Month: May 2009
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It’s About Us
While posting about Cheney’s Worldview, Tim Lynch captures the perspective that drives my thinking on subjects such as torture and indefinite detention: So we shouldn’t let the terrorists see us get “caught up in arguments” about the wisdom of our foreign policy, about whether our country should go to war, about our country’s treaty obligations,…
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Constitutional Amendment VIII
Like the second amendment, the eighth Amendment leaves no room for exceptions. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. There are those who would argue that not all the rights in the Constitution and Bill of Rights apply to non-citizens. Depending on your definition of “rights”…
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Constitutional Amendment VII
The seventh Amendment really intrigues me: In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common…
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U.S. and CA Supreme Court News
The news came last week that the California Supreme Court would issue their ruling related to Proposition 8 so I expected to have a reaction to that news today. I saw news this morning that President Obama would make his nomination for a new judge to replace Justice Souter – that news surprised me. Obama…
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Use the Proper Tool
I have written before about our national propensity to use government when it is not the proper tool for the job. Scott summed my point up very succinctly in a recent post: There is a proper tool for every job. Use of the wrong tool often produces substandard results. Sometimes it is necessary to make…
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Constitutional Amendment VI
In our information age sometimes the right to a public trial guaranteed by Amendment VI interferes with the opportunity for an impartial jury also guaranteed there (especially in the district wherein the crime was committed). In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury…
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Constitutional Amendment V
We’ve all heard the concept of taking or pleading “the fifth {Amendment}” in court but there is more to that amendment than simply not testifying against yourself. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising…
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Constitutional Amendment IV
Aside from any room for interpretation of the word “unreasonable” Amendment IV is pretty simple: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly…
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The Huntsman News
By Monday afternoon this is, of course, old news but if you visited here you must have been at least marginally interested in my opinion on the fallout from Huntsman being tapped to become the ambassador to China. First of all, I think that Bob Bernick captured the essence of the Big Utah Political Picture…