Nat Hentoff has a new column in the Village Voice on lack of commitment to the constitutional principle of equal protection. He says that Democrats need to do more than object to Bush's extremist nominees.

Moreover, since George W. Bush is very likely to name the next chief justice of the Supreme Court as well as one or two other replacements before the end of his second term, it is crucial for leaders of the Democratic Party, including future presidential aspirants, to do more than obstruct Bush's nominees. The Democrats have to tell the country what their criteria are for the Supreme Court and other life-tenured federal judges—instead of mechanically objecting to nominees for being "out of the mainstream."

For those who want to pick the topics....this space is for you.

Say hello to the the new look of The Nation. It's a terrific redesign, with an added an interactive blogging section, as well as a newswire and a feature called Wal-Mart Nation. Go check it out.

Update: One of the new features is a rotating list of the Nation's favorite sites. Here's what's up right now:

Colonel David Hackworth, the first senior officer to come out and say the Vietnam War was a mistake, has died of bladder cancer. He was 74. He seemed much younger on tv. Here's a detailed obituary. Some quotes:

The cause of death was a form of cancer now appearing with increasing frequency among Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliants called Agents Orange and Blue....Soldiers For The Truth is now working on legal action to compel the Pentagon to recognize Agent Blue alongside the better known Agent Orange as a killer and to help veterans exposed to it during the Vietnam War.

The lawyer pastor for runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks held a press conference Thursday and read her long- awaited statement of regret. Ms. Wilbanks said she didn't get cold feet. She wanted to get married. She had "other issues." What they are, she's not saying. Nor should she have to.

She also offered to make financial restitution:

Her attorney Lydia Sartain told CNN earlier Thursday that her client intends to "make amends" for the money and time spent on the search.

She apologized. But, of course, for the court of public opinion, presided over by talk show hosts and news anchors who serve as judge and jury, and current and former prosecutors who argue guilt before they know the facts, it's not enough. Did they expect a public self-flagellation? There is no compassionate conservativism in this day and age, there's only blame, retribution, punishment and revenge. Maybe that's all we should expect from inhabitants of the prison nation we've become.

Staci Morris, the ex-wife of chief Abu Ghraib abuser Charles Graner, was subpoenaed as a defense witness for Lynndie England in her sentencing trial. After the hearing was cancelled yesterday, she was interviewed by Reuters.

She calls Graner, a former U.S. prison guard, the Hannibal Lecter in her life. These are not new claims. We reported them a year ago here.

She says Lynndie England was disappointed Graner botched her deal:

"He screws up everything, doesn't he?" a disappointed England told Morris about Graner after the judge ruled that trial would have to start from scratch in the future.

She describes in detail the sick e-mails and pictures Graner sent home to his kids.

by TChris

Hypocrisy, anyone?

Mayor James E. West of Spokane, a Republican opponent of gay rights, was accused in a newspaper on Thursday of molesting two boys decades ago and the paper also says it caught him using the trappings of his office to try to court a young man online.

Mr. West, a conservative, rose to become majority leader of the State Senate during a two-decade legislative career. He consistently opposed efforts to expand civil rights protections for gay men and lesbians and voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, a ban on same-sex marriage, in 1998.

Whether or not the molestation allegations are true, the anti-gay mayor acknowledged he "had relations with adult men."

Law Prof Orrin Kerr of the Volokh Conspiracy testified before Congress today on reforms to the Patriot Act. His topic was the Internet surveillance portion of the statute. He recommends an exlusionary rule as a remedy.

Somewhat remarkably, Internet surveillance law does not include a suppression remedy for violations. The Fourth Amendment is traditionally enforced with a suppression remedy; if the police violate the Fourth Amendment, they can't use the evidence illegally obtained. Not so in the case of the Patriot Act and the Internet privacy statutes. When Congress passed its first Internet privacy law in 1986, they struck a deal with the Justice Department: the Justice Department would go along with the legislation so long as there was no statutory suppresion remedy for violations. That compromise remains on the books today. As a result, Congress's statute provides strong civil remedies but no right to suppression of evidence unlawfully obtained.

President Bush announced that Brigadier General Janis Karpinski has been demoted one level to colonel for her actions at Abu Ghraib.

Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski became the first high-level U.S. military officer demoted in the scandal after Army leaders deemed her job performance "seriously lacking" and accused her of concealing a past shoplifting arrest.

The Army said in a statement Karpinski had been reduced in rank to colonel, although an investigation by the Army inspector general's officer "determined that no action or lack of action on her part contributed specifically to the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib."

A shoplifting arrest?

Jackson Trial Update
Thursday May 5, 2005

The Judge denied Michael Jackson's motion for acquittal today, saying the issues were factual and therefore up to the jury. Jackson lawyer Robert Sanger nicely summed up a major problem with the case: the timeline is absurd.

"Sanger argued ....prosecutors were asking jurors to accept the far-fetched claim that Jackson's camp had been thrown into a panic after a 2003 televised documentary aired showing him holding hands with his accuser and defending his practice of sharing his bed with children."

"It was only then, with the world watching and his career in the balance, that prosecutors claim Jackson abused the boy, a recovering cancer patient, Sanger said. "The timeline is inherently preposterous," he said."

The defense has begun presenting its case. The first witness was Wade Robson who said that he had slept in Jackson's bed 20 times as a child and Jackson never molested him or touched him inappropriately.

by TChris

Politicians like Rep. Sensenbrenner just can't say no to ever harsher drug laws, no matter the cost to our prison nation. Sensenbrenner's latest brainchild, which TalkLeft criticized here, "would require five-year terms for the sale or distribution of every illegal drug, no matter how small the amount or the penalty under state law." Pass a joint and do five years in the federal joint.

The cynically titled Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005 does little to push drug treatment but could do much to harm children. It would also make a bad sentencing system worse and punish judges who have rightly criticized its many inequities. ... Offenders with a prior conviction on almost any drug charge would automatically get 10 years. Adults who sold to minors could get life.

[I]f Dad watches Mom smoke marijuana in their living room, they both head to prison, and Junior goes to foster care.

The LA Times exposes Sensenbrenner's true agenda, and explains why his misguided attempt to add to the booming prison population isn't worth the cost.

by TChris

Recognizing and (even better) responding to an obvious conflict of interest, two Republican members of the House ethics committee, both donors to one of Tom DeLay's defense funds, agreed not to participate in investigations of DeLay's alleged ethical improprieties.

Democrats have complained for months that Speaker Dennis Hastert appointed Republicans Lamar Smith of Texas and Tom Cole of Oklahoma to make the panel more favorable to DeLay, R-Texas.

Smith and Cole replaced two Republicans who voted to admonish DeLay on three separate matters in 2004.

Concerns that Smith and Cole would not be impartial were substantial.