states’ rights

SCOTUS to states on immigration appeal: 8 additional days to respond

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Just as I predicted last month when the Obama administration appealed the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals immigration ruling to SCOTUS:

ImmigrantsOf course, any one of the 26 “Red State” plaintiff’s that brought this case can request a delay for additional time to respond to the appeal, negating the administration’s timely filing.

Any delay could kick this case into the Court’s next term beginning in October 2016. The appeal would not be decided until after a new president takes office in January 2017. I fully expect the Red State respondents to play this delay gambit.

Texas, of course, requested for an additional 30 days to play this delay gambit. Surprisingly the Justices said “no” (we know what you are up to) and granted only an additional eight days, which means it is now more likely that the U.S. Supreme Court — if it grants the appeal —  will hear this case in late April and render a decision in late June.

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Obama administration appeals 5th Circuit Court of Appeals immigration ruling to SCOTUS

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ImmigrantsThe Obama administration met the short deadline to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding President Obama’s immigration executive orders for DACA and DAPA eligible immigrants. The purpose of quickly filing this appeal is to get the case heard by the Court and decided before the end of June 2016 to prevent any further delay. Of course, any one of the 26 “Red State” plaintiff’s that brought this case can request a delay for additional time to respond to the appeal, negating the administration’s timely filing.

Any delay could kick this case into the Court’s next term beginning in October 2016. The appeal would not be decided until after a new president takes office in January 2017. I fully expect the Red State respondents to play this delay gambit.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, U.S. appeals on immigration policy :

One year after President Barack Obama took historic steps to overhaul immigration policy, his lawyers on Friday appealed (.pdf) to the Supreme Court to uphold his plan and let it go into effect.  It is currently stalled by lower court rulings finding that the president probably overstepped his powers in bypassing Congress to put off deportation for nearly five million undocumented immigrants.

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GOP feigned outrage of the day: Denali (no, seriously)

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Ohio Republicans have their panties in a twist that President Obama has authorized Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to restore the name of the tallest peak in Alaska (and the U.S.) to its millennia-old native people’s name of Denali, from Mount McKinley, named after the 25th President of the United States who came from Ohio.

The Washington Post today has the story behind the original name change. How a 19th-century political ‘joke’ turned into a 119-year-long debate:

DenaliThe name Mount McKinley “was little more than a joke.”

That’s according to toponymist George R. Stewart, an expert in American place-names (apparently a real field of academic study).

There was no reason, Stewart explained in his 1945 tome “Names on the Land,” why a New Hampshire gold prospector of little consequence should have been able to christen America’s tallest peak.

But politicians, not toponymists, are the ones who control the nation’s maps, which largely explains how the craggy, ice-bound mountain remained named after America’s 25th president for more than a century.

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States’ Rights Leads to Inequities in Healthcare

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by Pamela Powers Hannley This map exemplifies what is wrong with letting states' rights. State-by-state decisions lead to inequities, discrimination, legal inconsistencies, and redundant bureaucracies.  The map– created by The Advisory Board Company– shows how the states stack up (so far) regarding implementation of the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion. How does … Read more