As Republicans struggle to invent a reason -- any reason -- to oppose the confirmation of Judge Sotomayor, they've seized a snippet of a speech she once gave to claim the judge "will let her personal background and experiences influence her opinions from the bench." This attack makes sense only if you believe that all the Republican-appointed judges since the Reagan administration were selected without considering whether their backgrounds and experiences tended to make their judicial philosophies pro-business and pro-Republican. Do you?

Instead of confronting the Republican hypocrisy (and how often do Democrats in the Senate bother with that?), Senator Leahy is playing the game by asserting that Judge Sotomayor will "follow the law" without regard to her upbringing (or, presumably, her gender or national origin). Of course, if "the law" is clear and easily followed, the Supreme Court isn't likely to weigh in on the law's meaning. It is when a statute is ambiguous or precedent provides no clear answer that Supreme Court Justices are called upon to clarify the law. All nine Justices believe they are "following the law" when they vote in 5-4 decisions, but the dissenters follow it to a different conclusion than the Justices who comprise the majority. [more ...]

BTD is in court today and I've got to make my powerpoint presentation for this weekend's NORML Aspen Legal Seminar. My topic: "High Hopes and Modest Expectations: Drug Law Reform under President Obama and a Democratic Congress." The rest of the agenda is here.

For lighter fare, here's Joe Biden at the beach. Yes, Obama looks better shirtless.

Update: Thanks to TChris, there will be some updates today, so do check back.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

No one cared about the "sin tax" on cigarette smokers. Will they care about a proposed tax on alcohol and sugary soda? Probably.

Besides alcohol, drinks with sugar, high fructose corn syrup and similar sweeteners would be targeted, though diet drinks with artificial sweeteners would not. Other industries also are on alert, worried that the idea of "lifestyle taxes" could spread to other products deemed unhealthy.

"Are they going to hit couch manufacturers? School districts that have canceled physical education?" joked Neil Trautwein, health care lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, which opposes the plan and whose members include fast-food restaurants.

[More...]

Al-Jazeera reports that Osama bin Laden has released a tape critical of the U.S. and President Barack Obama.

It reported Bin Laden as saying that Obama was continuing in the steps of his predecessor, George Bush, and warning Americans to be prepared for the consequences of the White House's policies.

News of the recording came after Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia at a start of a trip that will also take him to Egypt, where he will deliver an eagerly awaited speech at Cairo University.

The New York Times has more details: [More...]

The Teddy Bears with Phil Spector (on right)

Update: The tweets are a fake, the author confesses and is going to stop.

CNET News issues a red-faced correction. [More....]

NBC's Brian Williams promises an inside look at the White House tonight in a special report. He spent a full day with President Obama.

Did you learn anything? It's just beginning here.

Update: The best segment was Obama and Williams going out for hamburgers for them and staff to bring back to White House. [More...]

So the Court wouldn't give Rod Blagojevich permission to go to Costa Rica to participate in I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, the worst reality show ever.

His wife Patti has taken his place. The show premiered last night and is on again tonight.

Patti is about the only watchable person on this disaster of a show. She actually does a good job defending her husband's administration. I liked her.

On June 16, National Geographic will present A Decade Behind Bars: Return to the Farm (pdf), a sequel to the 10 year old film “The Farm: Life Inside Angola Prison.”

For the last 10 years, filmmaker Jonathan Stack has continued to chronicle life and the surprising changes inside Angola, which is now an increasingly self-sustaining agricultural community that boasts five new churches and its own inmate-run TV and radio station.

[More...]

Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih, a 31 year old Yemeni held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, has committed suicide, according to the AP and Pentagon.

Salih was in the psychiatric ward, being force-fed due to being on a hunger strike. He was down to 86 pounds. No charges had been filed against him.

"Salih was being force-fed in a restraint chair; the other six surviving inmates are being force-fed from bed," Remes said, adding that he didn't think the Yemeni had any legal representation until two lawyers arrived in February. "They were due to see him for the first time in a couple of weeks," he said.

The military says he was found unresponsive in his cell. Suicide or did his body give out? Stay tuned. [Update below]

As you can see, our blogging output has been enormous . . .

I have a court hearing tomorrow. Nothing more from me until sometime tomorrow night. There must be some sort of must see TV event to discuss no?

Anyway, here is a video:

This is an Open Thread.

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

The world's dumbest newspaper columnist strikes again. The entire piece is a mass of incoherence, but I want to focus on one part:

I do not agree with Sotomayor on the New Haven affirmative-action case and have written a column saying why.

I have read Cohen's column "saying why" (my previous post on the column is here) and it proves yet again Cohen is a fool who has not a clue about the things he writes about. For example, the phrase "Title VII," which is what the Ricci case is about, does not appear in Cohen's column "saying why" he disagrees with Sotomayor on Ricci. Since the Ricci case is about Title VII, it is apparent, yet again, that Richard Cohen is an idiot who has no knowledge of the things he chooses to write about. He is, without a doubt, the worst major newspaper columnist in America. If Cohen were not a white man, he would be out of a job.

Speaking for me only