In a significant, far-reaching, unanimous California Court of Appeals decision Friday, the Court of Appeals in San Francisco held that police officers cannot enter a person's home without a warrant, even if they personally observe people smoking marijuana in the house and smell the marijuana being smoked. The decision was ordered to be published. The case is People v. Hua and you can read the decision here (pdf).

Exigent circumstances to make a warrantless entry to seize the marijuana before it is smoked does not trump the Fourth Amendment, where the officers have no knowledge that any crime is taking place other than possession of 28.5 grams or less of marijuana, which is a nonjailable offense. The opinion cites the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Welsh v. Wisconsin.

This is the best and the strongest California appellate decision upholding the legislative intent of George Moscone's landmark marijuana decriminalization bill enacted in 1975, with NORML as the chief sponsor of that legislation. It is the first such decision which protects the rights of marijuana smokers not to have their homes invaded by the police without a warrant, merely because the officers know -- not suspect, but know -- that the occupants of the home are smoking marijuana inside.

Congrats to defense lawyer Gordon Brownell who argued the case.

Sully caught some dissent for his Obama support:

You write that Obama is "a pragmatic liberal," that "his judgments in the past have been largely practical and reasonable," and that he is neither "an ideologue" nor "an excessive partisan." And I, too, really want to believe this. But then I always come back to the John Roberts vote. . . . [H]e received "Yea" votes from both "pragmatic" Democrats like Lieberman, Jeffords, and Dodd, as well as principled liberals like Leahy, Feingold, Levin, and Kohl. Only the rank partisans cast "no" votes, and Obama was in that camp.

Not to worry:

It was the fall of 2005, and the celebrated young senator -- still new to Capitol Hill but aware of his prospects for higher office -- was thinking about voting to confirm John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice. Talking with his aides, the Illinois Democrat expressed admiration for Roberts's intellect. Besides, Obama said, if he were president he wouldn't want his judicial nominees opposed simply on ideological grounds. And then Rouse, his chief of staff, spoke up. This was no Harvard moot-court exercise, he said. If Obama voted for Roberts, Rouse told him, people would remind him of that every time the Supreme Court issued another conservative ruling, something that could cripple a future presidential run. Obama took it in. And when the roll was called, he voted no.

See? Obama did not really want to vote against Roberts. He was just pandering. Not a problem.

I'm not sure why journalist Sidney Blumenthal's DUI arrest is worth this much attention, but it's gone from the Nashua Telegraph to the Associated Press to Newsweek .

Blumenthal, an unpaid senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was arrested in Nashua on the eve of the New Hampshire primary and charged with aggravated DWI, according two members of the Nashua police force.

The aggravated part stems from his alleged speeding, 70 mph in a 30 mph. Blumenthal told the officer he was trying to find his way back to his hotel.

Blumenthal, a journalist and author currently working as a senior fellow for the New York University Center on Law and Security, was a gracious arrestee. “I asked if he was here with a campaign. He said he was here with Clinton," Masella said. “Other than that we certainly suspected him of DWI, he was a perfect gentleman."

After a series of, at best, clumsy, remarks from Clinton supporters and surrogates, and even a misunderstood comment from Bill Clinton, the Clintons have done the right thing and addressed the festering sore in the campaign. Bill Clinton appeared on Al Sharpton's radio show:

In a call on Friday to Al Sharpton’s nationally syndicated talk radio show, Mr. Clinton said that his “fairy tale” comment on Monday about Senator Barack Obama’s position on the Iraq war was being misconstrued, and that he was talking only about the war, not about Mr. Obama’s overarching message or his drive to be the first black president. “There’s nothing fairy tale about his campaign,” Mr. Clinton said. “It’s real, strong, and he might win.”

In addition, Hillary Clinton addressed her NH comments about Martin Luther King and LBJ:

"You know," she continued, "I was inspired by Dr. King when I was a young girl. I considered him one of my heroes, a global symbol, an icon of everything that is the best about America and he worked his entire life to make the changes that we enjoy today so I hope that this kind of unfortunate political activity really just ceases because I don't think this is what we want this election to be about."

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), the highest ranking African American in the Congress, had the best reaction in my opinion:

On Friday evening, Mr. Clyburn, who is traveling overseas, issued a statement saying he intended to remain neutral in the early race. . . . “I encourage the candidates to be sensitive about the words they use,” Mr. Clyburn said “This is an historic race for America to have such strong, diverse candidates vying for the Democratic nomination.”

(Emphasis supplied.) I thought the reaction from the Obama campaign was a bit disappointing:

“Voters have to decide for themselves what they think of this,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, declining to discuss the matter further.

I would have preferred that the Obama campaign agree with and take to heart Rep. Clyburn's comment. But politics is politics.

This doesn't surprise me. It's another example of not knowing where Barack Obama really stands on various issues.

The 60,000 member Nevada Culinary Workers' Union has endorsed Barack Obama. Obama says he supports gaming in Nevada. But,

As an Illinois state senator, Obama reportedly questioned the use of gaming as a tool for economic development in his state. In 1999, he voted against a bill that expanded gaming there, while in 2003 he voted for a bill supported by the gaming industry that loosened regulations.

