Those fighting Democrats
An Obama spokesperson says Democrats could lose the House but offered no actual plans to stop this from happening except to say that Republicans would be evil, wicked, mean, and nasty. A far better approach would be to give reasons to vote for Democrats rather than against Republicans. Krugman says the Obama Administration is lacking [...]
Categories: Politics Tags: administration, billions, Conviction, Hey, Krugman, republicans, splendid job, spokesperson
VA waited three months to inform vets of potential HIV exposure
Dem chair of House Veterans Affairs Committee blasts Obama administration.
Categories: World Tags: administration, exposure, HIV, hiv exposure, rest, three months, Veteran's Administration, Veterans, vets
Categories: World Tags: administration, health care mandates, obama, post
Michael Hughes: Undoing Damage in Afghanistan Wrought by Bush-era Diplomat
Kathleen Parker's idea that Zalmay Khalilzad's "healing powers" could restore Afghan President Hamid Karzai's soundness is more insane than Karzai himself.
Categories: World Tags: administration, Afghan, Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah, ambassador zalmay khalilzad, America, Arthur Kent, Chairman. Hasan, Clinton, Don Rumsfeld, Government, Hasan Nouri, Herbert Hoover, Kathleen Parker, Mr. Hamid Karzai, Mr. Khalilzad, Mr. Nouri, Ms. Parker, Pakistan, Paul Wolfowitz, policy, political instincts, President Hamid Karzai, Terry Green, U.S., U.S. Khalil, Zalmay, zalmay khalilzad
Can Congress Limit 5th Amendment Rights?
BTD asks that question in response to the latest blink on an issue from the Obama administration to GOP bleating about terror suspects and the Constitution.
The Obama administration said Sunday it would seek a law allowing investigators to interrogate terrorism suspects without informing them of their rights [. . .] Mr. Holder proposed carving out a broad new exception to the Miranda rights established in a landmark 1966 Supreme Court ruling. It generally forbids prosecutors from using as evidence statements made before suspects have been warned that they have a right to remain silent and to consult a lawyer.
BTD proposes as a question to nominee Elana Kagan whether Congress can "restrict fundamental Constitutional rights by mere passage of a statute?" Whether or not Kagan is asked (or answers) the question, Orrin Kerr weighs in:
As a legal matter, I find this idea puzzling. Neither Miranda nor the Quarles public safety exception to it are statutory. Rather, they are constitutional decisions that the Supreme Court has adopted. And the Supreme Court has been pretty clear that Miranda doctrine is up to the Justices, not Congress: As the Court put it in Dickerson v. United States, 530 U.S. 428 (2000), “Miranda announced a constitutional rule that Congress may not supersede legislatively.”
Now, perhaps the courts would broaden the public safety exception to Miranda in terrorism cases if the Administration made the case for it. Indeed, I think it’s quite likely that today’s Supreme Court would be willing to adopt as a matter of constitutional law pretty much what the Administration wants as a matter of policy without any legislation. There just needs to be a case, and DOJ needs to make the argument. But I don’t really see why the Justices would care about a statute in this area if one were passed. I don’t see it relevant as a formal legal matter. And just from the standpoint of predicting votes, I don’t think it would impact how any of the Justices would vote. [emphasis mine]
Holder, and for that matter President Obama, should know as well as anyone that Congress can't change Miranda doctrine, leading to the conclusion that this proposal is more political than policy-oriented. Up until this weekend, Holder and the administration had been effectively pushing back against the GOP and Lieberman fear-mongering over Miranda and the effectiveness of the administration's prosecution of terror cases. Once again the administration blinks in the face of the GOP's lies, much as it did on death panels, "illegals" getting insurance in the health insurance reform plan, and "tax-payer funded permanent bailouts." It undermines the administration's arguments and gives the Republicans even more incentive to make outrageous claims. But in this case, it really doesn't make sense.
Jesselyn Radack's has more in her diary.
Categories: Politics Tags: 5th Amendment, administration, barack obama, congress, constitutional rule, Court, Eric Holder, fundamental constitutional rights, legal matter, matter, Miranda, miranda rights, Mr. Holder, Orrin Kerr, President Obama, Supreme, terror suspects, U.S., United States
Administration Announces New Drug Policy Steps
The Obama administration today announced a shift in priorities for combating drug use.
"The Strategy focuses on treatment - because despite our best efforts some people do become drug users," Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Gil Kerlikowski says in a video statement. "We need to intervene early, to prevent use from progressing to addiction. We need to increase accessibility to evidence‐based treatments to help those in trouble. And we must promote comprehensive recovery support."
The new strategy follows other changes in the federal approach to drug policy under the Obama administration, including deprioritizing medical marijuana prosecutions, pushing to end the sentencing disparity for powder- and crack-cocaine possession, and repealing a ban on publicly funded needle exchanges.
Categories: Politics Tags: administration, cocaine possession, crack cocaine, Criminal Justice, Director Gil Kerlikowski, drug, drug policy, federal approach, Gil Kerlikowski, medical marijuana, obama, office of national drug control policy ondcp, quot, use, War on Drugs
Agency overseeing offshore drilling also big money maker for US
How cozy is that? The Minerals Management Service makes $13 billion a year for federal government from oil leases yet is supposed to oversee safety and regulation too. The Obama administration will split the MMS into separate units, one to inspect rigs and enforce safety rules and a second to oversee drilling leases and royalty collections, [...]
Categories: Politics Tags: administration, BP, center for responsive politics, Deepwater Horizon, environmental impact analysis, horizon oil, Ken Salazar, mexico, minerals management service, obama, oil, oil drilling rig, regulation, safety, the Gulf, Unfiled, Washington
Obama to Announce Kagan Pick
President Obama will officially announce Solicitor General Elana Kagan to be his next Supreme Court associate justice pick in a few minutes at 10 AM EDT, according to TPM. The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder previews the confirmation process:
The pro-forma criticism will come from the right; the more interesting response will be from the left -- whether Kagan is progressive enough, whether she endorses a variant of the unitary executive theory held by John Yoo and Dick Cheney, whether her scholarship is up to snuff, whether her views on campaign finance mirror those she was asked to argue for as SG....
Kagan is part of the club. She was a domestic policy adviser during the Clinton administration. She tried to get Obama to become a Harvard Law prof. She and he are brilliant, detached, and of like minds. She has ties to many in the administration. She seems to be a proponent of a strong, competitive constitutional system where Congress, the Courts and the Executive Branch compete transparently for power -- just like Obama. Critics of her interpretation of the laws of war ought to realize that it reflects that of her boss.
The more intense fire will come from the activist left, representatives of which have already voiced objections to Kagan's record of jurisprudence, her Cantabrigian clubbiness, her record on diversity, and the way in which she seems to have constructed her career to leave as little a paper trail as possible. Remember: all judicial battles are fought on the right's terrain. So Democratic judges always have to pledge fidelity to a legal formalism they don't really believe in. So long as the Democrats have the votes, Republicans will have to grudgingly accept this. The Democrats' framing cause was assisted by Ed Whelan, an influential commentator on the right, who intemperately compared Kagan to a prostitute of sorts, borrowing an old Bernard Shaw quote about pragmatism. BTW: seven GOP Senators voted for her confirmation as SG.
Of political interest is what Arlen Specter will do. He voted against her for solicitor general, when he was trying to be a Republican, because she ducked questions he felt were critical. His primary will be over by the time the hearings start, but he'll likely still be a Democrat this time around and vote for confirmation. The White House will begin consultations with Senate Democrats, presumably including Specter, on Wednesday or Thursday.