Marie Cocco: King George, Dethroned

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Jul 3, 2006 As we celebrate our Independence Day, let us thank the Supreme Court for granting us deliverance from the tyranny of a president who tried to fashion himself king. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Truthdigger of the Week: John Paul Stevens

Staff / Truthdig Jul 1, 2006 Truthdig salutes the 86-year-old Supreme Court justice who wrote the majority opinion in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which struck down the military tribunals Bush set up to try Guantanamo detainees. But more important, this decision, in the words of a Yale law professor, "effectively undermines the Administration's strongest claims about Presidential power," and may constitute the legal framework necessary to halt the more egregious of Bush's civil liberties-infringing programs -- like warrantless wiretapping and holding terrorism suspects without trial. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Court Ruling: Gitmo Brass Shrugs, Bush Lawyer Shudders

Staff / Truthdig Jun 30, 2006 The admiral in charge of the Guantanamo military detention center said he doubts Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on presidential authority will have any effect on his operations. But a Bush administration lawyer wasn't as sanguine, saying about the decision, "It's very broad, it's very significant, and it's a slam." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Washington Post: Court Ruling a Body Blow to Bush

Staff / Truthdig Jun 30, 2006 In an analysis, the Washington Post says, "the Supreme Court has struck at the core of his presidency and dismissed the notion that the president alone can determine how to defend the country." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Court Ruling May Cancel Bush’s ‘Blank Check’ for Terror War

Staff / Truthdig Jun 29, 2006 Specifically, today's Supreme Court ruling held that the president overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees. But more important, Think Progress interprets the ruling to mean that "the Authorization for the Use of Military Force -- issued by Congress in the days after 9/11 -- is not a blank check for the administration." Also, SCOTUSblog says the ruling means that the Geneva Convention does apply to the conflict with Al Qaeda, and consequently "this almost certainly means that the CIA's interrogation tactics of waterboarding and hypothermia (and others) violate the War Crimes Act." Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Court Upholds Gerrymandering Madness

Staff / Truthdig Jun 28, 2006 The Supreme Court ruled that state legislators may draw new electoral maps as often as they like -- meaning that we'll likely see new gerrymandered voting districts every time there is a power shift at a state capital. Disgustingly enough, this ruling is actually a vindication for Tom DeLay. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Supreme Court Rejects Vermont’s Campaign Finance Law

Staff / Truthdig Jun 27, 2006 This is a complicated issue. We'll let the Washington Post take it: "The Supreme Court struck down Vermont's strict limits on campaign contributions and spending yesterday, in a splintered ruling that left intact the constitutional basis of current campaign finance laws but may make it difficult to put new curbs on money in politics." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Supreme Court to Fact-Check Bush’s Global Warming Distortions

Staff / Truthdig Jun 27, 2006 On the very day that Bush again peddled the blatant misrepresentation that "there's a debate over whether [global warming] is man-made or naturally caused," the Supreme Court injected some sanity into our discourse by announcing it will decide whether the federal government must regulate emissions of new cars to combat global warming. Bush's claims are only slightly more ludicrous in light of the fact that he made them while Washington, D.C., stands submerged in 18 inches of global-warming-propelled storm water. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Supreme Court Upholds No-Knock Police Search

Staff / Truthdig Jun 16, 2006 Samuel Alito's conservatism has begun to make itself felt. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Supreme Court Limits Whistle-Blower Lawsuits

Staff / Truthdig May 30, 2006 The court today ruled that First Amendment guarantees do not always protect government employees when they speak out pursuant to their official capacities--as opposed to as citizens speaking out on matters of public concern. Here's how SCOTUSblog interprets the ruling: "This apparently means that employees may be disciplined for their official capacity speech, without any First Amendment scrutiny, and without regard to whether it touches on matters of 'public concern' -- a very significant doctrinal development." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Scalia to Conservatives: Butt Out!

Staff / Truthdig May 20, 2006 Justice Antonin Scalia told fellow conservatives on Capitol Hill to butt out of the Supreme Court's business in regards to using foreign law in its constitutional rulings. "It's none of your business," he said during a speech. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House

Staff / Truthdig Apr 11, 2006 Democrats say Republican officials made two dozen calls to the White House in 2002 as part of a plot to tie up get-out-the-vote efforts in New Hampshire's 2002 Senate race. There are already three federal convictions and a pending indictment in the case. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )