The Supreme Court today rejected a challenge to the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton established the policy as a compromise after strong resistance from the military and Congress toward allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces.

...During last year's campaign, President Barack Obama indicated he supported the eventual repeal of the policy, but he has made no specific move to do so since taking office in January. Meanwhile, the White House has said it won't stop gays and lesbians from being dismissed from the military.

The Obama Administration sided with the military in this case: [More...]

In yet another 5-4 split opinion, the Supreme Court today ruled a judge must recuse himself from a case "when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias."

"Just as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when — without the consent of the other parties — a man chooses the judge in his own cause," Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the court.

...."Not every campaign contribution by a litigant or attorney creates a probability of bias that requires a judge's recusal, but this is an exceptional case," Kennedy said.

The opinion is here (pdf). The dissenters: Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas. What a difference one judge can make.

Because I am not on the White House talking points list, I have to read Greg Sargent to find out what the White House is pushing out there on the Sotomayor nomination:

I’ve obtained a set of White House talking points, privately distributed to outside liberal allies, that chart an aggressive counterattack against foes of Sonia Sotomayor, claiming that critics of a major ruling “wish to reignite the culture wars of the past” and are “grasping for attacks in the face of a strong nominee.” The new talking points — which hit back more aggressively than earlier ones — show the White House anticipates a fresh onslaught of attacks on her widely-cited ruling in Ricci vs. DeStefano when the Supreme Court rules on this case, perhaps this week. The talking points suggest the White House thinks the debate will shift to this case and that the attacks have some potential.

(Emphasis supplied.) I think Ricci provides potential -- for properly labelling the Roberts Court as a brazen extreme conservative judicially activist Court with no deference for the Legislative Branch. More . . .

Speaking of identity politics, this endorsement of gender diversity on the Supreme Court comes from a well-known Republican:

Former first lady Laura Bush says she's pleased that President Barack Obama nominated a woman for the Supreme Court. ... Mrs. Bush said in an interview broadcast Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that "as a woman, I'm proud that there might be another woman on the court. I wish her well."

Even better news from the same article: George W. Bush, unlike Dick Cheney, plans to keep his mouth shut about President Obama's governance. If only the rest of the GOP would follow his lead ....

"Better to be a troublemaker than to pursue excellence." - Black Republican Shelby Steele describing his view of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who finished at the top of her high school, college and law school classes and is the most experienced nominee to the Supreme Court in a century.

The Emerging Democratic Majority really has Republicans stumped (see also Brian Tamanaha.) The token designated African American Republican (yes, the irony of an "identity" commentator decrying "identity" politics is not lost on me) Shelby Steele writes:

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two reporters for Current TV who were arrested when North Korea said they were improperly in the country, have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. The LA Times reports:

Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, were arrested March 17 along the China-North Korean border after top officials in Pyongyang said they had encroached on North Korean soil while reporting a story on human trafficking by Kim Jong Il's regime.

Laura Ling is the sister of tv personality Lisa Ling. Will that help her get released?

Life in a North Korea labor camp is not pleasant:

North Korean labor camps are notorious for their high death rates because of malnutrition and overwork. But thus far, the women have been fairly well treated, housed in a Pyongyang guest house and allowed occasional telephone calls. The Swedish ambassador has also been permitted to visit them.

The principal reason to favor due process and the presumption of innocence over "swift and certain" vigilante justice is illustrated by two ugly displays of street justice in Pennsylvania. After the police identified Jose Carrasquillo as a "person of interest" in the repeated rape of an 11 year old girl, "justice-seeking" residents of Kensington began looking for him. Law enforcement officials were surprised and apparently pleased "when numerous Kensington residents offered to catch Carrasquillo themselves."

"Law-abiding citizens were out there with police officers. We even had chronic drug dealers coming up to us, wanting to see his picture. That tells me there is some code, even among the criminal element," [Capt. Daniel Castro] said.

Community support of police efforts to locate a suspected child molester should be encouraged, but people who don't carry a badge cross the line when they decide to dispense street justice rather than calling the police. Members of an angry mob, mistakenly believing they had found Carrasquillo, beat Michael Zenquis with bats and kicked him while he was on the ground before they finally called 911. [more ...]

Two more Republican legislators are benefiting from Attorney General Eric Holder's commitment to fairness. A couple of months ago, Holder asked a federal court to dismiss the charges against Ted Stevens after Holder concluded that prosecutors withheld evidence that should have been disclosed to the defense before or during Stevens' trial. On Thursday, Holder announced that two Alaska state legislators convicted of public corruption were similarly victimized by federal prosecutors who failed to disclose exculpatory evidence.

The Justice Department asked the court of appeals to order Pete Kott and Vic Kohring released from prison pending a district court review of their convictions. Unless the withheld evidence clearly establishes the legislators' innocence, DOJ prosecutors probably won't ask the court to dismiss their indictments, as Holder did in Stevens' case. It's more likely the two men will be given a new (and hopefully fair) trial.

While Holder should be applauded for his vigilance in correcting the injustices that tainted the trials of Republicans in Alaska, the question remains: Why won't Holder take a hard look at DOJ's politically motivated prosecution of Don Siegelman?

Tiger shoots a final round 65 to win the Memorial. The Yanks rallied to beat the Rays. Federer ties Sampras with his 14th Grand Slam - winning at Roland Garros. Game 2 of the NBA Finals are tonight. Will Van Gundy mess up the Magic again?

This is an Open Thread.

Bumped by BTD.

Allowing Guantanamo detainees to plead guilty to capital offenses related to the 9/11 attacks (an opportunity they do not clearly have in the military commission system) would sidestep the dicey issue of proving their guilt without relying on confessions that were coerced by torture. BTD makes the point that detainees who want to plead guilty should not be put on trial against their will simply to expose the details of their interrogations. That's true, but if the guilty pleas are accepted in a revamped military commission system (a proposal an administration task force has reportedly submitted to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates), detainees who are not actually guilty might be convicted and executed.

The detainees who want to plead guilty are apparently motivated by the allure of martyrdom. The desire to be a martyr (particularly after a prolonged and isolated incarceration) might convince a detainee to plead guilty despite his actual innocence. An innocent detainee shouldn't be executed even if that's his wish. [more ...]

AP:

Three Indiana state pension and construction funds want the Supreme Court to block Chrysler's sale to Fiat so they can pursue an appeal in hopes of getting a better deal. The funds filed emergency papers at the high court early Sunday.

. . . U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzalez, the bankruptcy judge overseeing Chrysler's case, approved the sale last Sunday, finding that the deal with Fiat was Chrysler's only alternative to liquidation. . . . [Second Circuit] Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs . . . asked Thomas Lauria, the lawyer representing the Indiana funds, why he believed his clients would be better off if the deal with Fiat went away and Chrysler was forced to liquidate. "You can't wait for a better deal to come in from Studebaker," Jacobs said. Lauria responded that the sale could be restructured to provide a better return for the secured debtholders.

My own view is that these Chrysler bondholders have no case under the Bankruptcy Code. But heck, the Roberts Court could rewrite it. After all, they seem poised to rewrite Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Worth a shot with the judicially activist Roberts Court.

Speaking for me only

If you are not watching Roger Federer at Roland Garros, you surely will be watching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's appearance on ABC's This Week, where she will be interviewed by George Steph.

This is an Open Thread.

Post Script - a blogger was outed yesterday (his real identity was revealed.) I wish we could all hold to an ethic that would not allow such a thing to happen, but obviously that is not the case. There appears not to be a consensus on this issue. - Speaking for me only