NYU Law Professor Ronald Dworkin has this article in The New York Review of Books in which he examines the recent Supreme Court cases Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, and Rasul v. Bush. He ends with this eloquent passage:

"Our Constitution demands that we run that risk [of sacrificing efficiency in deference to morality] in our ordinary criminal process: no doubt our police would be more efficient in preventing crime, and we would all be safer, if we ignored the rights of due process at home. The world is shocked by our willingness to abandon what we claim to be our most fundamental values just because our victims are foreigners. We must hope that Camp X-Ray and Abu Ghraib soon become symbols of a national aberration, like the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, that we must take care not to repeat, rather than evidence of what, to our shame, we have now become."

Compassionate conservatism from the Bush camp:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A campaign worker for President Bush said on Thursday American workers unhappy with low-quality jobs should find new ones -- or pop a Prozac to make themselves feel better.

Who says the GOP doesn't care about regular working folks?

via News of the Dead via Daily Kos

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an interesting ruling in a First Amendment case. The court split 2-1 in the decision. Read both the majority ruling and the dissent - I'm interested in what you think.

I'm not trained in law and I don't have all the facts, but based on what is presented in the decision, I think Judge Beam got it right in his dissent.

via How Appealing

"The great ideals of liberty and equality are preserved against the assaults of opportunism, the expediency of the passing hour, the erosion of small encroachments, the scorn and derision of those who have no patience with general principles, by enshrining them in constitutions, and consecrating to the task of their protection a body of defenders. By conscious or subconscious influence, the presence of this restraining power, aloof in the background, but none the less always in reserve, tends to stabilize and rationalize the legislative judgment, to infuse it with the glow of principle, to hold the standard aloft and visible for those who must run the race and keep the faith"

- Benjamin Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process

The trial finished last night. I was the presiding juror, which meant I got to hand the verdict to the bailiff. I did not get to shout "GUILTY!"

Now that I'm released from my vow of secrecy, I can tell you all about the case should you be interested. I kept all my notes so I could refer to them. The case was one of Steve Portnoy d/b/a Carlson Commercial as the plaintiff versus Anthony and Mildred Bertucci, the defendants. Mr. Portnoy is a commercial real estate broker in Austin and Mr. Bertucci is an Austin real estate investor. The case involved a commission agreement for a sale of land brokered by Mr. Portnoy for Mr. Bertucci in the period of 1997-2000. In short, Mr. Portnoy felt that Mr. Bertucci owed him around $42,000 more in commission per an Open Net Listing Sales Commission Agreement first signed in 1997 and ratified in 1999.

The plaintiff was represented by Mr. Boyce Brown of George & Brothers, L.L.P. The defendants were represented by Mr. Tom Buckle and Mr. David Sander of Scanlan, Buckle & Young, P.C. All of the attorneys involved were exceptional.

Now, if you are interested in hearing about the trial, please specify whether or not you want the short version, or the long, detailed version. The long version involves math.

I can also say with complete honesty that the whole experience was fascinating. Who would have thought that contracts could be that interesting? Oh, but they are.

Monday afternoon I was selected to serve on a jury in Travis County District Court #345. I will be busy doing so until next Tuesday; if you don't hear from me until then, that's why.

I think I might like to be a professional juror. I can't believe people try to get out of it.

Friday night I went to Stubb's downtown to register voters as part of the "Rock the Vote" campaign. It went really well and we managed to get about 25 folks registered to vote. They Might Be Giants played and, I have to admit, I had a great time. TMBG put on a great show. Also, if you ever need help with math homework, need to know a line from a Monty Python film, or need to borrow a 12 sided die, I suggest asking a TMBG audience.

Last night we went to Jo's Coffee House in South Austin and watched, with about 1000 of our closest friends, the new film Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. The film was interesting even if it seemed a bit amateur at times. Nothing really new or groundbreaking was presented, but it does put together a pretty clear picture of Murdoch's GOP propaganda machine. I don't know how anyone could take FNC seriously to begin with, so I don't know that this film will really do anything but reinforce previously held conceptions and rally the troops (so to speak). In that respect, the film does a good job, I suppose. If you think FNC really is "Fair & Balanced," I don't know that anything will convince you otherwise.

"There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger’s Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Greek Interpreter

...Ere the bat hath flown
His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate's summons
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.

Macbeth (3.2.41-45)

"I don't want to own anything; I just want to control everything."

- John D. Rockefeller

weaving spiders come not here

For my birthday this year, I would like an invitation to the next Bilderberg Conference.

Thank you.

I am really disappointed that the Senate confirmed Leon Holmes to the Federal bench. Here is the voting record.

Dems voting Yea:

Breaux (LA)
Landrieu (LA)
Lincoln (AR)
Miller (GA)
Nelson (NE)
Pryor (AR)

Very disappointing. For all their talk about not wanting activist judges, I suppose that, for the Republicans, conservative activist judges are just fine.

Do take a moment, however, to call and thank Kay Bailey Hutchison for having the courage to vote her conscience and not the party line. I don't agree with Kay on everything, but it's nice to know she sees extremism when it's so apparent. Too bad we can't say the same thing about our other Senator.

The President's brother Jeb thinks that ...this is the most liberal ticket that the Democrats have put up for, basically, modern times.

Huh. What does that mean?

liberal, a. and n.

5. Of political opinions: Favourable to constitutional changes and legal or administrative reforms tending in the direction of freedom or democracy.

Oh!

Vote for Kerry/Edwards and vote for the ticket most tending in the direction of freedom & democracy!

I'm watching Washington Journal right now. I just want to be the first to say watch out for Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.. Man, this guy is sharp, and he's only 34! I see a bright future for this young man. Keep your ears open and remember where you heard it first. There may be another President Ford in the not too distant future...

Last month I attended the Texas Democratic Convention in Houston. I saw John Edwards speak and was quite impressed. I have to admit, I never really gave a serious look at Edwards before the state convention. Edwards has a really strong domestic plan and I think that he's got a good vision for the future of the country. I have already heard one criticism repeated by the GOP faithful - Edwards doesn't have enough foreign policy experience. This is, I think, an interesting criticism coming from the Republicans. After all, how much foreign policy experience does a failed oilman and baseball team owner have? It's pretty silly, really. In fact, I think it's arguable that Edwards has more foreign policy knowledge than Bush did going into 2000. Of course, this is all really a red herring meant to divert attention from the fact that Kerry's foreign policy experience - and military experience - trumps Bush's handily.

Here's another interesting point, I think. Bush likes to paint himself as an everyman from a small Texas town. Well, I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who gives an honest look that George W. Bush is now and always has been a wealthy son of immense privilege. John Edwards, on the other hand, really is a self made man.

What are the Russians doing to make their tennis players look like that?

It's unnatural, I tell you.

University of San Diego Law Professor Lawrence Solum has a really interesting post about ideology, rule of law, and the Supreme Court.

Is the Supreme Court dysfunctional? I don't know enough about the history of the Court or law in general to have anything unique to say about this issue, but I think it's certainly an interesting discussion.

I finally got around to watching the infamous Carole Coleman interview of President Bush for RTE News (Ireland). Paul Waldman at The Gadflyer has a good take as does Jesse Walker at Reason Online (found here).

My immediate impression? Man, Bush is a jerk. If allegations are true and the White House has lodged a complaint about Coleman, then Bush is not just a jerk, but a whiny jerk.

I would really like to own a Stromberg Carlson 1212 telephone.

Just in case you have one that you don't want.