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The Future of ObamaCare  The United States Supreme Court scheduled an extraordinary 5.5 hours for oral argument in the legal challenge to ObamaCare, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This is nearly unprecedented in recent times, and may bode well for the overturning of the law. 01-13-12
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Court Hangs Up on Indiana Ban on Robo-Calls "Robo-calls" are automated, prerecorded phone calls to thousands of voters, providing them information about candidates. Robo-calls are often used to endorse a candidate or a position on a referendum just prior to an election. 12-28-11
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Court Bans Jesus from Public Prayer In a stunning ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has prohibited a city council from allowing mention of Jesus during its invocations. The Court interpreted the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as requiring censorship of references to Jesus in prayers allowed by public officials. 12-11-11
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Court Changes Outcome of Election Judicial supremacy reached new heights -- or depths -- in September when a New Jersey trial court changed the outcome of an election for reasons other than a recount. The Court allowed the loser to become the winner based on a review of the substance of a campaign communication and a few alleged violations of state election law. 11-28-11
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Stage Is Set for Supreme Court to Decide ObamaCare The United States Supreme Court accepts for review and consideration only about 1% of the cases brought to its attention. 99 out of every 100 cases brought on petition to the U.S. Supreme Court are rejected without comment. 11-20-11
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Do Legislators Have a Free Speech Right to Vote? In state and local government, politicians (or their aides) can have financial interests that might influence their views about specific issues under their consideration as government officials. Some states pass laws prohibiting certain conflicts of interests, but if what a politician says, and how he votes, are protected as free speech under the First Amendment, then laws cannot limit it. 10-23-11
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Court Shuts Down Global Warming Lawsuit The U.S. Supreme Court slammed the door on an attempt by liberals to obtain by court order what they cannot persuade Congress to pass: rationing of energy production based on the unproven theory of man-made global warming. American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, 180 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2011). This 8-0 decision against global warming alarmism was a stunning victory in many ways. 10-16-11
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Court Looks at Modern Debtors' Prison Debtors' prison was common in the English-speaking world during the colonial period, but was supposedly phased out along with slavery. Slavery is indeed gone, but debtors' prison is back with a vengeance in the form of sending fathers to jail over small child support disputes. 10-10-11
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Court Limits Class Actions "Class action" lawsuits have been tools for trial attorneys to extract enormous legal fees by suing and settling a case on behalf of thousands or millions of people who never hired the attorneys or approved the lawsuit. This is an exception to the general rule that lawsuits should typically be brought only by specific persons alleging specific injuries. 10-02-11
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Supreme Court Orders Release of Many Prisoners Crime has long plagued California, and its prisons are overcrowded and overflowing. The population of California increased by 2.4 times between 1960 and 2009, but its number of serious crimes increased more: murders increased by a factor of 3.2 and robberies by a factor of 4.2. 9-14-11
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Supreme Court to Decide Scope of Prosecutorial Immunity Usually prosecutors cannot be held liable for damages they cause. In legal terms, they enjoy absolute immunity. But how far does that immunity extend? This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether an official who acts as a "complaining witness" in presenting perjured testimony before a grand jury is immune from damages for the harm he caused. Rehberg v. Paulk, No. 10-788. 8-15-11
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Court Ends Right to Resist Unlawful Arrest The right to resist an unlawful arrest dates back to the Magna Carta, and ever since it has been one pillar of the general right to self-defense by law-abiding citizens. But an activist 3-2 ruling of the Indiana Supreme Court -- in a decision written by an appointee of Governor Mitch Daniels -- erased all that. Many other states have passed statutes abrogating it too. 8-11-11
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Illegal Aliens Lose in Big Case Illegal Aliens will have a harder time after a 5-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the Legal Arizona Workers Act of 2007. It compels employers in Arizona to use the internet-based EVerify system to confirm that a new employee is lawfully in the U.S. The E-Verify system -- which was set up by the federal government for voluntary use -- is simple and easy-to-use. Arizona made this voluntary system mandatory: if a business fails to use E-Verify and knowingly hires illegal aliens, then Arizona can revoke its license to do business. 7-24-11
