I know I've already written about how Dick Cheney knocked the crutches out from under Tiny Tim with his tie-breaking vote on the budget bill, but I've only just begun to fight. The bill now goes to the Senate House. That means there's time for you to contact your Representatives and urge them to vote against it. The New York Times has this summary of what's in it.

• States would have sweeping new authority to impose premiums and co-payments on millions of low-income people covered by Medicaid. States can also scale back benefits for many recipients.

• For the elderly, it would be more difficult to qualify for Medicaid coverage for nursing home care if they transfer assets to their children or other relatives for less than fair market value.

• Medicare would freeze payments for home health services and reduce payments for medical imaging.

There are honors, and then there are honors. Lawyers' Weekly has released its list of the year's 11 top lawyers.

It includes Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Chief Justice John Roberts.... and TChris, who blogs here on TalkLeft.

TChris argued the Booker case in the U.S. Supreme Court, which along with the Fan Fan case argued at the same time by Rosemary Scapicchio of Boston, resulted in the Court's decision that the federal sentencing guidelines are advisory only. The decision is widely referred to as one which revolutionized federal sentencing and turned the existing system on its head.

For newer TalkLeft readers, TChris has been blogging on TalkLeft since December, 2003.

Congratulations, TChris. This really rocks.

After a day of haggling, filibustering Senators have agreed to extend the Patriot Act for six months while they continue to press for more protection of civil liberties. The bill has to be approved by the full Senate, the full House and then Bush. [Update: The Associated Press reports the full Senate has passed the extension bill.]

Sen. Russ Feingold says in a statement tonight (received by e-mail)

One thing is clear - what happened in the Senate over the past few weeks shows that this conference report is dead."

At least it also puts Souder's Sensenbrenner's meth bill restricting the sale of cold pills on hold. We can sneeze without fear.

Same-sex unions are now legal in Great Britain. Among those taking advantage of the new law was Elton John.

Sir Elton, 58, and the Canadian film-maker, 43, were among 700 gay couples to join in civil partnerships yesterday, the first day that same-sex unions became legal in England and Wales. The partnerships allow same-sex couples new rights in areas such as employment, pension and inheritance, although the ceremonies are still not officially classed as "marriages".

There's a big debate going on over whether former President Bill Clinton believed he had the inherent power to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance outside of FISA. Byron York says yes. Think Progress says no. Atrios explains.

For the record, I don't think Clinton broke the law while I think Bush probably did.

That said, let me also add that Bill Clinton was no friend on privacy issues (or on criminal justice issues for that matter.) Remember when the Clinton Administration acknowledged in June, 1996 that it improperly obtained more than 400 private and restricted FBI files of employees of previous administrations? (There are 882 articles on Lexis mentioning this between June 1 and June 30, 1996.)

The ACLU has filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests over Bush's executive order for warrantless electronic surveillance and physical searches of persons within this country.

Here's the one to the National Security Agency.(pdf)

The requests submitted today seek all records about "the policies, procedures and/or practices of the National Security Agency for gathering information through warrantless electronic surveillance and/or warrantless physical searches in the United States ...".... Information received by the organization will be made public on its Web site.

Also recommended: The ACLU's FISA page and spy file page.

For those who want the tech talk of data-mining and interception capabilites, check out:

The end-of-year list season has officially opened with Arianna's list of things she'd like to forget. My favorites:

That there is a debate about whether waterboarding is actually torture.

Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Viveca Novak: The Three Media Stooges of Plamegate

That Bush waited five days before visiting the Gulf following Katrina. And that once he got there, he joked about his hard-partying days, congratulated Mike Brown on doing a, and promised to rebuild Trent Lott’s house.

There's something for everyone in her list.

Bump and Update: It's now official. Jeanine Pirro has issued a statement announcing she's dropping out of the Senate race. She says her heart is in the Attorney General's race. Reuters is less than kind, repeating the worst about Pirro -- her husband:

One political problem for Pirro, who frequently appears on national talk shows and was listed by People Magazine in 1997 as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world, was her marriage. Albert Pirro fathered an out-of-wedlock child and served 11 months in federal prison for tax fraud.

The paper also notes that Jeanine supports abortion and gay rights which conservatives could hold against her. That should be no problem in the AG's race, where she more than overcompensates by wanting life plus cancer for every person charged with a sex offense. [hyperbole, but only slight.]

******
Original Post:

by TChris

Individuals who claim to be abuse victims often seek a restraining order against the abuser. In many states, a judge will issue a temporary restraining order on the strength of the alleged victim’s affidavit. The TRO remains in effect until a hearing is held to determine whether to enter a lengthier injunction prohibiting contact with the victim.

Too many judges rubber stamp the initial request for a TRO without taking care to decide whether the allegations warrant relief. That seems to be what happened when a Santa Fe woman obtained a TRO against David Letterman. The woman claimed that Letterman “forced her to go bankrupt and caused her ‘mental cruelty’ and ‘sleep deprivation’ since May 1994.” She asked the court to order Letterman to “stay at least 3 yards away and not ‘think of me, and release me from his mental harassment and hammering.’”

The ultra conservative Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals showed some backbone today and denied the Government's request to move indicted detainee Jose Padilla to the custody of the Attorney General from military custody. You can read the opinion here. (pdf) Big defeat for Bush.

In a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration, a U.S. appeals court refused on Wednesday to transfer Jose Padilla from U.S. military custody to federal authorities in Florida until the Supreme Court considers his case.

The high court said bringing criminal charges against Padilla in Florida after he had been held by the U.S. military for more than three years as an enemy combatant created the appearance that the government may be attempting to avoid Supreme Court review of the case.

Saddam Hussein had another outburst at his trial today. While a witness was on the stand testifying about his agents torturing people by tearing off their skin, Saddam claimed that he has been tortured during his time in detention.

"I want to say here, yes, we have been beaten by the Americans and we have been tortured," Saddam said, before gesturing to his seven co-defendants around him, "one by one."

After sitting quietly through several hours of testimony, Saddam said he'd been beaten "everywhere on my body. The marks are still there."

Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said Saddam's claims will be investigated.

VP Dick Cheney cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the stalled budget bill that reduces spending for social programs and hurts low income Americans. The bill slashes money for Medicaid, student loans, welfare and child support, while giving new tax breaks to the rich.

Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities says Cheney kicked the crutches out from under Tiny Tim. At least, the Senate put in some changes that will require House approval, so the bill will be deferred until 2006. From the press release (received by e-mail):