federal judgeships.

The effective date of the bill is Jan. 20, 2009, which means we will have a new President. These are lifetime positions and the President makes the nominations.

The independence of our federal judiciary is one of the most important reasons we need a Democrat to be elected President. After 8 years of the appointment of conservative judges, the pendulum needs to swing back.

This is just another reason why when all is said and done with the presidential nomination, Democrats need to quickly come together to ensure that the party's candidate wins in November.

"Private Eye to the Stars" Anthony Pellicano and his co-defendants, including a former LAPD officer, were convicted of multiple counts of racketeering and other crimes related to illegal wiretapping today. (Background on the charges is here.)

The trial lasted 9 weeks. The jury began deliberating May 1. Pellicano, who had recently finished serving time on explosives charges when this case began, represented himself. He refused to provide information about his clients:

Pellicano told the jury he was just a P.I. trying to get information. But he never revealed his secrets.

After publicly toying with testifying, he told the judge he would never discuss his clients. "It's not going to happen ever, no matter what the consequence," he said.

Back in 2003, when the probe started, he said: [More...]

In praising John Edwards' excellent speech yesterday endorsing Barack Obama, Paul Rosenberg makes a case for John Edwards as the VP candidate. The case is a pretty good one. With one exception, the blithe disregard for the Clinton Wing of the Democratic Party. Paul writes:

I know that in terms of unifying the party, putting a woman on the ticket would be an excellent move. But putting Edwards on the ticket would put the election away. Because of the unique dynamics of this race, it would be one of the rare examples of when a Vice Presidential candidate really can sway an important, if not crucial demographic--the very "Regan Democrat" demographic that McCain cannot win without. . . . Most importantly, Edwards on the ticket would be a powerful figure for healing the deep rifts that have divided our party in the past, and that clearly still linger in hearts of many . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) More . . .

Like Marie Cocco, I could come up with my own list of Media Matters clips and offensive merchandise that I could use to argue definitively that racism is worse than sexism. But I'm not sure what that would prove, other than that I believe the prejudice I've faced is qualitatively worse than the prejudice I know nothing about.

Is is really impossible to just condemn sexism without comparing it to racism? As for making a list of examples of racism in the Media so that we can address that problem as well, I think that is a very worthy thing to do. I would support it. Serwer's attempt to trivialize Cocco's concerns is frankly, outrageous. When he writes:

The RCP OR and KY polling info. Tell me what it means.

This is an Open Thread.

Comments now closed.

Gay marriage can not be prohibited in California:

The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry. The justices released the 4-3 decision Thursday, saying that domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

Here is the opinion (PDF). Kevin Drum has more on an initiative being proposed to amend the California Constitution to allow such a prohibition.

There is a famous truism that politics ends at the waters' edge. George W. Bush trampled that much trumpeted principle to engage in a vile McCarthyistic attack on Barack Obama before the Israeli Knesset.

Not only is George W. Bush the worst President in history, he is the most tasteless and disgusting.

What a shameful episode for our Nation that this travesty of a President was elected to the highest office in our land. He will always remain a stain in our history.

Speaking for me only

Comments closed

The Cannes Film Festival is underway. Sean Penn and Natalie Portman were asked if they were going to jump on the Hollywood A-lister bandwagon and endorse Barack Obama. Sean Penn said:

”I don't have a candidate I'm supporting and I'm certainly interested and excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring,” he said, but went on to accuse him of a “phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional” voting record.

”I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be,” Penn said. “This is the most important election, certainly in my lifetime, and maybe ever.”

More...

Stephen Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights, a champion in the defense of capital cases and a personal hero of mine, discusses what's next for the death penalty in the video above and in a blogpost today at MoBlogic.tv .

Although public opinion polls continue to show support for the death penalty, imposition of the death penalty is down by more than 50% over 10 years. In the late 1990s, around 280-300 people were being sentenced to death a year. In the last 5 years, it’s been around 125 to 150 a year. No one has noticed this. But it is significant that a country this large with as many homicides as we have is sentencing so few people to death each year.

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NARAL is one of the most politically obtuse organizations I know of. I personally would never want Nancy Keenan in a position of influence in any organization I care about. Look what her ridiculous decision to jump into the Dem contest fray has wrought:

I think Barack Obama would be nuts to not unify the Democratic Party by offering Hillary Clinton the VP slot. But let's assume he is that nuts - Bob Beckel argues Hillary Clinton could take the VP slot over Obama's objections:

[I]magine its June 4th and Clinton calls again. Clinton, "I know Obama has enough votes to win, but I wanted you to know Hillary has decided to run for vice president at the convention. You know there are two roll call votes at the convention: first president then for vice president. I know you are voting for Obama for president. Fine, but I want your commitment to vote for Hillary for vice president."

MORE . . .

Things have been a whirlwind online the past two days, between Hillary's win in West Virginia and John Edwards' endorsement of Barack Obama in Michigan.

There are other things going on in the world, such as, the Pentagon is trying to keep the five charged Gitmo Detainees from preparing for their military commission trial with their lawyers. The ACLU has the details.

The American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage today at the Pentagon's announcement of a June 5 date for the arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees accused of crimes related to September 11 before all of the defendants have met with their prospective lawyers.