Courts & Law

So what’s it going to be, Guv? Yes or no?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Governor Jan Brewer's publicity agent for her crappy book Scorpions for Breakfast, Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, frequently inserts into his reporting the reminder that "The governor said she remains convinced that, despite a constitutional provision, she can run for what would be a third term. 'I have not made up my decision,'' she said."

Lame-Duck1Almost a year ago, Brewer's Secretary of State, Ken "Birther" Bennett, also a GOP candidate for governor in 2014, argued that Governor Brewer is constitutionally prohibited from running again. Howard Fischer reported, Brewer can't run again in 2014, Bennett says:

The state's chief election officer said Monday that his interpretation of state law is that Republican Jan Brewer's reign as governor must end in January 2015, no matter what she and her lawyer say.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett said he understands Brewer believes that the two years she spent finishing off Democrat Janet Napolitano's term do not count toward the two-term limit voters mandated in 1992.

Brewer, elected in her own right at the 2010 election, is saying she could run again in 2014 if she wants, although she has not yet decided if she will.

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Bennett sidestepped a question of whether he would take legal action to keep Brewer off the ballot should she seek the nomination.

The mendacity of mini-me, Robert Robb

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted about this the other day in George Will and his mini-me, Robert Robb: "George Will's mini-me at the Arizona Republic is not a lawyer, but he frequently pretends to be one in his columns. Lucky for him he is not a lawyer . . ."

Mini-me wrote a dismissive column on the Arizona Court of Appeals decision striking down the new campaign contribution limits in Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, et al. v. The Honorable Mark H. Brain, and real parties in interest (.pdf), a lawsuit brought by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, on the theories that it violates two citizen initiatives enacted by voters in the same year, the Citizens Clean Elections Act and the Voter Protection Act. Robb used to work for the Goldwater Institute, and his legal analysis parallels closely the legal arguments made by Clint Bolick of the Goldwater Institute in this case. Contribution limits: Read the law, not the tea leaves.

On Wednesday the mendacity of Robert Robb took a double-barrel shotgun blast from Thomas Collins, an attorney and executive director of Arizona Citizens Clean Elections; and Sam Wercinski, executive director of the Arizona Advocacy Network.

Collins: Clean Elections ruling follows the law:

In his Nov. 15 column, “Contribution limits: Read the law, not the tea leaves,” Robert Robb once again wrongfully attacks the Arizona Court of Appeals for following the law and upholding the Citizens Clean Elections Act that voters passed in 1998.

That court blocked House Bill 2593 in October. HB 2593 would increase the amount of political donations candidates can receive by nearly 10 times and eliminate altogether other limits that work to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption in Arizona. Under Clean Elections, the court found, the new bill cannot apply to state and legislative campaign-contribution limits.

Abortion politics in the U.S. Supreme Court

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed as “improvidently granted” the case of Cline  v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice (docket 12-1094), an appeal from the state of Oklahoma to  revive a law that restricts doctors’ use of drugs rather than surgery to perform an abortion with the medication RU-486 and others, struck down by the federal courts.

Uterus-stateAround the same time, Planned Parenthood of Texas applied for an order setting aside the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals order permitting the Texas law requiring abortion practitioners to have admitting privilieges at a nearby hospital before they may perform abortions at a clinic or in a doctor’s office. Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Surgical Health Services v. Abbott (13A452).

In a 5-4 decision along ideological lines, the Court declined on Tuesday to set aside the Fifth Circuit Court order. Lyle Denniston at Scotusblog.com reports, Texas abortion law left in effect:

Splitting five to four, the Supreme Court late Tuesday afternoon refused to block a Texas abortion law that critics say is forcing the closing of one-third of all clinics in the state.  The Court had been studying the issue for the past week.  The majority said that the challengers had not met the requirement for setting aside a federal appeals court’s order permitting the law to take effect on October 31.

The majority specifically included Justices Antonin Scalia, who wrote separately in a concurring opinion joined by Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Clarence Thomas.  But Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy presumably voted with those three, because it would have taken five votes to act definitively on the plea by doctors and clinics when there were four Justices who wanted to block the law.

The specific order denying the application (13A452) was unsigned.  Both Justice Scalia’s opinion and that of the dissenters referred to the result as the action of “the Court.”

Update on status of marriage equality cases befor the Ninth Circuit

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Now that the state of Hawaii has enacted marriage equality, there is a change of status in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cases from Hawaii (Jackson v. Abercrombie) and Nevada (Sevcik v. Sandoval), which the court had scheduled on a parallel track for briefing. Time extensions sought at Ninth Circuit for filing briefs in Nevada, Hawaii marriage equality cases:

EqualThe challenge to Hawaii’s same-sex marriage ban (Jackson v. Abercrombie) was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals around the same time as the similar challenge in Nevada (Sevcik v. Sandoval). In both cases, the district court judges issued rulings against same-sex couples, and the Ninth Circuit initially put the cases on a parallel track, with similar briefing schedules. With Hawaii’s state legislature taking up a marriage equality bill, the plaintiffs in Jackson asked the appeals court for an extension of time. Governor Abercrombie filed his opening brief last month.

The plaintiffs in the Hawaii case have filed a new request for an extension of time to file their opening brief: from November 22 to December 22. The new unopposed request comes because, as the filing states, “the new [marriage equality] law will take effect on December 2, 2013,” and unless the law is somehow not put into effect, “the current appeal will likely be rendered moot.”

(Update) Hey, hysterical media villagers! ‘ObamaCare’ is working where the GOP is not sabotaging it

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

ChickenLittleIn all the media hysteria over the rollout of "ObamaCare," the feckless media villagers always leave out three predicate facts: Chief Justice John Roberts created the Medicaid opt-out with his poorly considered legal opinion upholding the constitutionality of "ObamaCare," opening the door to partisan mischief; second, said partisan mischief did occur with Red State Tea-Publicans refusing to expand Medicaid and denying more than 5 million desperate Americans access to health care; and third, Red State Tea-Publicans refused to set up their own state-run Marketplace insurance exchanges, creating the need for a complex federal system not contemplated. GOP sabotage should be included in every report.

As for all the unhinged media hysteria, Paul Begala at CNN writes Chill: Obamacare snafus are fixable:

[D]espite the bed-wetting from Beltway Chicken Littles, the President's problems are eminently fixable. The Affordable Care Act isn't collapsing. The Obama presidency isn't imploding.

Similarly, Ed Kilgore at the Democratic Strategist looks at the polling that media villagers are so enamored with, and writes in Polling Panic:

What does it all mean? Probably that most people aren't breathlessly following events in Washington other than to register their heat and noise.

Democrats didn't win the 2014 elections in October and they aren't losing them in November. It's time to chill a bit.

So chill out, media villagers. The sky is not falling despite your best efforts to recklessly and irresponsibly panic the public.