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Random commentary and senseless acts of blogging.
The first Republican president once said, "While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." If Mr. Lincoln could see what's happened in these last three-and-a-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. Blog critics Gryffindor House Slytherin House Ravenclaw House House Elves Beth Jacob Prisoners of Azkaban Muggles
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Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Seldom, But At Least Once Legal blogger the Blithering Idiot notes this sentence from Scalia's recent dissent in Atkins v. Virginia (execution of retarded defendants): "Seldom has an opinion of this Court rested so obviously upon nothing but the personal views of its members."
Now in opposing this particular decision, there is a plausible argument to be made for that position. But is Scalia really the man who should be making it? I seem to recall that around December 2000, Scalia was himself part of the majority in a ruling that made such a mockery of the law, the Court openly stated that its own decision was too strange to be used as a precedent for any other case. I guess Scalia can live with Court decisions based "obviously upon nothing but the personal views of its members" as long as they're his decisions and his views. |
