The Supreme Court took a big step forward today and ruled that defense counsel must advise clients of adverse immigration consequences to their guilty pleas. The case is Padilla v. Kentucky, the opinion is here. Even Roberts and Alito concurred (Scalia and Thomas dissented.) The holding:

The lawyer for an alien charged with crime has a constitutional obligation to tell the client that a guilty plea carries a risk that he will be deported. The Court, however, does not decide whether the individual in this specific case has been prejudiced by the lawyer’s failure to give that advice.

[More...]

I've whined enough. Now it is your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

A wise president works with what he's got and doesn't add more burden than the beast can bear. That's different from triangulation. Triangulation is passing your opponent's agenda on your terms and then taking credit for it. Obama is passing his agenda on the terms the system will bear. - New Progressives

NYTimes:

Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday. The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.

I personally do not have an opinion on the issue. But I am pretty sure the consensus "progressive" position opposed such a measure. What do they say now about this New "Progressive" "Non-Triangulation?"

Speaking for me only

All lawyers remember their first encounter with Erie v. Tompkins, a staple of the first year of law school. Erie still reverberates for substantive reasons as well. Via Volokh, we see that that the Supreme Court has handed down the latest on Erie questions in Shady Grove v Allstate (PDF), though the Court's fractured opinion (with interesting alliances) leaves things quite muddled :

JUSTICE SCALIA announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I and II–A, an opinion with respect to Parts II–B and II–D, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE THOMAS, and JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR join, and an opinion with respect to Part II–C, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE THOMAS join. [. . .] JUSTICE STEVENS, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. [. . .] JUSTICE GINSBURG, with whom JUSTICE KENNEDY, JUSTICE BREYER, and JUSTICE ALITO join, dissenting.

I'll try and provide a cogent analysis later today for the 2 readers interested. I happen to like these kinds of cases.

Ok, it is a rhetorical question, as the public option fight is clearly over. Don't believe me? Here is how Chris Bowers puts it:

With the health reform fight over, it is time on Open Left to turn out attention to other matters.

Just a few weeks ago, there was a fair amount of talk about Harry Reid promising a vote on the public option in a few months. Obviously, no one is taking that "promise" seriously. That said, I think this idea is a nonstarter:

I thought there was something wrong with my Jeep's temperature read-out today, it showed 77 degrees. But it's 77 degrees inside my house right now. What's going on? Denver broke a 131 year record today. The high temperature was 82 degrees.

And what is up with the viewer voting on DWTS? How could Shannon Dougherty and Pamela Anderson be in the final two? How could Buzz Aldrin and the awful Kate Gosselin stay when the they got such dismal judge's scores last night? Pamela and Shannon weren't even in my bottom 5. Buzz or Kate definitely should have gone home instead.

Are any of you watching Breaking Bad on AMC? It may be the most depressing show ever but like Damages, it's good to see a crime show that isn't about glorifying cops. It's got a loyal and growing fan base and the unusual lead actor has won two emmys for the role. Both are so much better than shows like Castle, which got renewed today. Another crime show with promise, even though it's about a U.S. Marshal, is FX's Justified. [More...]

The Supreme Court held oral arguments today in Dillon v. U.S., which I described here.

The transcript of today's argument is here. Via Peter G. in comments,

Justice Kennedy got in the face of an Asst to the Solicitor General (with SG Kagan sitting there) about the fact that there were no Presidential sentence commutations or other clemency grants last year, none, and only five the year before (page 39 of the linked transcript).

Another case heard by the Supreme Court today was Barber v. Thomas, (transcript here) about whether the Bureau of Prisons is cheating prisoners in the way it calculates good time credits. [More...]

It's the afternoon on the West Coast.

Open Thread.

A wise president works with what he's got and doesn't add more burden than the beast can bear. That's different from triangulation. Triangulation is passing your opponent's agenda on your terms and then taking credit for it. Obama is passing his agenda on the terms the system will bear. - New Progressives

Meanwhile, back at the White House:

When you actually look at the bill itself, it incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas - President Obama on the health bills

The New Progressives, our modern day New Democrats -- incorporating GOP ideas and loving it.

Speaking for me only

To the New Progressives, nothing:

For me, 'progressive' means 'committed to progress' which may be incremental or sweeping, but which doesn't get bogged down in ideological roadblocks.

This of course leads to the question - what is "progress?" And do issues have anything to do with that? At the end of the day, this campaign to drain issues and ideology from progressivism is self defeating. Better to just call yourself a "Democrat" and stop with the "progressive" part. In fact, there is a model they can use - the Democratic Leadership Council. They were not into "ideological roadblocks" either.

Of course, like there were New Democrats, there could be New Progressives.

Speaking for me only

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

When you actually look at the bill itself, it incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas - President Obama on the health bills

Is anyone getting an iPad? I'd love one and put it on my wish list.

I'm sure it's lunchtime somewhere, and since I'm busy at work today, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.