Tuesday
July 5, 2005
A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE ON THE 5TH CIRCUIT: Any hunches on
why this
article would be running in today's Houston Chronicle:
5th
Circuit Court rules in its own way
Its decisions have a history of defying the Supreme Court
By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Even with its reputation for being unfriendly to death penalty
appeals, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was expected
to follow directions last year when they came from the U.S.
Supreme Court.....
Could it
be that the 5th
Circuit is home to four judges on President Bush's Supreme
Court shortlist, including
three women (Edith Jones, Edith Brown Clement, and Priscilla Owen)
and a Hispanic (Emilio Garza) who are among those most often mentioned
as possible successors to Sandra Day O'Connor?
Interestingly,
while the Chronicle plays up the 5th Circuit's reputation
on death penalty cases as "aggressive," "defiant,"
and "out of step," Joan
Biskupic wrote earlier this year that beyond the issue of
the death penalty the 5th Circuit is well within the mainstream
and mirrors the Supreme Court on most other issues - including
the issue the left cares most about:
Overall,
the 5th Circuit has a conservative reputation, but it is not
conspicuous among the 12 regional appeals courts.
"It's
a conservative court, but it's a court that mirrors the conservatism
of the (Supreme) Court," says Thomas Baker, a law professor
at Florida International University who taught at Texas Tech
University law school for nearly two decades and studied the
5th.
The
5th Circuit in recent years has followed U.S. Supreme Court
precedent on abortion rights. In 2000, it struck down a Louisiana
law that banned a procedure known by its critics as "partial
birth" abortion after the Supreme Court had invalidated
a similar Nebraska law that had no exception for women who might
need the procedure for health reasons.
As always,
for more good stuff check out our Supreme
Court Nomination resource page.
GIVING
AID: Apropos Mark
Steyn's blistering column this morning, the question is why
activists who believe so deeply in the virtuousness of African
debt relief don't pony up their own money instead of insisting
the G-8 governments do it with the average working person's.
Consider
a glance at the net worth of just a few of the A-List
entertainers from Live 8:
| Person/Group |
Estimated
Net Worth (U.S.) |
| Paul
McCartney |
|
| U2 |
|
| Elton
John |
|
| Pink
Floyd |
|
| Madonna |
|
| Sting |
|
That's over
three billion in accrued net worth, which would go a long way
to erasing
Zimbabwe's $4 billion external debt. Yet somehow I don't think
Sir Paul & Co. will be eagerly lining up to transfer their
hard-earned assets over to Robert Mugabe.
- T. Bevan 10:35 am Link
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