Patterico's Pontifications

4/2/2014

Open Thread: Fort Hood Shooting

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 5:32 pm



I’m catching up. Use this thread to discuss it.

Justices Strike Down Campaign Finance Restriction on Free Speech Grounds

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:57 am



David Savage, writing in the L.A. Times:

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday freed wealthy donors to give more money directly to congressional candidates, extending its controversial 2010 Citizens United decision that opened the door for unlimited independent spending on political issues.

In a 5-4 decision, the court’s conservative majority struck down Watergate-era aggregate limits that barred political donors from giving more than $123,000 a year in total to candidates running for seats in the House of Representatives or Senate.

The court said this limit violated the free-speech rights of the donors, and it was not needed to prevent “corruption” of the political process.

The justices noted that donors mush still abide by rules that prevent them from giving more than $2,600 per election per candidate.

(Yes, he said “mush still abide.” Screenshot here. Look, do you want the story done professionally or do you want it fast?)

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. You can have laws against money in politics or you can have a First Amendment, but you can’t have both.

The 5-4 nature of the decision reminds us why Republicans cannot spend 40 years in the wilderness. Our rights are at stake every time one of these cases goes before the Court.

L.A. Times’s Scott Martelle Accepts That Mississippi Justice System Racist Against Whites

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:45 am



Scott Martelle, writing in the L.A. Times:

If the state of Mississippi had finished what it started, Michelle Byrom would be dead right now. Instead, based on revelations about confessions kept from a jury and an alleged case of perjury, the state’s Supreme Court on Monday tossed out Byrom’s murder conviction and ordered a new trial — but also ordered that a new judge conduct it.

In his piece, Martelle does not reject the notion that Mississippi’s problems result from racism against whites like Byrom. I don’t agree with that silly argument, of course. But, strange as it may sound, Martelle “tacitly accepts” it. Because as we all know, according to Scott Martelle, “to not reject is tacit acceptance.”

This post is the second in a series on surprising positions tacitly accepted by Scott Martelle.


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