by TChris

Finding a silver lining in the Supreme Court's refusal to review Jose Padilla's claim that his detention as an enemy combatant was unconstitutional, Michael Dorf speculates that "Chief Justice Roberts may be more committed than most observers would have guessed, to a substantial judicial role in defending civil liberties against executive encroachment." Dorf is heartened by Roberts' decision to join the concurring opinion of Justice Kennedy, which "warn[ed] the government that the Supreme Court and the lower courts stand ready to enforce Padilla's rights--including the right to a speedy trial and to habeas corpus review--should the government continue to dither with Padilla."

These are, of course, nothing more than speculations. What is not speculation is the fact that the new Chief Justice--like every one of his predecessors--has already put substantial distance between himself and the positions of the Administration that just months ago nominated him to the Court.

by TChris

Another Bush administration effort to spread information it knew to be false has been exposed. This happens so frequently, it hardly seems like news.

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush ... declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

Bush was referring to two small trailers that were anointed as mobile "biological laboratories."

But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true. A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times reports that judges are becoming increasingly skeptical over the lethal injection cocktail used in executions and are imposing more hurdles, some of which may be impossible to overcome.

Their decisions are based on new evidence suggesting that prisoners have endured agonizing executions. In response, judges are insisting that doctors take an active role in supervising executions, even though the American Medical Association's code of ethics prohibits that.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in one case this month. Human Rights Watch will issue a new report on the drugs used this month. What's changed?

[Scroll down for updates}

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has written a letter to the Judge in the Scooter Libby case correcting a sentence in his filing last week discussing Libby's disclosure of portions of the NIE report to Judith Miller.

That sentence said Libby "was to tell Miller, among other things, that a key judgment of the NIE held that Iraq was 'vigorously trying to procure' uranium." Instead, the sentence should have conveyed that Libby was to tell Miller some of the key judgments of the NIE " and that the NIE stated that Iraq was 'vigorously trying to procure' uranium."

In other words, if I'm reading this correctly, Libby didn't tell Miller that the portion of the report referring to Iraq attempting to acquire uranium was a "key judgment" of the report. As many have pointed out, it wasn't a key judgment of the report. It was not mentioned until page 24. The "key judgments" are at the beginning.

We discussed the meaning and relevance of "key judgment" here, quoting the New York Times:

Republicans and Democrats appear to have made some progress on an immigration reform bill. Republicans now seem ready to drop two provisions from Sensenbrenner's bill : the one that would have made it a felony to be in the U.S. without proper documentation and another that exposed humanitarian workers to criminal liability for aiding the undocumented. The latter provision read:

"whoever -- assists, encourages, directs or induces a person to reside in or remain in the United States (illegally) -- shall be punished ...."

But there is no promise by Republicans not to make undocumented presence a misdemeanor -- nor to drop the other punitive measures in Sensenbrenner's bill.

In related news, 21 immigrants were fired from their meat-packing jobs at Wolverine Packing in Detroit for attending a March 28 immigration rally in Detroit that drew 20,000 people. The company's response:

TalkLeft hit 12 million visitors and 20 million page views yesterday.

But I was just as excited to see that my post on Sensenbrenner's immigration bill, H.R. 4437: A Bad, Bad Border Border Bill --including the comments--has made it onto the curriculum of a class at UC Irvine.

Via Skippy, Conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, Clinton foe and huge funder behind Whitewater and other Clinton investigations, is having major divorce woes -- police were called to his estate when a major tussle developed over custody of the family dog. Details of the wife's alleged assaults on the housekeeping staff are here.

And, get this: He has no pre-nup. He must be really distraught because he's even talking to the press, something he rarely does. He says, "Wish me luck."

Right. He also says, of wife and the dog incident, "They led her away in handcuffs." But the news articles say his wife wasn't arrested.

by TChris

Has the LAPD declared war on slow moving pedestrians? Mayvis Coyle, a resident of Monte Vista Mobile Estates, was ticketed for crossing the street too slowly. Mayvis didn't sprint across the intersection, but at 82, her inability to generate much speed is surely forgivable.

Senior citizens who live in the neighborhood complain that the walk lights aren't timed to permit a safe crossing. One might expect the LAPD to have some compassion for those who need to take a little extra time, but none are safe from this officer's "by the book" approach to traffic code enforcement. Public funds would be better spent on crossing guards than on officers who would rather ticket the elderly and disabled than help them.

Mayvis is no pushover. Not only is she fighting the ticket (wouldn't it be fun to watch Mayvis cross-examine the cop for a couple of hours?), she's fighting for a longer walk signal. The LAPD riled up the wrong woman. Go Mayvis!

Netroots in action. Readers of Firedoglake and other liberal blogs, including My DD bought 1,000 rubber stamps to demonstrate the rubber-stamping by our Republican dominated Congress.

They were delivered last week to Sen. Arlen Specter. Crooks and Liars has video of the delivery.

VP Dick Cheney was booed loudly today as he threw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals' home opener. Crooks and Liars has the video.

Daily Kos reports:

To say the Veep was booed would be an understatement. Fox News and CNN both carried the first pitch LIVE - and the sellout crowd was loud and overwhelmingly anti-Cheney. He was booed ONTO the field, at the mound, as his pitch made it to the Nationals' catcher, and as he left the field. There's no room for debate. The guy was jeered off the field.

This is a continuation of yesterday's post on the DNA results in the Duke lacrosse players' case which failed to find any of the players' DNA on or within or on the surface of the accuser's body or any of her belongings or clothing. There was none under her fingernails. You can listen to the defense attorneys' news conference here.

The DA today said the case is not going away. There's more DNA testing to do. He can do DNA testing till the cows come home. If there was none in or on the accuser, none under her fingernails and none on her belongings, how will he ever prove a rape?

As to the DNA of two players found on the towel. I think it is meaningless. I debate the towel issue tonight on CNBC's Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch at 10 pm ET with my longtime sparring partner Wendy Murphy. A Duke student is on as well. I think it's the third segment second half of the show (the preceding two segments had "reformed" strippers whose new mission is to free women from working in the sex industry --they were great looking and very interesting to listen to.) It repeats at 1:00 am ET.

It's time for our Tuesday Open Thread. You pick the topics, report the news you care about and tell us your thoughts. Just remember to put your links in html format, instructions are in the comment box. I'll be back later this afternoon.

[Comments now closed, thanks to all for your thoughts.]