Good morning . . .
Activity will be heating up in Washington as Congress reconvenes. The Senate will begin hearings on various Presidential nominations and the House will be arguing over rule changes and funds for tsunami relief. It will be an interesting start for the 109th Congress.
While there is activity in Washington, there is no apparent activity from CBS on the investigation into Rathergate.
After being sworn in for a fourth consecutive term, House Speak Dennis Hastert set an agenda for the 109th Congress.
Among the items for a divided House, Hastert pointed to working together for tsunami relief, to get "our fiscal house in order," to pursue the President's reforms, and increase our security at home.
He said the Congress should take a closer look at entitlement spending. "We must apply cost-saving technology to the government, to improve efficiency and cut down on waste, fraud and abuse."
House Speaker Outlines Agenda for the New Year -- 01/04/2005
President Bush will travel to the epicenter of medical malpractice lawsuits today. The President will push for malpractice lawsuit reform in Madison County Illinois.
Madison County is a place where trial lawyers can easily win large settlements in frivolous lawsuits.
The President will speak to doctors, business leaders, and Republican officials to urge Congress to send him a bill that will limit damages awarded in malpractice suits.
Bush campaigned on the issue of tort reform and hops his trip to Illinois will give momentum to the issue.
Bush to Push Medical Malpractice Reform -- 01/04/2005
The fight is on for the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General. Liberal groups and Senators are geared up to defeat the nomination.
A far right wing group, the Alliance for Justice, released a report and letter on Tuesday to oppose the nomination for "his role in formulating policies that led to torture of prisoners of war."
Senators say they will show pictures and videotape of prisoner abuse in Iraq to demonstrate the results of Gonzales policy.
Liberal Group Uses Torture Issue to Question Gonzales Nomination -- 01/05/2005
A New Jersey man charged with temporally blinding the pilot and co-pilot of an airliner will be prosecuted under the Patriot Act for interfering with the operation of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI.
David Banach claims that he was using the laser to look at the stars with his daughter. Banach is the first person arrested after a rash of similar incidents around the country. If convicted, Banach could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $500,000.
Laser Man Charged Under Patriot Act
Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid is opposed to the "potential" nomination of Justice Clarence Thomas as Chief Justice. Reid said on 'Meet the Press' that Thomas' opinions were poorly written and did not reflect judicial reasoning. When asked for specifics, Reid had none.
Recently Reid was asked the same question on CNN, yes, that CNN, and he came up with an answer. Here is his answer:
"HENRY: Let's take a look at what you said. When you were asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether or not you could support Justice Thomas to be chief justice you said quote, "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written."
Could you name one of those opinions that you think is poorly written?
REID: Oh sure, that's easy to do. You take the Hillside Diary case. In that case you had a descent written by Scalia and a descent written by Thomas. There — it's like looking at an 8th grade dissertation compared to somebody who just graduated from Harvard.
Scalia's is well reasoned. He doesn't want to turn stari decisive precedent on its head. That's what Thomas wants to do. So yes, I think he has written a very poor opinion there and he's written other opinions that are not very good."
There are a couple of problems with Reid's answer.
First, Justice Antonin Scalia did NOT write an opinion in that case.
Second, Thomas' descent was a single paragraph comprised mostly of legal citations. Here is that descent.
Justice Thomas, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I join Parts I and III of the Court's opinion and respectfully dissent from Part II, which holds that §144 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, 7 U. S. C. §7254, "does not clearly express an intent to insulate California's pricing and pooling laws from a Commerce Clause challenge." Ante, at 6-7. Although I agree that the Court of Appeals erred in its statutory analysis, I nevertheless would affirm its judgment on this claim because "[t]he negative Commerce Clause has no basis in the text of the Constitution, makes little sense, and has proved virtually unworkable in application," Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 U. S. 564, 610 (1997) (Thomas, J., dissenting), and, consequently, cannot serve as a basis for striking down a state statute.
It certainly seems to me that the grammar and quotation style for legal writing is correct and clear.
Senator Reid needs to do better research and provide the public with clear examples of Justice Thomas' inability to write opinions. He has failed to do so. Maybe Senator Reid has another agenda. Maybe he is taking a page from former Klan Member, Robert Byrd's playbook.
The Kerry Spot on National Review Online:
More in the Afternoon Update.
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