Roe v. Wade is Overturned

 What voters must remember, and what historians will surely highlight, is that a hijacked Supreme Court made this most consequential decision. But for the Republicans' chicanery in denying President Obama his right to appoint a Justice and the precedent- shattering rush to allow a defeated President Trump to name Justice Ginsberg's successor, there would not have been an ultra-conservative majority of Justices willing to destroy a "super-precedent" and to return women to the health hazards and diminished status of fifty years ago.

This unconscionable decision by an illegitimate court mandates a remedy that should include altering the structure of the court or imposing term limits on Justices. It should also impel voters to insure that, going forward, there will be a Senate majority committed to upholding the rule of law.

Don't Add Limits on Firearms. Hold Gun Makers Liable.

 

The column by Todd Tanner is illogical, self-contradictory and unhelpful. His extensive quoting of Charlton Heston's gun worshipping speech to the National Rifle Association is stomach-turning and revealing.

First, Mr. Tanner poses the prospect of an oppressive federal government as justification for the glut of firearms, especially military grade, awash in our society. While he rejects laws that would limit or control sale or possession of guns (after all, our farmers must be well-armed to resist tyranny) he proposes that the manufacturers of all this weaponry be made susceptible to liability for their production of arms that are misused to slaughter innocents.

Holding gun makers liable, especially for their irresponsible promotion of sales to youngsters, may be part of the solution but it can hardly be the sole means of stemming the tidal wave of mass murder happening only in this country. And since Mr. Tanner seems to favor a fully-armed citizenry, ready to preserve liberty threatened by government oppression, it would seem self-defeating to punish arms makers for fulfilling their civic duty.

A Modest Proposal for Gun Safety

 

I’d like to offer a modest proposal to address the issues of mass shootings and the need for gun safety, a solution that should satisfy the originalist members of the Supreme Court and true advocates of the Second Amendment.
The federal government should agree to provide to every family unit in America such arms as are consistent with the understanding of the framers of the Constitution, namely a muzzle-loading,single-shot long gun or pistol.
The provision of these weapons should be conditioned upon the required surrender of any weaponry not encompassed by the vision of the framers. Further, the person in each family responsible for keeping and bearing the weapons must agree to enlist in a Militia where the handling and use of the arms may be well regulated in order to insure the security of a free State.

Acquittal Deals Blow to Inquiry Urged by Trump

 

The acquittal of lawyer Michael Sussmann, on a charge that he lied to the FBI about whether he was representing a client or acting on his own when he passed on information concerning a possible Trump-Russia connection, brings a fitting end to a legal travesty.

Special counsel John Durham, appointed by the Trump administration to find evidence of a deep state conspiracy, dreamed up and promoted by Fox News anchors, has sullied his reputation by bringing the flimsiest of charges while using the case as a springboard to make broader, baseless allegations about the non-existent conspiracy calculated to please Mr. Trump and his following.

It took the jury just six hours to render a not guilty verdict and, thus, deliver a deserved rebuke to a politically driven prosecution.

Gun Legislation

 Gun apologists continuously distort the facts to justify their opposition to reasonable gun safety. The greatest untruth is that banning military-style assault rifles does not help prevent mass shootings. Put aside the self-evident fact that automatic or semi-automatic weapons with large ammo capacity fire rapidly and repeatedly without constant need to reload thus greatly expanding the opportunity to inflict maximum carnage.

The facts are that during the ten years an assault rifle ban was in effect in the United States mass shootings decreased; since the ban was allowed to expire, in 2004, these atrocities have spiked. Since Australia enacted a ban, adopted strict gun control laws and bought back and destroyed assault weapons, that country has had almost no mass shootings.

The gun lobby and its legislative acolytes simply refuse to acknowledge these facts or draw any lessons from them. Instead, it persists in spreading falsehoods behind which it promotes a campaign of more gun sales resulting in more mass casualties.

Mass Shooting-Uvalde

 

The police waited an hour to breach the classroom and take out the killer while children lay bleeding to death.  Why? Because they were outgunned by an 18-year-old armed with a military assault rifle and over 600 rounds of ammunition. 

Can anyone imagine a clearer case for banning such weapons and preventing the accumulation of such a stockpile?

Justices Cut Challenges On Counsel

 

According to Justice Clarence Thomas and the other five conservative justices of the Supreme Court, a person may be executed notwithstanding the utter failure of his defense counsel to perform competently. The Constitution guarantees an accused the right to counsel; being defended by an attorney who fails to provide a bare minimum of competent representation is tantamount to having no counsel at all.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court majority values "finality" over the protection of a constitutional right and now forecloses federal judges from obtaining facts beyond the trial record, facts which should have been developed by competent counsel, when weighing whether an injustice has occurred. Requiring a reviewing federal court to rely upon an incomplete record and refrain from learning all relevant facts, is an abdication of the judicial function and an insult to the Constitution.