Linkfest: Sunday Updates
Time to clean out the aggregator —
ITEM: Follow-up lawsuits are already being filed in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in District v. Heller that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. Two of note are: (1) in Chicago, which has very draconian state and municipal handgun bans, and (2) in San Francisco, where the lead plaintiff is a gay man who insists that anti-gay violence warrants allowing him to own a handgun in the public housing complex where he lives. Previous post here.
ITEM: Barack Obama invited Bill Richardson to deliver a major energy policy speech on Obama’s behalf:
It was the first time the Obama campaign had selected who would make the radio address since the Illinois senator clinched the presidential nomination this month.
I previously predicted that Obama would (or at least ought to) pick Richardson as his running mate.
ITEM: Republicans have, in anticipation of the November elections, re-introduced the Marriage Protection Amendment in both chambers of Congress. Sponsors of the Senate version (S.J.Res. 43) reportedly include self-loathing homosexual Larry Craig and adulterer David Vitter in the Senate; the House version (H.J.Res. 89) was introduced in late May and has 67 sponsors, including 5 Democrats.
ITEM: The New York Times provides an update on Vermont Law School’s ongoing forfeiture of federal funding subsequent to the school’s refusal to abide by the “Solomon Amendments” that require colleges and universities to grant access to military recruiters. As I noted previously, Chief Justice Roberts’ decision in Rumsfeld v. FAIR actually held that the federal government would have the authority (if it chose to do so) to compel access even if an institution forgoes federal funding.
ITEM: The House has approved allocating New York City another $237 million from the federal government for its assorted public transportation systems. The funding, part of a comprehensive $1.7 billion package of subsidies for projects across the nation, has not yet been considered by the Senate. I have previously noted, rather selflessly, the impropriety of taxing people in one location to subsidize public transportation in another location.
ITEM: New York City police are introducing written “search consent forms” to evade the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. The proposal is modeled on a similar tactic used by the FBI. I have previously warned against ever consenting to a warrantless search in a criminal context. (Via CrimProf Blog.)
ITEM: The South Carolina school district that was contemplating banning “gay-straight alliances” in its schools — after one of its high school principals announced he would resign if the clubs were allowed — has decided not to ban the clubs after all — but reportedly only for fear of discrimination lawsuits:
Groups like Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union “are literally waiting in the wings for the district to violate the law,” [a local attorney] said.
Previous post here.
ITEM: A Saudi “marriage officiant” has announced that Saudi girls may be married off by their parents as young as age one. I previously denounced the barbaric child-buying “marriages” of the Religion of Peace here. (Via QandO.)
ITEM: Robert Mugabe has installed himself as the dictator of Zimbabwe, after violently intimidating his opposition. Most recent post here.
ITEM: The conservative African factions of the Global Anglican Communion have decided not to seek a permanent schism with the U.S. Episcopalian Church over the question of gays in the clergy:
The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) said member churches would continue sponsoring breakaway conservative parishes in liberal western member countries and called for a separate conservative province in North America.
Flagship post here.
Filed under: Updates