September 18, 2003

Quick Summary of the News

1. VP Cheney comes out of hiding to continue lying.

2. In response to Cheney's suggestion that Saddam migh have been involved in 9/11 President Bush was forced to admit that "we have no evidence" that Saddam was invloved. That's one of the first times the White House has acknowledged that there is no evidence to suggest that there is a link.

3. The Ninth Circuit Halts CA Recall Election (Southwest Voter Registration Education Project v. Shelley-- pdf). You have to admire the cleverness with the three judges on the panel. They really stuck to the Supreme Court.

It's no secret that the Supreme Court keeps an eye on the Nine Circuit to make sure that they aren't "misbehaving" so this should be interesting.

The judges extensively cited Bush v. Gore in ruling that California may not hold an election so long as six counties use punch-card ballots. By relying so heavily on Bush v. Gore as precedent, the Ninth Circuit judges seem to be daring the Supreme Court to overturn their decision.

"If I were the U.S. Supreme Court, I would be very reluctant to reverse the Ninth Circuit and thus cement a reputation as an unprincipled partisan court that upholds obscure Equal Protection arguments when they throw an election to Republicans (as in Bush v. Gore) but strikes them down when they would throw the election to the Democrats. This suggests that the pro-recall forces' best hope is a rehearing by the entire Ninth Circuit sitting en banc, not an appeal to SCOTUS."

4. Gen. Wesley K. Clark is the 10th candidate seeking the Democratic nomitation for president. Currently, I have no comment on this but it is looking like Clark is the front for the re-entry of the Clinton/Gore operatives.

Posted by rdreyes at September 18, 2003 10:17 AM
Posted to
Comments