Online Left

Four GOP candidates fail to make Virginia primary ballot, judge rules

A federal judge on Friday ruled against four GOP presidential candidates seeking a spot on Virginia's March 6 primary ballot, saying they waited too long to file their claims.

Left off the ballot are Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.S Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

(Via CNN Political Ticker)

Church: It's Were the Laws Aren't Followed

WASHINGTON — In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders without government interference.

Makes sense to me. The one place in the country not required to follow the laws are in church. Maybe that's why so many right-wing avengers now attempt murders of doctors and petition to have guys permitted in the congregation.

Instructions for managers - 1878 [MACKEY VS. O'CONNOR]

In reading recently several depositions of a contested election in 1878, I stumbled across the "Instructions for Managers", included in the file.  I found it interesting.  I hope you will, too. The contest was in the Second Congressional District of South Carolina, U.S. House of Representatives. The contestants were Michael Patrick O'Connor and Edward William McGregor Mackey.

Each manager of election must take and subscribe, before any officer authorized to administer an oath, the oath of office provided by the constitution, and send the same to the commissioners of election, to be filed in the office of the clerk of the court.

1. At their first meeting, the managers should organize themselves into a board by appointing one of their number chairman. The chairman should administer the necessary oaths in the course of the election.

2. The managers must then appoint a clerk, who must take the oath provided by the constitution before the chairman of the board.

3. The polls must be opened at 6 o'clock a.m., and closed at 6 p.m.; and must be kept open, without intermission or adjournment, during these hours.

4. At the opening of the poll the box must be publicly opened and inspected, to see that it is empty and secure, then locked, the key returned to the managers, and not again opened during the election.

5. The managers must administer to each person offering to vote an oath that he is qualified to vote a this election according to the constitution of this State, and that he has not voted during this election.

6. The voting must be by ballot, which must contain written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, the names of the persons voted for, and the offices to which such persons are intended to be chosen, and must be so folded as to conceal the contents.

7. The clerk of the poll must keep a poll-list, upon which must be entered the name of every elector voting at the election.

Now for me, this is when it gets really interesting!

8. At the close of the election the managers and clerk must immediately proceed, publicly, to open the ballot-box and count the ballots therein; and continue such count, without adjournment or interruption, until the same is completed.  If, in counting, two or more lke ballots should be found folded together compactly, only one shall by counted, and the others destroyed; but if they bear different names, the same must be destroyed and not counted. If more ballots are found, on opening the box, than there are names on the poll-list, all the ballots must be returned to the box and thoroughly mixed together, and one of the managers, or the clerk, must without seeing the ballots, draw therefrom and immediately destroy as many ballots as there are in excess of the number of names on the poll-list.

9. After counting the votes, the managers and clerk must make and sign a statement of the result of the election.  Within three days after the election, the chairman of the board, or one of the managers designated in writing by the board, must deliver to the commissioners of election their written statement of the result of the election, the poll-lists, and the boxes containing the ballots, properly sealed and secured. The managers must, in addition to the statement of the result of the election, make and sign separate returns of the number of votes cast for governor and lieutenant-governor, in duplicate, and seal up the same, and deliver them to the commissioners of election, to be transmitted to teh secretary of state, and filed with the clerk of the court.

This is an interesting case that tells a lot about our country, campaigns, elections and politicians. Rather than ending it here, I'll periodically post more from MACKEY VS. CONNOR, as my schedule permits.

Thanks for reading.

Tea Party Nation Sets Sights on Kagan

I have questioned whether the Tea Party and Republicans were the same. After seeing this missive filled with mistruths, there's no longer doubt in my mind.

The Senate Judiciary committee has put off for another week the vote on Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. This gives us more time and we must not fail. We must keep calling Senators and tell them to stop Kagan. We do not need an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court who believes the free speech is something that can be prohibited simply because the government does not like it. We do not need someone on the Supreme Court who believes free speech can be "redistributed." We do not need someone on the Supreme Court who believes books can be banned just because the government does not like their content.

Call the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee. According to Senate Rules, a nomination for the Supreme Court cannot move to the floor of the Senate without at least one member of the minority party voting for it. If all of the Republicans on the committee vote no, we can stop this nominee.

Supreme Court Justice Stevens, writing in opposition to the majority opinion in a case that gives wider latitude to gun nuts (McDonald vs. Chicago, Number 08-1521), wrote:

Although the court's decision in this case might be seen as a mere adjunct to Heller, the consequences could prove far more destructive -- quite literally -- to our nation's communities and to our constitution.

I hope he's wrong. I fear he's right.

Obama's Statement on Justice Sotomayor

As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice, so I want to take this opportunity to tell you about the qualifications and character that informed my decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor. 

Judge Sotomayor's brilliant legal mind is complemented by the practical lessons that can only be learned by applying the law to real world situations. 

In the coming days, the hearings will cover an incredible body of work from a judge who has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the last 100 years. Judge Sotomayor's professional background spans our judicial system — from her time as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, to her work as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. 

And then there is Judge Sotomayor's incredible personal story. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx — her parents coming to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she lost her father, and her mother worked six days a week just to put food on the table. It takes a certain resilience and determination to rise up out of such circumstances, focus, work hard and achieve the American dream. 

This character shined through in yesterday's opening statement: Watch the video. 

In Judge Sotomayor, our nation will have a Justice who will never forget her humble beginnings, will always apply the rule of law, and will be a protector of the Constitution that made her American dream and the dreams of millions of others possible. As she said so clearly yesterday, Judge Sotomayor's decisions on the bench "have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice." 

In anticipation of today's first round of questioning, I hope you'll share this email widely, because Judge Sotomayor's confirmation is something that affects every American. It's important for these hearings to be about Judge Sotomayor's own record and her capacity for the job — not any political back and forth that some in Washington may use to distract you. What members of the Judiciary Committee, and the American people, will see today is a sharp and fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into breaking from the rule of law. 

Thank you, 
Barack Obama 

17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

A constitutional question that maybe someone can answer.

Does the phrase, "the legislature of any State may empower the executive, also mean that the legislature may refuse to empower the executive? Or, does the election of the governor automatically empower him or her to make the "temporary appointment?

Bye Norm

Minnesota's highest court on Wednesday ruled against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's attempt to keep dozens of possible double votes from Democratic-heavy precincts out of the long-running U.S. Senate recount, but left the door open for a lawsuit.

The state Supreme Court unanimously denied Coleman's request for a temporary restraining order to block the votes, which the Coleman campaign contended were duplicates that mostly favored Democratic rival Al Franken. The court upheld the state Canvassing Board's ruling on the matter.