As of now, the feds have outlawed internet gaming. They also control Indian casinos. While some will say Obama's thoughts on gaming are irrelevant since besides these two facets, gambling laws are left to the states, I'm not so sure. There will be continued efforts federally to allow internet gaming.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, in a CNN interview in November(video here), said the candidates' positions on internet gaming could be an issue:[More...]

In the wake of the Nevada Culinary Workers' Union endorsement of Barack Obama, and the Nevada Democratic party's creation of at-large precincts inside Las Vegas strip hotels, the Nevada Teachers' Union and six Nevada voters have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to ban the Democratic Party from holding the newly created caucuses.

The suit alleges that the newly created voting places inside hotels violates the "one person, one vote rule" and equal protection of the law under the 14th Amendment by creating at-large precincts based solely on employment. A copy of the complaint is here (pdf.)

The lawsuit argues that the Nevada Democratic Party’s decision, decided late last year, to create at-large precincts inside nine Las Vegas resorts on caucus day violates the state’s election laws and creates a system in which voters at the at-large precincts can elect more delegates than voters at other precincts. The lawsuit employs a complex mathematical formula to show that voters at the other 1,754 precincts would have less influence with their votes.

As to the party's decision to establish the precincts inside hotels:

The at-large precincts are being established because thousands of hotel workers cannot leave work to participate in the midday caucuses in their home precincts.

More...

Now this is a predictable development as Ben Nelson is the king of bipartisanship, voting with Republicans more than any other Democrat:

Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson plans to make an announcement on Saturday morning that his spokesman said has national implications.

Again, the national implications for me are not positive for Obama, they are negative. I am glad that Ben Nelson is a Democrat and coming from Nebraska, I doubt we could get someone better, but Nelson's views are NOT what I want for the Democratic Party. It wil be interesting to see how Nelson explains his support for Obama. I imagine the reachout unity schtick will be the explanation. I personally do not want that for the Democratic Party. Remember, Ben Nelson endorsed Joe Lieberman as an INDEPENDENT in the Connecticut Senate race in 2006.
Update [2008-1-12 13:15:14 by Big Tent Democrat]: Uh Oh:

Nelson, a popular moderate in largely Republican Nebraska, said Obama has "the greatest potential to ending the bitterness and poisonous atmosphere in Washington." Nelson said Obama's victory speech in Iowa was an effort to reach out to Democrats, independents and "enlightened Republicans," and that Obama epitomizes what Nelson has tried to do in Washington. Obama is the "prototype of what we need today," Nelson said.

Ay yay yay.

After winning New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton by galvanizing women voters to support Hillary, the Tweety Effect (Media Misogyny pushing women voters to Hillary) has gone national:

Clinton is at 49 percent in the new poll, up nine points from the December survey, with Obama at 36 percent, which is a six-point gain from his December standing." . . . Clinton has re-established herself as the Democratic front-runner, especially among Democratic women," Schneider said.

Notice that Obama has also risen in this poll so it is not that Obama lost support, he is not blamed for the Media Misogyny, the Media is blamed. As it should be. Now we have a contest and hopefully, a chastened Media. May the best person win.

One of the more irresponsible takes on why the pollsters got it wrong in New Hampshire was discussed earlier by Jeralyn. Andrew Kohut of Pew Research's attributing Obama's loss to white racism was incredibly irresponsible. I refer Mr Kohut to the words of James Clyburn. CYA-ing for pollsters is no excuise for what Kohut has done. Worse than that, Kohut has no basis for saying what he said. John Judis dismantles Kohut's irresponsible speculation:

Media Matters has begun a campaign against MSNBC's Chris Matthews over his years of blatant bias against women on Hardball.

The action alert quotes Big Tent Democrat of TalkLeft as calling for his removal from coverage of the presidential race.

While, like Big Tent, I have criticized Chris Matthews for his sexist comments about Hillary Clinton, I'm more of a "change the channel" person.

If more people would watch the competition, his ratings would plummet. MSNBC would conclude pretty quickly it had a Chris Matthews problem and he'd be gone. Conversely, all the attention calling for his ouster is likely to raise his profile and gain him more viewers, even if they're only tuning in to hear his latest misogynistic rant. If his ratings go up, MSNBC is going to be thanking its lucky stars, not considering taking action against him.

More....

The D.C. Court of Appeals today upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit for damages filed by four Britons who had been detained at Guantanamo. Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith had sued Donald Rumsfeld and other top military officers for ordering torture and religious abuse during the two years they spent at Guantanamo before being sent back to Britain. The trial court dismissed all of the claims except the one over religious discrimination. The appeals court dismissed that as well.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the suit on behalf of the men, reports:

More....

Bill Richardson just praised Daily Kos and bloggers involvement in the political process on Hannity and Colmes. He also said he was sorry he missed Yearly Kos due to a scheduling conflict.

In other comments, he continued to refuse to endorse either Hillary or Obama or to count Edwards out. Hannity asked him if he thought Hillary could win given her "unfavorability rating" and he said yes.