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No Liability for Withholding This Evidence Usually it is Harry Connick Jr. of New Orleans who is making the most news in his family. He's won several Grammys as well as an Emmy, and has appeared in numerous films. This time it was his dad, Harry Connick Sr., who was the subject of a 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The elder Connick was the District Attorney in New Orleans when John Thompson was charged with murdering another man. The publicity led to victims of an armed robbery identifying him as their attacker. Thompson was first convicted of attempted armed robbery, and then tried for the murder. 7-18-11
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The Internet Influences Courts "I checked the Citizens Clean Elections Commission website this morning, and it says" such-and such a judge declared to an attorney representing the owner of that website. "Why isn't that clear evidence that" you should lose your case? 7-05-11
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Court Monitor Archives
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For brief reviews of all books: readgoodbooks.net
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Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?  The NBC News/WallStreet-Journal poll, conducted jointly by Democrats and Republicans, reports that 74% of Americans think our government is taking us in the wrong direction, and only 17% think we are on the right track. Other polls are similar, with Gallup reporting 85% dissatisfied with the way our country is headed. Presidential candidates don't seem to understand this; none has achieved majority support with the public. 01-22-12
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The Thomas Sowell Reader This comprehensive compendium of articles, book excerpts and biographical sketches, compiled and edited by the author himself, will give readers who are unfamiliar with the writings of this respected conservative economist insight into the wide-ranging fields in which he has written over the years. 12-29-11
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How Evil Works Today's most sensational news stories tell of an America that is more polarized than at any time since the Civil War. We find people who are attempting to surgically morph into the opposite gender, celebrities who appear to have everything self-destructing, and increasing numbers of Americans treating mental-emotional-spiritual problems with powerful psychotropic drugs while ignoring the causes of these problems. 12-27-11
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Be the People Carol Swain, a professor at Vanderbilt University, has written a very useful handbook for people who are concerned about the way America is headed today and need to be reassured that we still live in the greatest country on earth, but that it is the job of the grassroots to preserve the route to the American dream. 11-27-11
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Saving the Bill of Rights Frank Miniter believes that the Bill of Rights is under attack. His book's subhead is Exposing the Left's Campaign to Destroy American Exceptionalism, and that's exactly what this book does. Miniter describes how our liberties expressly protected in the Bill of Rights are being eroded and ignored by leftist politicians, activist judges, and special-interest groups. 11-13-11
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The Notes: Ronald Reagan's Private Collection of Stories and Wisdom It was a Eureka Moment when the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California was getting a housecleaning in 2010 and someone came across a cardboard box inscribed on the side with the handwritten words "R.R.'s desk." 10-24-11
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How Einstein Ruined Physics The ancient Greek Pythagoras thought that the Earth revolved around the Sun, and that the world could be explained by mathematics. Aristotle correctly figured out that the Earth was round, but argued that we would feel the motion if it were moving. 10-09-11
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Manning Up Women are now making more money and getting more higher education degrees than men. Many single women in their 20s and 30s have achieved their dream of a successful career. They are leading successful, educated, exciting lives and seem to have it all, except one thing: a good husband.. 9-20-11
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Deconstructing Obama If you like both detective stories and politics, you will realize the political importance of Jack Cashill's newest book, Deconstructing Obama: The Life, Loves, and Letters of America's First Postmodern President. 8-26-11
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Change to Chains "We need change, real change," said Barack Obama in 2008. But what kind of change will we get and what will be its effect? William Federer answers that question in a summary of the struggle for power over the past 6,000 years. 8-10-11
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The Flipside of Feminism Suddenly feminism is a hot topic in the Mainstream Media, and The Flipside of Feminism provides an analysis that definitely is not Politically Correct. 7-10-11
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Book Monitor Archives
Chronological listing of all books posted.
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