by TChris

The Legal Information Institute at Cornell has started producing its always-helpful previews of cases that will be soon be argued before the Supreme Court. This is the preview of a case scheduled for argument on October 5 that raises fascinating questions (once again) about the federal government's power to trump state law.

Oregon's Death With Dignity Act permits a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of a drug to a patient who is both terminally ill and competent to make a rational decision to commit suicide. In 1997, the DEA, relying on a federal law that requires doctors to prescribe medications only for a legitimate medical purpose, decided that it had the authority to arrest physicians who dispense drugs to assist suicide (a purpose DEA deems illegitimate).

Janet Reno declined to prosecute Oregon doctors who acted in accordance with state law, but John Ashcroft quickly changed course when he became Attorney General. He issued the Ashcroft Directive, concluding that "assisting suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose."

Breaking news...a Jet Blue flight en route from Burbank to JFK with 144 people on board has a landing gear failure and will try and touch down shortly at LAX with its landing wheels sideways.

Think good thoughts...

Update: the cable news stations are carrying the landing live. There are over 100 emergency personnel on the ground. It's trying to dump more fuel so it can make the emergency landing - maybe in five to ten minutes.

Update: It's coming in for a landing. Front wheels are smoking, it landed fine, no fire, it's fine. Good work by the crew - wow. That was unbelievable. Everyone's safe.

The Houston Chronicle wants local hurricane bloggers:

Do you have a blog, live in the Houston-Galveston area and plan to ride the storm out? If so, we'd like your help with an experiment in citizen journalism. We're launching a blog this afternoon called Stormwatchers. We'd like volunteers in key parts of the area with experience blogging to tell us what they're seeing as the Hurricane Rita comes closer, makes landfall and moves on.

We're particularly interested in bloggers who live in the I-45 South corridor; in the Freeport/Angleton area; and the southwest area, including Katy.

More details at the link above. [Via Romanesko.]

Dateline Beijing:

A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president. Spokesman Liu Wenhua of the Guangzhou Rubber Group said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.

I blogged from Shanghai about the AIDS crisis in China a few years ago. As far as I'm concerned, whatever works, including these new condoms, is fine.

by TChris

The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to learn about "a secret Pentagon unit that some claim identified several of the 9/11 hijackers more than a year before the attacks." (TalkLeft background here.) But Sen. Specter accuses the Pentagon of obstructing the committee's work by ordering "five key witnesses" not to testify.

Remember when the administration kept referring to Democrats as "obstructionists" for daring to oppose the president's initiatives? The true obstructionists are in the administration.

by TChris

Tony Blair's decision to use force to free two British soldiers who were arrested in Iraq hasn't endeared him to the Iraqi police.

Hundreds of Iraqi civilians and policemen, some waving pistols and AK-47s, rallied Wednesday in the southern city of Basra to denounce "British aggression" in the rescue of two British soldiers.

The Basra governor threatened to end all cooperation with British forces unless Prime Minister Tony Blair's government apologizes for the deadly clash with Iraqi police. Britain defended the raid.

by TChris

At a hearing before the presentation of evidence begins in PFC Lynndie England's trial, Judge Col. James Pohl cast doubt on the primary defense advanced by her lawyers: that England's mental incapacity made her "overly compliant toward authority figures and [that she] could not always make reasoned judgments for herself."

"You are painting a picture of a woman who cannot think for herself in almost all circumstances," Pohl told lead defense lawyer Capt. Jonathan Crisp.

The judge also reversed an earlier ruling, and will now permit prosecutors to use a statement England gave to investigators implicating herself in prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.

by Last Night in Little Rock

As TChris wrote yesterday, apparently believing that the War on Terror is sufficiently won, the FBI is now restarting an emphasis on adult porn investigations as reported in today's Washington Post.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the GOP is using its Katrina relief efforts to support the GOP agenda.

Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy has announced he will back John Roberts for Chief Justice. Sen. Edward Kennedy said he will vote against him. John Kerry is likely to vote no as well.

Update: Excerpts from John Kerry's statement of reasons for opposing Roberts is here.

My biggest concern right now is that Justice Stevens will retire. That will mean Bush packs the court with three new conservatives.

Update (by TChris): David Corn weighs in, arguing that the Democratic leadership (such as it is) needs to stay in synch with its base rather than dividing on key issues.

by TChris

Sen. Arlen Specter today advised the president to ask Justice O'Connor to stay on the Supreme Court for the coming term. He says O'Connor is willing to do so, but the president ... not so much.

He said Bush was noncommittal on his proposal that she stay on, but that his body language was not positive.

Whether the "body language" consisted of an upraised middle finger isn't revealed in the linked story.

by TChris

An economics professor believes oil companies gouged consumers when gas prices soared in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Eight governors have asked the oil president to investigate his oily industry buddies:

"When the wholesale price of gas went up by 60 cents almost overnight, oil companies were obviously using the most devastating natural disaster in our nation's history to reap a windfall at the expense of American consumers," said the letter, which was initiated by Gov. James E. Doyle of Wisconsin and was signed by governors from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.

The governors would also like Congress to enact legislation requiring the oil companies to disgorge their excessive profits.